ALL FOR STUDENTS

Apostasy had actually begun in the lifetime of the Pro­phet, and the first major action of the apostasy was fought and satisfactorily concluded while the Prophet still lived.

The first major event of the apostasy occurred in the Yemen and is known as the Incident of Aswad al Ansi. Aswad was a chief of the Ans — a large tribe inhabiting the western part of the Yemen. His actual name was Abhala bin Kab, but because of his very dark colour he was called Aswad, i.e. the Black One. A man of many qualities, few of them enviable, he was, before the apostasy, known mainly as a tribal chieftain and a soothsayer.

During the tenth year of the Hijra, the people of the sou­thern and south-eastern regions of the Arabian Peninsula had been converted to Islam. The Prophet had sent envoys, teachers and missions to various places to accomplish this task and the task had been duly completed. But the majority of the inhabi­tants of these regions had not become true Muslims, their conver­sion being more a matter of form than a sincere change of heart.

Before this conversion the Yemen was governed, on be­half of the Persian Emperor, by a noble-born Persian named Bazan.¹ This man became a Muslim and was confirmed in his appointment as governor of the Yemen by the Prophet. As he was a wise and virtuous officer, the province prospered under his rule; but shortly before the last pilgrimage of the Prophet, Bazan died, and the Prophet appointed Bazan's son, Shahr, as governor at San'a. Peace continued to prevail in the Yemen and no clouds darkened the southern skies.

Then, at about the time of the Prophet's last pilgrimage, Aswad decided that he would become a prophet. He gathered his tribe, recited some of his verses, claiming that they were verses of the Quran revealed to him, and announced that he was a messenger of Allah.

Aswad had a donkey which he had trained to obey cer­tain commands, and he used this donkey to demonstrate his powers. He would give the order "Bow before your lord", and the donkey would bow its head before Aswad. He would then command "Kneel before your lord!", and the donkey would kneel.² Because of this, Aswad became known in the region as Zul Himar — the One of the Donkey, or 'Donkey-Wallah'. Some chroniclers, however, maintain that he was known not as Zul Himar, but as Zul Khumar, i.e. the Drunk.³ This could be true because he was heavily addicted to alcohol and often in a drunken stupor. Nevertheless, his tribe followed him, believing him to be a genuine prophet: and in this error they were joined by some of the lesser tribes of the Yemen.

Aswad organised a column of 700 horsemen and rode to Najran. He captured the town with no difficulty and drove out its Muslim administrator. Elated by this easy victory, he left his own man to govern Najran and moved on San'a. (See Map 7.) Shahr, the newly appointed Muslim governor of the Yemen heard of the fall of Najran, came to know of the intentions of Aswad and decided to tackle Aswad before he could reach San'a. Organi­sing a small armed force (he did not have many warriors), he marched out to meet his adversary, and the two forces met some distance north of San'a. The short, brisk engagement that fol­lowed ended in Aswad's favour. The Muslims suffered a defeat

¹Called Bazam by some historians.

²Balazuri; p. 113.     ³Ibid.

and Shahr was killed in battle, leaving behind a beautiful young widow named Azad. Five days later Aswad entered Sana' as a conqueror. He had worked fast for his unholy mission, for it was now only 25 days since he had first gathered his tribe and proclaimed his prophethood.

Most of the Yemen was now his. And in order to get the maximum pleasure from his military and political success, Aswad forcibly married the lovely Azad. The poor widow had no choice but to submit to the drunken embraces of the loathsome Donkey-Wallah.

Having occupied Najran and San'a, Aswad consolidated his gains and extended his sway over all Yemen, many tribes of which acknowledged him as ruler and prophet. As his authority grew, he began to feel discontented with the title of prophet and proclaimed himself Rahman of Yemen.¹ The word 'Rahman' means the Merciful One, and is one of the titles by which Mus­lims know God. Thus Aswad attempted to enter the divine pro­vince to which no man has laid claim without suffering disastrous consequences. Anyway, to his followers he became known as the Rahman of Yemen. His drunken orgies continued, as did his enjoyment of the ill-starred Azad, whose loathing for him grew so intense that she confided to a friend: "To me no man is more hateful than he.''² In his viciousness Aswad also turned against the family of the Persian Bazan and heaped every manner of indignity and insult upon the surviving members. By doing so he earned the bitter hostility of a stalwart and true Muslim by the name of Firoz al Deilami — a member of this Persian family and a cousin of Azad.

Unknown to the false prophet, the real Prophet at Madina had already initiated measures to deal with him. Having received full reports of Aswad's mischief, the Holy Prophet sent Qeis bin Hubeira to organise the liquidation of Aswad. Qeis got to San’a undetected, laid the foundations of an underground movement against the impostor and made contact with the Persian Firoz. Qeis and Firoz became the brains of the organisation that was to draw the sword of vengeance against Aswad and his apostates. In secret they laid their plans.

The killing of Aswad was not going to be an easy matter.

¹Balazuri: p. 113,125 ²Tabari: Vol. 2, p.467.

The Black One was a huge, powerfully-built man, known for his strength and ferocity, and he already suspected Firoz of dis­loyalty. Moreover, he lived in a palace that was surrounded by a high wall and guarded by a large number of warriors who were chosen for their loyalty and their faith in Aswad. They paced the wall and treaded the corridors of the palace. The only possible entrance was over a certain part of the wall adjacent to the chamber of Azad. The wall would have to be scaled.

Firoz got in touch with Azad, explained his purpose and sought her help, which she readily promised, seeing this as the only way out of the wretched life that she led.

The fateful night of May 30, 632 (the 6th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, 11 Hijri) was chosen as the night. Just after midnight, when the moon had set, and at a moment when no guards were near, Firoz scaled the wall of the palace with the aid of a rope and slip­ped into the chamber of Azad. She hid him in the room and the two cousins, fired by the same mission, waited.

Shortly before dawn Azad stole out of her room and walked to Aswad's chamber, which was next to hers. She knew that there was a sentry on duty nearby, though not in sight. She opened the door, looked in, and then returned to Firoz. The fire of vengeance burnt in her eyes as she whispered, "Now! He is lying drunk!"

Firoz, followed by Azad, tiptoed out of her chamber and to the door of Aswad's room. The woman stationed herself at the door while Firoz entered with drawn sword. Suddenly Aswad sat up in bed and stared in horror at Firoz, whose appearance left no doubt as to his purpose. In the face of this danger the drunkenness of the Black One vanished; but before he could get off the bed, Firoz sprang forward and struck him on the head with his sword. Aswad fell back on his pillow. According to the chroniclers, "He began to bellow like a bull"¹

His cries attracted the attention of the sentry who rushed to Aswad's chamber. He saw Azad standing by the door and asked, "What is the matter with the Rahman of Yemen?" The plucky girl raised her linger to her lips. "Shush!" she whispe­red. "He is receiving a revelation from Allah"² The sentry nodd­ed knowingly, and disregarding the shouts of his master, walked away.

¹Balazuri: p.114.        ²Ibid.

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Azad waited until the sentry had turned the corner of the corridor, then rushed into the room. She saw Firoz standing beside the bed, waiting for a chance to strike again, while the impostor writhed in his bed, waving his arms about. The two now worked together. The woman hastened to the head of the bed, caught the hair of Aswad in both her hands and held his head down. Firoz drew his dagger and with a few deft strokes severed the black head from the enormous body. Thus ended the career of the false prophet, Abhala bin Kab, alias the Black One, alias the Donkey-Wallah, alias the Drunk. His mischief lasted three months and ended with his death, six days before Prophet Muham­mad passed away.

With Aswad's death his movement collapsed. The Muslim resistance organised by Qeis in San'a turned in violent vengeance against the followers of Aswad, many of whom were killed. But many escaped to create trouble for Muslim rulers at a later stage. Many became Muslims again, and of these some again apostatised. Firoz was appointed governor of San'a.

The messenger who carried the good news to Madina arrived there shortly after the death of the Holy Prophet. The report of the destruction of the mischief of Aswad al Ansi brought some solace to the heart-broken Muslims.

*

Madina was now going through a crisis which was at once emotional, spiritual and political. The loss of the beloved Muhammad had left the Muslims devastated. For the past 10 years the Prophet had been everything to them — commander, ruler, judge, teacher, guide, friend. There was no aspect of life in which he had not participated. They had taken all their prob­lems to him, and he had settled, decided, directed, comforted. In the warm light of his presence they had felt safe from trouble and misfortune. Now that light had gone out. The Muslims felt alone and frightened — in the words of the chroniclers: "like sheep on a cold, rainy night."¹

The crisis deepened as reports of the revolt spreading over Arabia began to arrive. All the tribes of Arabia, with the exception of those in Mecca and Madina and the Saqeef in Taif, revolted

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 461.

against the political and religious authority of Madina and broke their oaths of allegiance. False prophets arose in the land and claimed a share in Muhammad's prophethood. These impostors, having seen the affection and reverence in which the Holy Prophet was held, and unmindful of the trials and sufferings which he had experienced before his efforts bore fruit, decided that prophethood was a good thing and that they too should get the benefit of it. Apart from Aswad, there were two impostors (possibly three) and one impostress. There were others — chieftains and elders — who did not claim pro­phethood but united with the false prophets in their perfidious designs to extinguish the flame of Islam and return to the tribal independence of the Ignorance. The flames of the apostasy raced like wild fire across all Arabia, threatening to engulf Mecca and Madina — the spiritual and political centres of the infant state of Islam.

The chief cause of the apostasy was lack of true faith. Most of the tribes, converted in the ninth and tenth years of the Hijra, had taken to Islam for political reasons. They had found it expedient. They saw Muhammad as a powerful political boss rather than a prophet with a new message. The true Muslims were the Muslims of Mecca and Madina, especialiy the latter who had been in contact with the Holy Prophet for many years and had drunk deep at the fountain of truth which the Prophet had revealed. The outlying tribes had not enjoyed this spiritual experience. In many cases, when a chief became a Muslim the tribe followed his example out of tribal loyalty rather than religious conviction. With the death of the Prophet the tribes felt free to renounce their allegiance, which, as they saw it, had been made to a person and not to Madina or to Islam. Muham­mad was dead; and now they could throw off the yoke of disci­pline which the new faith had imposed — in limiting the number of wives a man could marry, in collecting taxes for the benefit of the community, in enforcing prayers and fasting. The strong leaders who led the revolt preferred to be free to exploit the weak to their own advantage, unhampered by the restrictions which Islam placed upon them.

The fears of the Muslims deepened when Abu Bakr became caliph — the first caliph in Islam. Abu Bakr had never been known for any great quality of leadership, let alone the

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ability to steer the ship of state through the storm that gathered on every side and threatened the very existence of Islam. What was needed at this critical juncture was a strong, robust and capa­ble leader. And what was the image of Abu Bakr? A small, slender, pale man, he had deep-set eyes under thin, delicate eye­brows. By now he had a pronounced stoop which heightened the impression of age and senility, in spite of the fact that he dyed his beard. A mild, gentle and tender-hearted individual, he was easily moved to tears.

As the Muslims gathered to take the oath of allegiance, Abu Bakr made the first speech of his caliphate — a speech that further emphasised his modesty and humility and gave no pro­mise of strength. He said:

Praise be to Allah! I am now in authority over you, but I am not the best among you. If I act virtuously, help me. If I act wrongfully, correct me. Truth is honesty; falsehood is treachery.

The weak among you is strong in my sight, until I give him what is due to him, if Allah wills it. And the strong among you is weak in my sight, until I take what is due from him, if Allah wills it.

Let none among you abjure the holy war in the way of Allah, for no people do so but Allah strikes them with disgrace. And among no people does vice become general but Allah inflicts upon them terrible punishment.

Obey me while I obey Allah and His Messenger; and if I disobey Allah and His Messenger, you are not obliged to follow me.

Forget not your prayers. May Allah have mercy upon you!¹

Abu Bakr's virtues and outstanding services to Islam were well known. His personal courage, his devotion to the Prophet, who had given him the title of the Truthful One, his high moral principles and his faith as one of the staunchest of believers were unquestioned. As the third male to embrace Is­lam his position among the Blessed Ten was high indeed.² But did such virtues make for leadership in troubled times? And then there was the departure of the Army of Usama, which further

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 450.

²The first was Ali, the second Zeid bin Harisa.

The Gathering Storm   131

imperilled Madina and increased the alarm of the Muslims.

*

About the middle of May 632 the Holy Prophet, now ailing, had ordered a large expedition to be prepared for the invasion of Jordan. Everybody was to join it. As commander of the expedition, he appointed Usama — a young man of twenty-two. Usama was the son ofZeid bin Harisa, the Prophet's freed-man, who had been the first of the Muslim commanders to fall at the Battle of Mauta. Although Usama was common-born and enjoyed no family standing among the Qureish, the Prophet put him in command over all the older and more distinguished warriors from the best clans. The warriors gathered at a camp site just west of Uhud, and the force thus concentrated became known as the Army of Usama. This was the last expedition ordered by the Prophet; and it could mean war with the Romans.

Usama was given the Jordanian area of Mauta as his geographical objective. "Go to the place where your father was killed", ordered the Holy Prophet. "Raid those territories. Go fast; take guides with you and send your scouts and agents ahead of you."¹ Shortly before his death the Prophet remar­ked, "Remember to despatch the Army of Usama."² The army was still in camp when, on Monday, June 5, 632, the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, 11 Hijri) the Holy Prophet passed away. On the same day Abu Bakr, son of Abu Quhafa, became caliph.

The following day Caliph Abu Bakr issued instructions for the Army of Usama to prepare for the march. All the distin­guished Companions who were available for war were sent to join the Army in its camp and serve under the command of the youthful Usama. Even Umar, one of Abu Bakr's closest friends, was sent to the camp.

For the next few days the preparations continued even as reports of the rapid spread of the apostasy arrived. Then a group of prominent Muslims came to the Caliph. "Will you send away the Army of Usama when most Arabs have revolted, and dis­ruption raises its head everywhere?" they protested.  "The

¹Ibn Sad: p. 707. ²Ibid: p.709.

Muslims are few. The unbelievers are many. The army must not

be sent away!"

Abu Bakr was adamant. "If I knew that wild animals would come and tear at my body", he replied, "I would still despatch the Army of Usama as ordered by the Prophet."¹

A few more days passed. Reports from the countryside became more alarming. Then one day Usama, who feared for Madina and for Islam no less than the others, spoke to Umar. "Go to the Caliph", he said. ''Ask him to permit the army to remain at Madina. All the leaders of the community are with me. If we go, none will be left to prevent the infidels from tearing Madina to pieces."

Umar agreed to speak to the Caliph. As he was leaving the camp, he was met by a group of leaders who made the same suggestion and added: "If he does not agree to our remaining in Madina and we have to go, ask him at least to place an older man than Usama in command of the army."² Umar agreed to put this across also.

In Madina Abu Bakr sat on the floor of his house, gett­ing used to the tremendous burden which the assumption of the caliphate in these stormy days had placed upon his shoulders. The strain would have shattered his nerves but for his limitless faith. Umar entered. Umar was calm and confident, for he was used to speaking to Abu Bakr as a strong, vigorous man would address a mild and submissive, albeit beloved comrade.

Abu Bakr waited until Umar had delivered the message and also expressed his own opinion regarding the proposed change of command. Then he leapt to his feet and shouted at Umar, "0 Son of Al Khattab! It was the Messenger of Allah who appointed Usama as the commander. And you want me to remove him from command."³

Umar hastily backed out of Abu Bakr's house. He returned to the camp where the elders waited to see what news he would bring. Umar abused them roundly!⁴

On June 24, 632 (the 1st of Rabi-ul-Akhir, 11 Hijri), the Army of Usama broke camp and moved out. Abu Bakr walked some distance beside the mounted Usama and refused to let the young commander dismount from his horse. "Every

step that a Muslim warrior takes in the way of Allah", he ex­plained to Usama, "earns him the merit of 700 good deeds and the forgiveness of 700 sins."¹

Abu Bakr asked if he could retain Umar with him as advi­ser, to which Usama readily agreed. Then he gave his parting instructions to the Army Commander: "Carry out your task. Start the operation with raids against the Quza'a. Let nothing deter you from accomplishing the mission given you by the Messenger of Allah."² And the Army of Usama marched away.

The despatch of the Army of Usama was a mistake in the circumstances which had arisen since the Prophet's death. Some Muslim writers have stated that it was a wise move on the part of Abu Bakr, as it gave a show of strength to the rebels and thus deterred them from greater violence. Actually, this was not the case. Although Usama carried out his mission with efficiency and speed, his operation had no bearing whatever on the major actions of the apostasy which were fought in North-Central Arabia. The despatch of the Army of Usama was an act of faith, displaying complete submission to the will of the departed Pro­phet; but as a manoeuvre of military and political strategy it was anything but sound. This is also proved by the fact that all the Muslim leaders were opposed to the move — leaders who produ­ced, in this and the following decades, some of the finest generals of history. Abu Babr was moved to this decision by nothing other than his desire to carry out tlie last military wish of the Prophet. It was not lack of strategical judgement which led him to send off the Army of Usama; for Abu Bakr had ample military ability, as he was to prove soon after in his direction and conduct of the war against the apostates and the invasions of Iraq and Syria.

The Army of Usama was gone. Reports of ever-spreading revolt and of the concentration of hostile tribes became more serious day by day. The apprehensions of the Muslims increased. In contrast, the apostates rejoiced at the news of Abu Bakr's assumption of the caliphate and the departure of the army. With Abu Bakr at the helm of Muslim affairs, they thought, their

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objective of crushing the new Muslim State would be more easily achieved. The rebels were relieved that they did not have to deal with the fiery Umar or the peerless Ali. They would only have to deal with a nice old man!

But the Muslims were in for some pleasant surprises, and the apostates for some rude shocks, at the hands of 'the nice old man' —such shocks that one rebel chieftain, fleeing from the columns of Abu Bakr, would cry in terror: "Woe to the Arabs from the son of Abu Quhafa!"¹

¹Balazuri: p. 104.

12 : ABU BAKR STRIKES

The apostasy had become so general that it affected every tribe in Arabia with the exception of the people in Mecca and Madina and the tribe of Saqeef at Taif. In some cases the entire tribe apostatised. In other cases part of the tribe apos­tatised while part continued to follow the true faith; and among those who remained Muslims, many had to pay with their lives for their faith. The flames of disbelief were fanned by two false prophets, Tuleiha bin Khuweilad and Museilima bin Habeeb, and a false prophetess by the name of Sajjah bint Al Haris. Museilima had been an impostor for some time, while Tuleiha made his claim to prophethood during the illness of the Holy Prophet. The most immediate threat to Madina was posed by Tuleiha and the tribes of West-Central and North-Central Arabia that followed him. These tribes were the Ghatfan, the Tayy, the Hawazin, the Bani Asad and the Bani Suleim.

The concentrations of apostates nearest Madina were located in two areas: Abraq, 70 miles north-east of Madina, and Zu Qissa, 24 miles east of Madina.¹ (See Map 8.) These concentrations consisted of the Ghatfan, the Hawazin and the

¹Abraq is now just a stony plain (the word means a spur or bluff) 5 miles north of Hanakiya. Zu Qissa does not exist; its location is known only in terms of its distance from Madina (Ibn Sad: p. 590), and it was on the road to Rabaza, which is 20 miles north-east of Hanakiya. The latter is the old Batn Nakhl.

Tayy. A week or two after the departure of the Army of Usama, the apostates at Zu Qissa sent a delegation to Abu Bakr. "We shall continue the prayers", said the delegates, "but we shall not pay any taxes." Abu Bakr would have none of it. "By Allah", he replied, "if you withhold a single ounce of what is due from you, I shall fight you. I allow you one day in which to give your reply."¹

The envoys were taken aback by the determination and confidence of the new Caliph who seemed to be entirely unaware of the weakness of his position. And he had given them one day! The following morning, before the single day's ultimatum had expired, the envoys slipped out of Madina, which meant a rejection of Abu Bakr's demands. Soon after their departure, Abu Bakr sent his own envoys to all the apostate tribes, calling upon them to remain loyal to Islam and continue to pay their taxes.

But the apostate envoys from Zu Qissa, before leaving Madina, had had a good look at the place, and their keen eyes had noticed the absence of warriors. On returning to Zu Qissa they told their comrades about their conversation with Abu Bakr and the very vulnerable state of Madina. Meanwhile Tuleiha, who was now at Sameera, had reinforced the apostates at Zu Qissa with a contingent under his brother, Hibal — a wily and resourceful general. When the apostates heard the reports of the envoys, the temptation proved too much for them: they decided to have a crack at Madina while it was still defenceless. Conse- quently, the force at Zu Qissa moved forward to Zu Hussa,² from where, after forming a base, part of the force advanced still nearer Madina and went into camp, preparatory to attacking the town. It was now the third week of July 632 (late Rabi-ul-Akhir, 11 Hijri).

Abu Bakr received intelligence of this move and at once undertook the organisation of the defences of Madina. The main army was out under Usama, but Madina was not as defence­less as the rebels had imagined. Quite a few warriors were still there, especially from the clan of Bani Hashim (the Prophet's own clan) who had remained behind to mourn their departed kinsman. From these remnants Abu Bakr scraped together a fighting force. The confidence of Abu Bakr, never shaken, was

'

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 487; Balazuri: p. 103.

²The location of Zu Hussa is not known.

MAP 8 : THE ARABIAN APOSTASY - II

strengthened by the thought that he had such stalwarts with him as Ali, Zubeir bin Al Awwam and Talha bin Ubeidullah. Each of these was appointed to command one-third of the newly created force.

For three days nothing happened. The apostates, uncer­tain of how they should set about their task, remained inactive. Then, on orders from Abu Bakr, the Muslims sallied out of Madina. They launched a quick attack on the forward camp of the apostates and drove them back. The apostates withdrew to Zu Hussa. The Muslims informed Abu Bakr of their success, and the Caliph ordered them to stay where they were and await his instructions.

The following day Abu Bakr set out from Madina with a long string of pack camels, for the riding camles had all gone with Usama and these inferior camels were the best that Abu Bakr could muster in the way of transportation. As the convoy got to the abandoned apostate camp, the Muslims who had driven the apostates away mounted these camels and the force advanced towards Zu Hussa — the apostate base.

Here the enemy waited, and Hibal, the brother of Tuleiha, showed his military cunning. He kept his men behind the crest of a slope, some distance ahead of the base towards which the Muslims were advancing.

The Muslims, mounted on their pack camels, rode up the slope unaware of the enemy who waited just beyond the crest. When the unsuspecting Muslims got near the crest, the apostates stood up and hurled upon the forward slope a countless number of goatskins filled with water. As these goatskins rolled down the crest towards the Muslims, a wild din arose from the apostate ranks as they hammered on drums and screamed at the top of their voices. The pack camels, untrained for battle and not used to sudden loud noises or the sight of unfamiliar objects rolling towards them in large numbers, turned and bolted. The Muslims did their utmost to control their panic-striken mounts but failed, and very soon the entire Muslim force was home again!

Hibal had reason to feel pleased with himself. He had pulled a fast one on the Muslims and driven them back to Madina without, so to speak, firing a shot. In view of this clever trick which Hibal pulled off, it is possible that the preceding apostate withdrawal had been a feint, planned by Hibal, to draw the

Muslims out of the security of their town towards Zu Hussa. We do not know. But Hibal now made the mistake of assuming that the Muslims were frightened, and that their hasty move back to Madina was a sign of weakness. He did not know that the Muslims were mounted on pack camels, and that it was these animals that had panicked and not the men who rode them. The part of his force that had remained at Zu Qissa was informed of this success and called forward. The same evening the full force of the apostates advanced and re-established the camp near Madina, from which they had withdrawn only the day be­fore. The spirits of the apostates were high.

The Muslims, on the other hand, were very angry, and every man was determined to set the record straight in a return engagement. Abu Bakr knew that the apostates had returned to their camp near Madina, and decided to assail them before they could complete their preparations for battle. Under his instructions, the Muslims spent most of the night reorganising their small army and preparing for battle.

During the latter part of the night Abu Bakr led his army out of Madina and formed up for the assault. He deployed the army with a centre, two wings and a rear guard. Keeping the centre under his direct comand, he placed the right wing under Noman, the left wing under Abdullah and the rearguard under Suweid — all three of whom were sons of Muqarran. Be­fore dawn the army was set in motion towards the enemy camp where the apostates, confident of an easy victory on the morrow, slept soundly.

This time it was Hibal who was surprised. The first glow of dawn had not yet appeared when a furious, screaming mass of Muslims fell upon the camp with drawn swords. The apostates did not stand upon the order of their going. Many were killed; but most of them found safety in flight, and did not stop until they had got to Zu Qissa, where they paused to rest and reorganise. Their spirits were no longer so high.

This round had been won by Abu Bakr, and his was no empty success. It was a bloody tactical action in which the enemy had been driven back by the sword and not by deception alone. Abu Bakr had decided to catch the enemy unawares and thus get the benefit of surprise to offset his numerical in­feriority, and in this he had succeeded.   He needed a quick

tactical victory and he had got it. As a matter of interest it may be noted that this is the first instance in Muslim history of a night attack — a tactical method which did not achieve popularity until the First World War.

Having won this round, Abu Bakr decided to give no respite to his opponents. He would catch them before the effect of the shock wore off and while alarm and confusion kept them disorganized. As the sun rose, he marched to Zu Qissa.

On arrival at Zu Qissa, he formed up for battle as he had done the night before, and then launched his attack. The apostates put up a fight; but their morale was low and after some resistance they broke contact and retreated to Abraq where more clansmen of the Ghatfan, the Hawazin and the Tayy were gathered. Abu Bakr, on capturing Zu Qissa, sent a small force under Talha bin Ubeidullah to pursue the enemy. Talha advanced a short distance and killed some stagglers, but the small size of his force prevented him from doing any great damage to the retreating apostates.

The capture of Zu Qissa took place on or about July 30, 632 (the 8^th of Jamadi-ul-Awwal, 11 Hijri). Abu Bakr left Noman bin Muqarran with a detachment to hold Zu Qissa, and with the rest of his force rode back to Madina. On August 2, the Army of Usama returned to Madina; the capital of Islam was no longer in danger.

On leaving Madina, Usama had marched to Tabuk. Most of the tribes in this region opposed him fiercely; but Usama, with the zeal and vigour of youth, swept across the land with fire and sword. He raided far and wide in the region of Northern Arabia, starting with the Quza'a, who scattered under the blows of his columns and then made their way to Daumat-ul-Jandal (where Khalid had captured Ukeidar two years before). Usama killed all those who fought him and burnt orchards and villages, leaving in his wake "a hurricane of smoke."¹

As a result of his operations several tribes re-submitted to Madina and re-embraced Islam. But the Quza'a remained rebellious and unrepentant, and had to be dealt with again a short while later by Amr bin Al Aas.

¹Ibn Sad: p.709.

Usama next marched to Mauta, fought the Christian Arabs of the tribes of Kalb and Ghassan and avenged the death of his father. There was, however, no major battle. Then he returned to Madina, bringing with him a large number of cap­tives and a considerable amount of wealth, part of which com­prised the spoils of war and part the taxes paid by the repentant tribes. The Army of Usama was warmly welcomed by Abu Bakr and the people of Madina, to whom its return brought comfort and assurance. It had been away for 40 days.

After the defeat of the apostates at Zu Qissa, several apostate clans turned viciously upon those of their members who remained Muslims and slaughtered them. The killing was done mercilessly, some Muslims being burnt alive and others thrown from the tops of cliffs. Abu Bakr heard the news of these atrocities with cold anger, and swore that he would kill every infidel who had murdered a Muslim and carry fire and sword to every apostate clan,

Things were now looking up for the Muslims. The recent victories of Abu Rakr, though not decisive, had raised spirits. Some of the apostate tribes living near Madina had repented, rejoined the faith and paid their taxes and more. The Army of Usama was back with captives and wealth. The coffers of the Muslim State were full again, providing a sound financial base for all-out war against the enemies of Islam.

But Abu Bakr decided that he needed more time before launching a general offensive, in order to rest and re-equip the Army of Usama. He consequently ordered Usama to rest his men at Madina and while doing so also ensure the safety of the capital. His own hastily scraped together force had now begun to feel like an army; and he decided to use this army, while the Army of Usama rested and re-equipped, to fight another offensive battle against the apostates gathered at Abraq. Now Abu Bakr really prepared for war, not only to punish the tribes for the heinous crime of apostasy, but also to avenge the innocent blood of the faithful Muslims who had been murdered by the apostates.

When Abu Bakr announced his intention of leading his army to Abraq, Muslim elders tried to restrain him. "May

Allah bless you, O Caliph of the Messenger of Allah'." they said.  " Do not endanger yourself by leading the army in person. If you should be killed, it would upset the order of things. Your very existence is a source of trouble to the unbelievers. Appoint another to command the army. Then, if he is killed, you can appoint yet another."

Abu Bakr was shortly going to place an immense burden on the shoulders of the Muslims, both commanders and troops. He was going to ask them to strive as they had never done be­fore and to face dangers which would appal most warriors. He could think of no better way of making them come up to his expectations than setting the pace himself.

"No, by Allah!" he replied. "I shall not do that. I shall not trouble others with my burden."¹

And it was under Abu Bakr that the small army marched out to Zu Qissa, where Noman awaited him. (This Noman was later to achieve everlasting fame as the victor of Nihawand in Persia.) Here Abu Bakr placed Noman and his brothers in com­mand of the wings and the rear guard, as he had done for his night attack, and set out for Abraq. It was now the second week of August (third week of Jamadi-ul-Awwal).

When the Muslims got to Abraq they found that the enemy was already formed up in battle array. Without delay, Abu Bakr deployed his army and attacked the apostates.

The apostate spirits now were not as high as they had been a fortnight before. The defeated elements which had escaped from Zu Qissa had joined the apostates at Abraq, and as is usual in such cases their arrival had had a depressing effect on others. For some time the apostates, who were numerically superior, resisted the Muslim attack; then they broke and fled. Abu Bakr had won another victory.

The remnants of the apostates fleeing from Abraq, and certain other clans from this region, travelled to Buzakha, whither Tuleiha the Impostor had moved from Sameera.  But other clans living in this area submitted to the columns which Abu Bakr sent out after the capture of Abraq to subdue the coun­tryside. Now more taxes were gathered, to which the repentant clans gladly added gifts that were as gladly accepted.

The following day the Caliph left Abraq for Madina. On

¹Tabari: Vol.2, p.476.

arrival at Madina he spent a few days in dealing with matters of state; then he moved to Zu Qissa with the Army of Usama. But it had now ceased to be the Army of Usama, for Usama had completed his work and his army was now the Army of Islam — to be used by the Caliph as required. Usama's tenure of com­mand was over.

At Zu Qissa, Abu Bakr organised the Army of Islam into several corps to deal with the various enemies who occupied the entire land of Arabia except for the small area in the posses­sion of the Muslims. This was the first time that the Muslim Army was organised into separate corps, each with its own commander, for independent missions under the general stra­tegical guidance of the Caliph.   Muslim commanders, until now essentially tacticians, would henceforth enter the higher realms of strategy and master those realms with a sure-footedness and ease that would astonish the world.

*

At Zu Qissa, in the fourth week of' August 632 (early Jamadi-ul-Akhir, 11 Hijri) Abu Bakr planned the strategy of the Campaign of the Apostasy. The battles which he had fought recently against the apostate concentrations at Zu Qissa and Abraq were in the nature of immediate preventive action to save Madina and discourage further offensives by the enemy, thus gaining time for the preparation and launching of his main forces. These actions could be described as spoiling attacks; they had enabled Abu Bakr to secure a base from which he could fight the major campaign that lay ahead.

Abu Bakr had no illusions about the task that faced him. He had to fight not one but several enemies — Tuleiha the Impos­tor at Buzakha; Malik bin Nuweira at Butah; Museilima the Liar at Yamama. He had to deal with widespread apostasy on the eastern and southern coasts of Arabia — in Bahrein, in Uman, in Mahra, in Hazramaut, in the Yemen. There was apostasy in the region south and east of Mecca, and in Northern Arabia the Quza'a had staged a comeback after the return of the Army of Usama.

The situation of the Muslims can be compared with a small island of belief in an ocean of disbelief; a lamp shining in the darkness which held every manner of danger for the Faith-

ful. Abu Bakr had not only to keep the flame alive, but also to dispel the darkness and crush the forces of evil that gathered threateningly on all sides.  In numerical strength the apostates vastly outnumbered the Muslims, though they were not united. Abu Bakr's military strength lay in his having, among the Muslims, the finest fighting men of the time. And he had a tre­mendous weapon — Khalid bin Al Waleed; the Sword of Allah.

Abu Bakr planned his strategy accordingly. He formed the army into several corps. The strongest corps, and this was the main punch of the Muslims, was the corps of Khalid, This was used to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces, to crack the toughest nuts. Other corps were given areas of secondary importance in which to bring the less dangerous apostate tribes to their senses, after the main enemy opposition was crushed. Two corps were kept as reserves to reinforce the corps of Khalid or any other corps that might need assistance. The first corps to go into action was that of Khalid, and the timing of the despatch of other corps hinged on the operations of Khalid, who was given the task of fighting the strongest enemy forces one after the other. Abu Bakr's plan was first to clear the area of West-Central Arabia (the area nearest Madina), then tackle Malik bin Nuweira, and finally concentrate against the most dangerous enemy of the lot — Museilima the Liar. Thus Abu Bakr would achieve concentration of force, by dealing with the main enemy armies separately and in turn, progressing step by step from nearer to farther regions.

The Caliph formed 11 corps, each under its own com­mander.¹ A standard was given to each corps. The available manpower was distributed among these corps and while some commanders were given immediate missions, others were given missions for which they would be launched later. The com­manders were also instructed to pick up brave men on the way as they marched to their objectives. The 11 corps commanders and their assigned objectives were as follows:

1.    Khalid: First Tuleiha at Buzakha, then Malik bin Nuweira at Butah.

2.       Ikrama bin Abi Jahl: Contact Museilima at Yamama

'               ¹The word 'corps' has been used in a loose sense to indicate an independent tactical command. These corps had no organisational resemblance with the modern army corps of about three divisions.

but not to get involved until more forces were built up.

3.  Amr bin Al Aas; The apostate tribes of Quza'a and Wadee'a in the area of Tabuk and Daumat-ul-Jandal,

4.   Shurahbeel bin Hasana: Follow Ikrama and await the Caliph's instructions.

5.    Khalid bin Saeed: Certain apostate tribes on the Syrian  frontier.

6.    Tureifa bin Hajiz: The apostate tribes of Hawazin and Bani Suleim in the area east of Madina and Mecca.

 7.   Ula bin Al Hazrami: The apostates in Bahrein.

 8.   Huzeifa bin Mihsan: The apostates in Uman.

 9.   Arafja bin Harsama: The apostates in Mahra.

 10.  Muhajir bin Abi Umayya: The apostates in the Yemen;                then the Kinda in Hazramaut.

  11.  Suweid bin Muqarran: Ths apostates in the coastal                                    area north of the Yemen.

As soon as the organisation of the corps was complete, Khalid marched off, to be followed a little later by Ikrama and Amr bin Al Aas. The other corps were held back by the Caliph and despatched weeks and even months later. Their despatch was conditioned by the progress of Khalid's operations against the hard core of enemy opposition.

Before the various corps lelt Zu Qissa, however, envoys were sent by Abu Bakr to all apostate tribes in a final attempt to induce them to see reason. These envoys were given identical instructions: they were to call upon the tribes to return to Islam and render full submission; for those tribes which submitted there would be forgiveness and peace; those tribes that resisted would be fought until no opposition remained and their women and children would be enslaved; before the attack, against any tribe, the Muslim forces would call the Azan (the Muslim call to prayer), and if the tribe responded with the Azan it would be assumed that it had submitted.

To the corps commanders, too, the Caliph gave identical general instructions, apart from their specific objectives. These instructions were as follows:

a.   Seek the tribes which are your objectives.

146    The Sword of Allah

b.  Call the Azan.

c.   If the tribe answers with the Azan, do not attack. After the Azan, ask the tribe to confirm its submission,  including the payment of taxes. If confirmed, do not attack.

d.   Those who submit will not be molested.

e.  Those who do not answer with the Azan, or after the Azan do not confirm full submission, will be dealt with by fire and sword.

f.   All apostates who have killed Muslims will be killed; those who have burnt Muslims alive will be burnt alive.¹

With these instructions Abu Bakr, no longer the meek, submissive Companion, launched the forces of Islam against the apostates.

Of the false prophets who remained after the death of Aswad, the first to clash with the Muslims was Tuleiha bin Khuweilad. He was a chief of the tribe of Bani Asad, and had been opposing the Holy Prophet off and on for many years.

Tuleiha first showed his hostility to Islam three months after the Battle of Uhud. Believing that the Muslims had been badly hurt in that battle, he got his clan together with the intention of raiding Madina and thus exploiting what he regarded as a fine opportunity; but the Prophet came to know of the concentration of the clan and sent a mounted column of 150 horsemen to deal with it. Before Tuleiha could get wind of this counter-move the Muslim horsemen were upon him. The infidels scattered without a fight, and the Muslims captured the flocks of the clan and drove them off to Madina as spoils. This setback so discredited Tuleiha in the eyes of his tribe that he had to lie low for a while.

Then he took part in the Battle of the Ditch. Responding eagerly to the invitation of the Jews to take up arms against the Muslims, he got together a contingent from the Bani Asad and commanded it in the coalition that besieged Madina. When Abu Sufyan withdrew from Madina, the Bani Asad also returned to their settlements. Again Tuleiha got nowhere.

The next occasion on which he opposed the Muslims was their campaign against the Jews of Kheibar in 628 (7 Hijri).

The Bani Asad, operating under Tuleiha, sided with the Jews. During the movement of the Muslim army towards Kheibar, Tuleiha fought a number of minor engagements with the Muslims but was worsted every time. Then he pulled out his forces and abandoned the Jews to their fate.

Two years later, during the 'Year of Delegations', the Bani Asad sent a delegation to Madina which offered submission to the Prophet. The whole tribe accepted Islam, but like many other tribes of Arabia its conversion was a matter of political convenience rather than genuine belief. Outwardly Tuleiha also embraced Islam. Whether infidel or Muslim, Tuleiha continued to enjoy considerable influence in his tribe as a chief and a soothsayer. He would foretell the future, dabble in clairvoyance and recite poetry.

During the illness of the Prophet, in fact a few days be­fore the Prophet died, Tuleiha made a bid for independence. He declared himself a prophet! He called upon his people to follow him, and many did. When word arrived of the Holy Pro­phet's death, he intensified his efforts to establish himself as the new prophet; and as the contagion of the apostasy spread over Arabia, the entire tribe of Bani Asad flocked to his standard, accepting him as chief and prophet. To mark the severance of his ties with Madina, Tuleiha expelled the Muslim tax-collector of his area — a valiant young man by the name of Zarrar bin Al Azwar, of whom the account of the Campaign in Syria will have much to say.

Having proclaimed himself prophet, Tuleiha felt that he had to do something about religion in order to prove that he really was an apostle of God. He could think of no better way of creat­ing a spectacular effect than by altering the form of prayer. He abolished prostration, which is an integral part of the Muslim prayer ritual. "Allah does not want us to invert our faces", he dec­lared, "or bend our backs in an ugly posture. Pray standing!"¹ And the Bani Asad prayed without prostration after their impostor.

With the spread of the apostasy the ranks of his followers swelled. He received offers of support from the major tribes of North-Central Arabia, the staunchest of which were the Ghatfan, followed by the Tayy, with both of which the Bani Asad had an

¹Ibn-uI-Aseer: Vol. 2, p.131.

old and abiding alliance. There was support also from the Hawazin and the Bani Suleim, but this was lukewarm. Although these two great tribes also apostatised and fought the Muslims, they did not join Tuleiha and did not fight under his standard.

The most powerful single supporter of Tuleiha was Uyeina bin Hisn, the one-eyed chief of the Bani Fazara — a powerful clan of the Ghatfan. This was the man who had commanded the Ghatfan contingent at the Battle of the Ditch and whom the Holy Prophet had nicknamed the Willing Fool. Now he lived up to that name by following Tuleiha. He did not, however, believe wholeheartedly in the impostor, for he is known to have said, "^I would rather follow a prophet from an allied tribe than one from the Qureish. Anyway, Muhammad is dead and Tuleiha is alive."¹ His support proved invaluable, for he brought the entire tribe of Ghatfan under the sway of Tuleiha.

Tuleiha gathered the Bani Asad at Sameera. The Ghatfan lived in the neighbourhood of the Bani Asad and would join him soon. The Tayy also accepted him as chief-of-chiefs and prophet, but remained in their own region north and north-east of Kheibar, except for a small contingent which joined him at Sameera. Here Tuleiha began his preparations to fight the power of Islam.

When he heard of the gathering of the clans at Abraq and Zu Qissa, he sent a contingent from his tribe to reinforce them under his brother, Hibal. The Muslim operations against Zu Qissa and Abraq have already been described.  While these operations were in progress, Tuleiha moved with his army to Buzakha, where he was joined some time later by the remnants of the apostates driven from Abraq.

At Buzakha, Tuleiha's preparations progressed rapidly. He sent couriers to many clans, inviting them to join him, and many clans responded to the call. Uyeina brought 700 warriors from the Bani Fazara. The largest groups were from the Bani Asad and the Ghatfan. There also was a contingent from the Tayy, but the main part of the Tayy did not come to Buzakha.

Tuleiha was ready for battle when Khalid set out from Zu Qissa.

*

Before launching Khalid against Tuleiha, Abu Bakr sought ways and means of reducing the latter's strength, so that the battle could be fought with the maximum prospects of victory. Nothing could be done about the tribes of Bani Asad and Ghatfan which stood solidly behind Tuleiha; but the Tayy were another matter. They were not nearly so staunch in their support of the impostor; and their chief, Adi bin Hatim, was a devout Muslim. (A man who was to live to the incredible age of 120 years, Adi was so tall that when he sat on his horse, his feet would touch the ground!¹) When Adi had tried to prevent the apostasy of the Tayy, they had renounced him, with the result that he had left the tribe, along with a group of his faithful supporters, and joined the Caliph. Abu Bakr now decided to make an attempt at drawing the Tayy away from Tuleiha. And if they could not be persuaded to abandon the impostor, they should be fought and crushed quickly in their present location before they could join him at Buzakha. Thus Tuleiha would be denied the support of the Tayy.

Abu Bakr sent the Tayy chief to work on his tribe. With him marched Khalid, whose corps numbered about 4,000 men. "If the efforts of Adi are not successful", Abu Bakr instructed Khalid, "fight the Tayy in their present location."² After dealing with the Tayy, Khalid was to march on Buzakha. (See Map 8.)

Setting off from Zu Qissa, Khalid marched in a northerly direction, making for Buzakha. When still a few marches from Buzakha, he turned left and approached the area south of the Aja Mountains, where the tribe of Tayy was gathered. Here Adi went forward and addressed the tribe: he spoke of Allah and His Messenger, of the fire of hell, of the futility of resistance; but in spite of his great eloquence he made no headway. The tribal elders rejected him, whereupon Adi warned them: "Then pre­pare to meet an army that comes to destroy you and take your women. Do as you please."

The warning had the desired effect. The elders reflected for a while and then said, "Keep this army away from us until we have extricated our brethren who are with Tuleiha. We have a pact with him. If we break it, he will either kill our brethren or hold them as hostages. We must get them away from Tuleiha

¹Ibn Quteiba: p. 313. ²Tabari: Vol.2, p.483.

before openly renouncing him."

Adi returned to the Muslim camp and explained the posi­tion to Khalid, but Khalid was in no mood to waste time on nego­tiations. He held strong views about the apostasy and was not inclined to be kind to those who turned to disbelief-after-belief. "Three days, 0 Khalid!" Adi pleaded. "Just three days! And I shall get you 500 warriors from my tribe to fight beside you. That is better than sending them to the Fire."¹ Khalid agreed to wait.

The elders of the Tayy sent off a detachment of horsemen to Tuleiha, ostensibly as a reinforcement for their contingent. And there they started working secretly to get the Tayy contingent away from Tuleiha before Khalid's arrival at Buzakha. In this they succeeded. If any members of the Tayy remained with Tulei­ha, and it appears that a few did, they took no part in the Battle of Buzakha.

Khalid had agreed not to attack the Tayy. Meanwhile he decided to turn on another apostate tribe which lived close by — the Jadeela. The Caliph had said nothing about the Jadeela, but Khalid did not need an invitation to fight. When he announced his intention of attacking the Jadeela, Adi again came forward with an offer to persuade the tribe to submit without bloodshed. Khalid was not the man to worry about bloodshed: but in view of the possibility of augmenting his own strength with more warriors, he agreed to Adi's suggestion. The eloquence of Adi bore fruit. The Jadeela submitted, and 1,000 warriors joined Khalid. With the strength of his corps augmented with the 500 horsemen from the Tayy and the 1,000 from the Jadeela, Khalid, now much stronger than when he had left Zu Qissa, marched for Buzakha. On his way he was to pick up more warriors.

When a day's march from Buzakha, Khalid sent forward two scouts on a reconnaissance mission. Both these men were Ansars, one of them a renowned Companion by the name of Ukkasha bin Mihsan. These scouts met two apostates engaged on a similar mission for the enemy, one of whom was Hibal, the brother of Tulieha. Hibal was killed, but the other escaped to carry the sad news to the impostor.

Enraged at the news of his brother's death, Tuleiha came forward in person with another brother, Salma. The two pairs

¹Ibid.

met. There were two duels. Tuleiha and Ukkasha were expert swordsmen and continued to fight long after Salma had killed the other Muslim. But at last Ukkasha went down before Tuleiha. The bodies of the Muslims remained where they had fallen until the rest of the Muslims arrived to discover and bury them. The loss of these two Muslims was deeply mourned, for they were fine fighters and beloved comrades.

When Khalid got to the southern part of the plain of Buzakha, he went into camp a short distance from where the apostates were encamped. From these two camps the opposing forces would move out to battle. The battlefield consisted of the plain of Buzakha — a level, open plain with a few low, rocky hil­locks on its western and northern edges. These hillocks were an extension of the south-eastern foothills of the Aja Range.' (See Map 8.)

The stage for the Battle of Buzakha was set. The Muslims prepared for the morrow as did the apostates. Khalid, the Sword of Allah, with about 6,000 men, faced Tuleiha the Impostor, the strength of whose army is not recorded but is believed to have been much more than that of the Muslims. It was now about the middle of September, 632 (late Jamadi-ul-Akhir, 11 HiJri).

*

On the morning after the arrival of Khalid, the two armies formed up for battle on the plain of Buzakha. Khalid com­manded the Muslims in person and stood ahead of his corps. Tuleiha, however, appointed Uyeina to command his army, in the centre of which stood the 700 Bani Fazara (Uyeina's clan). The impostor himself sat in a tent a short distance behind his army, his head wrapped in a scarf and a cloak draped over his shoulders. He assumed a meditative posture and let it be known that he would receive guidance from Jibreel, God's messenger angel, on the conduct of battle.

Soon after the two forces were arrayed for battle, Khalid launched an attack along the entire front. For some time the apostates resisted stubbornly, especially the Bani Fazara; but after a while the pressure of the Muslims began to tell and dents

¹Nothing remains of Buzakha, but the plain which bears its name starts 25 miles south-west of the present Hail and runs in a south-westerly direction.

appeared in the apostate front line. Uyeina, alarmed at the severity of the Muslim attack, rode to Tulieha's tent, hoping that divine guidance would come to their aid. "Has Jibreel come to you?" he enquired. "No", replied the impostor with a solemn expression. Uyeina returned to battle.

Some more time passed. Then Khalid was able to drive a wedge into the infidel centre, but it still held, and the fighting became more intense with every inch of ground hotly contested. Uyeina again rode to Tuleiha and asked, "Has Jibreel come to you?" "No, by Allah!" replied the impostor. Again Uyeina returned to battle.

Scenting victory, the Muslims now attacked more fiercely and gained some more ground. It was all the apostates could do to prevent a complete rupture of their position. Seeing the situation turn hopeless Uyeina went for the third time to Tuleiha. There was a nervous impatience in his voice as he asked the familiar question: "Has Jibreel come to you?" The impostor ans­wered, "Yes." "What did he say?" asked Uyeina.

Calmly Tuleiha replied, "He said 'You have a handmill just like his, and this is a day that you will not forget!" "By Allah!" Uyeina exploded as the scales fell from his eyes, "This is a day that you shall certainly not forget." He then dashed to his clan. "0 Bani Fazara'" he shouted. "This man is an impostor. Turn away from the fight!”¹

The Bani Fazara, the hard core of Tulieha's centre, turned and rode away. With their departure the entire front gave way and the apostate opposition collapsed. Groups of infidels raced from the battlefield in all directions. Those who resisted were cut to pieces by the victorious Muslims. Some hapless fugitives rushed to Tuleiha and asked, "What are your commands?" Tuleiha replied, "Let those who can, do as I do and save them­selves and their families."²

With this parting instruction Tuleiha placed his wife on a fast camel, which he had kept ready saddled for just this eventuality. He himself sprang on to his horse, and man and wife disappeared in a cloud of dust.

The Battle of Buzakha was over. Khalid had been vic­torious. The second most powerful enemy of Islam had been

defeated and his forces scattered.

*

Tuleiha fled to the border of Syria, where he took up residence among the Kalb. His imposturing days were over. But he had not been long with this tribe when he heard that the Bani Asad had re-entered Islam. Consequently he too became a Muslim and rejoined his tribe. He even visited Mecca for the pilgrimage during the time of Abu Bakr; but the Caliph, though informed of his visit, took no notice of him.

About two years later he visited Madina and came to see Umar, who did not forgive easily. On seeing Tuleiha, Umar said to him, "You killed two noble Muslims, including Ukkasha bin Mihsan. By Allah, I shall never love you."

Tuleiha had a subtle wit. He replied, "Allah blessed them with paradise by my hand, while I did not benefit by theirs. I seek forgiveness from Allah."

Umar, unrelenting, tried again. "You lied when you said that Allah would do you no harm."

"That", replied Tuleiha, "arose from the mischief of dis­belief which Allah has destroyed. I cannot now be blamed for it,"

Umar saw that he was not getting far with this exchange and made a last attempt. "O trickster! What remains of your clairvoyance?"

"Nothing but a gust or two from the bellows!”¹

A sense of humour was not one of Umar's strong points;

and not being able to think of a suitable rejoinder, he turned away.

Tuleiha returned to his tribe and lived amongst them until the third invasion of Iraq. Then he volunteered for service in Iraq as a Muslim warrior and commander.  He served with distinction, performing prodigies of valour and skill, and took part in the great battles of Qadisiyya and Nihawand, where he fell a martyr. Tuleiha thus more than earned his redemption.

As soon as the battle was over, Khalid sent out columns to pursue the fleeing apostates and subdue the neighbouring tribes. One column caught up with some apostates in the hilly region of Rumman, 30 miles south-south-east of Buzakha but

they submitted without a fight and became Muslims again. Khalid led a fast column in pursuit of Uyeina, who had fled to the south-east with his clan of Bani Fazara and some elements of the Bani Asad. Uyeina had only got as far as Ghamra, 60 miles away¹ (see Map 8), when Khalid overtook him. Uyeina then turned to fight again, for although he was now totally disillusioned about Tuleiha, he remained defiant and unrepentant. There was a sharp clash in which several apostates were killed and the rest fled. Uyeina was taken prisoner.

Uyeina's father had been a very prominent and highly respected chieftain of the Ghatfan, as a result of which Uyeina regarded himself as second to none in birth and rank. But this proud scion of a long line of chiefs, with whom the Holy Prophet himself had sought to negotiate peace at the Battle of the Ditch, was now put in irons and led as a humble captive to Madina.

As he entered Madina, the children, on discovering his identity and circumstances, crowded around him. They began to prod him with sharp sticks, chanting awhile: "O Enemy of Allah! You disbelieved-after-belief." Uyeina protested pitiously, "By Allah, I never was a believer." In other words, since he had never become a Muslim (as he now falsely claimed), he could not be accused of apostasy.

He pleaded his case before Abu Bakr, who pardoned him;

and so Uyeina became a Muslim again and lived in peace amidst his tribe for many long years.

In the time of Caliph Usman, Uyeina, now grown old, visited Madina and called on the Caliph. It was well after sunset. Usman, as always the generous host, asked him to stay for supper and was taken aback when Uyeina declined the invitation on the plea that he was fasting. (The Muslim fast begins at the first light of dawn and ends at sunset.) Seeing the look of surprise on Usman's face, Uyeina exclaimed hastily, "I find it easier to fast by night than by day!"²

            After the action at Ghamra, Khalid set off for Naqra

¹Ghamra lies 15 miles north-north-east of Sameera, and a hill overlooking the present village is also named Ghamra. This place has been called Ghamr by Ibn Sad who places it at two stages from Feid (p. 590). It is actually 30 miles from Feid as the crow flies, and would be a little farther by caravan route.

²Ibn Quteiba: p. 304.

where certain clans of the Bani Suleim had gathered to continue the struggle against Islam. (See Map 8.) In command of this group of Bani Suleim was a rash chieftain whose name was Amr bin Abdul Uzza, but who was more commonly known as Abu Shajra, This man had learnt no lesson from the defeat ofTuleiha; and in order to encourage his men to remain firm in their de­fiance of Muslim authority, he composed and recited the follow­ing lines:

My spear shall play havoc

With the regiments of Khalid.

And I trust thereafter

It shall also crush Umar.¹

As soon as he arrived at Naqra, Khalid launched his column into a violent attack on the Bani Suleim. Actually, he had pleasant memories of the Bani Suleim. They had served under him during the conquest of Mecca and the Battle of Hunein and the advance to Taif. Except for their flight when ambushed in the Hunein defile (when most troops would have done the same), they had served him well. But now they had apostatised and deserved no mercy.

Fighting against their ex-commander, the Bani Suleim resisted fiercely for some time and were able to kill several Muslims; but they too found the powerful blows of Khalid too hard to take and broke up. A large number of them were slaughtered before the rest found safety in flight. Their com­mander, Abu Shajra the soldier-poet, was taken prisoner and sent to Madina, where he too pleaded his case with Abu Bakr and was pardoned. He also re-entered Islam.

In later years Abu Shajra fell upon bad times; he was impoverished. Hoping to get some help from Madina, he rode thither, tied his camel outside the town and went in. Soon he came upon Umar who stood surrounded by the poor to whom he was distributing alms. Entering the throng, Abu Shajra called, "I too am in need." Umar turned and looked at him but failed to recognise him. His appearance had changed much since the days of his apostasy. "Who are you?" Umar enquired.

"I am Abu Shajra."

Suddenly old memories flashed across the mind of Umar and he recalled the entire story of the wretched man. "0 Enemy

¹Tabari: Vol.2, p.494.

of Allah!" Umar roared. "Was it not you who recited:

My spear shall play havoc

With the regiments of Khalid.

And I trust thereafter

It shall also crush Umar. . . ?"

Umar did not wait for a reply. He raised his whip, without which he never left his house, and struck at the man. Abu Shajra raised his arm to protect his head even as he pleaded, "My sub­mission to Islam has cancelled all that."¹ Then the second blow fell!

Abu Shajra realised that no amount of pleading would stay the whip of Umar, who was clearly in a mood to strike first and ask questions later. He turned and ran as fast as his legs would carry him, with Umar in hot pursuit, brandishing his whip. But he outran Umar, got to his camel, leapt onto its back and sped away.

Abu Shajra never showed his face in Madina again!

*

While the Battle of Buzakha was being fought, certain tribes had stood aside and watched. These were the tribe of Bani Amir and certain clans of the Hawazin and Bani Suleim. Though inclined towards Tuleiha, they had wisely refrained from battle and preferred to sit on the fence until the outcome of battle was known. The outcome was soon known. Peace and quiet had hardly returned to Buzakha when these tribes came to Khalid and submitted. "We re-enter what we came out of", they declared. "We believe in Allah and His Messenger. We shall submit to his orders with our lives and property."²

Soon other sections of repentant Arabs began to pour into Buzakha. "We submit!" was the universal cry. But Khalid remembered the instructions of the Caliph — to kill all who had killed Muslims. He refused to accept their submission (which meant that they could be attacked, killed, enslaved) until they had handed over every murderer in the tribe. To this the tribes agreed.

All the murderers were lined up.  Khalid's justice was

¹Balazuri: p. 107.     ²Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 486.

swift. He had each murderer killed in exactly the same manner as he had employed to kill his Muslim victim. Some were beheaded, some were burnt alive, some stoned to death. Some were thrown from the tops of cliffs, while others were shot to death with arrows. A few were cast into wells.¹ An eye for an eye!

Having completed this task, Khalid wrote to Abu Bakr and gave him a complete account of all that had passed. The Caliph wrote him a complimentary letter in reply, congratulating him on his success, approving his actions and praying for his continued success.

After the action against the Bani Suleim at Naqra, Khalid stayed at Buzakha for three weeks, receiving the submission of the tribes and punishing the murderers. Then he turned his steps towards Zafar, where a lady needed his attention. He looked forward eagerly to the rendezvous; and she awaited him with breathless anticipation!

*

Satma, alias Umm Ziml, was a first cousin of Uyeina. Her father too was a big chief, Malik bin Huzeifa, of the Ghatfan. Not only was her father a noted chief, but her mother, Umm Qirfa, also was a great lady, held in esteem and veneration by the tribe. In the time of the Holy Prophet, the mother had fought against the Muslims and had been captured in battle and killed, but memories of the chieftainess had remained alive among the Ghatfan. Salma had been taken captive and led to Madina, where the Prophet presented her as a slave to his wife, Ayesha. But Salma was not happy; so Ayesha set her free, and she re­turned to her tribe.

After the death of her parents, Salma rose in stature until she began to command the same respect and affection in her tribe as her mother had enjoyed. She became — and this was unusual among the Arabs — a chief in her own right. Her mother had owned a magnificent camel which was now inherited by Salma; and since the daughter looked just like the mother, whenever she rode the camel she reminded her people of the departed grande dame.

Salma became one of the leaders of the apostasy and an implacable enemy of Islam. After the Battle of Buzakha and

the action at Ghamra, some of those who had lost to Khalid, along with many diehards from the Hawazin and the Bani Suleim, hastened to Zafar, at the western edge of the Salma Range, and joined the army of Salma. (Sec Map 8.)' She upbraided them mercilessly for their defeat and their abandonment of Uyeina, and such was the awe of this lady that they took it without a murmur. With her strong hand she whipped this motley collection into shape as a closely-knit, well-organised army; and within a few days she had become a threat to the autho­rity of Islam. She knew that Khalid, now free of the problem of Buzakha, would come to deal with her, and she eagerly awai­ted a clash with the Sword of Allah.

Khalid marched his corps from Buzakha to Zafar where the army of Islam again came face-to-face with the army of disbelief. Again Khalid took the initiative and attacked.

But it proved a hard battle. While Khalid was able to drive back the wings, he could make no progress against the centre of the apostates. The centre stood firm. Here rode Salma in an armoured litter atop her mother's famous camel, and from this command post she personally conducted the battle. Around her camel were gathered the bravest of her warriors, determined to sacrifice their lives in defence of the noble animal and its venerated rider.

Khalid realised that in the person of Salma lay the moral strength of the enemy force, and that as long as she sur­vived in her litter the battle would continue and turn into a bloodbath. She had to be eliminated. Consequently, leading a picked group of warriors, he made a determined thrust towards the camel, and after some vicious sword-fighting was able to get to the animal. With a few slashes the camel was brought down and with it fell the prized litter. Salma was killed immedia­tely. Around her sprawled the bodies of 100 of her followers who had fought to the last in defence of their chief.

With the death of Salma all resistance collapsed and the apostates scattered in all directions. Salma had given Khalid the

¹While the general location of Zafar can be established, its exact location is not certain. Tabari gives Zafar as the scene of the battle and also mentions Ark as the town of the chiefteness Salma. Ark is now a village named Rakk, 35 miles from Hail, nestling at the foot of the northern spurs of the Salma Range. Twelve miles south of Rakk there is a hill called Zafar, on the western slope of the range, and I regard this as the Zafar where the battle was fought.

hardest fight since Tuleiha.

The Salma Range — a range of black, rugged hills standing some 40 miles south-east of the town of Hail — is believed to have been named after Salma, Umm Ziml... a fitting tribute to a grand lady who had the courage to stand and fight against the greatest soldier of the day, and who went down flghting.

The Battle of Zafar was fought in late October 632 (late Rajab, 11 Hijri). For a few days Khalid rested his men. Then he gave orders for the march to Butah, to fight Malik bin Nuweira.

The first phase of the Campaign of the Apostasy ended with the death of Salma. The major tribes of North-Central Arabia which had rebelled against Islam as followers of Tuleiha had now been defeated and subdued, and their leaders were either killed or captured or driven away. No more rebel chief­tains raised their heads again in this region.

But one man remained, more of a bandit leader than a tribal chief, who was still causing anxiety to the Muslims. This man's name was Ayas bin Abd Yaleel, but he was more com­monly known as Al Faja'a. He was an adventurer.

At about the time when Khalid was consolidating his gains at Buzakha, Al Faja'a came to Abu Bakr. "I am a Muslim", he said. "Equip me with weapons and I shall fight the infidels."¹

Abu Bakr was only too glad to hear the offer and equip­ped him with weapons. The man rode away from Madina, for­med a gang of bandits and began to waylay unwary travellers, many of whom were killed. The gangsters operated in the region lying to the east of Mecca and Madina, and Muslim and infidel alike suffered at the hands of Al Faja'a.

When Abu Bakr heard of the depradations of Al Faja'a, he decided to make an example of him for the deceit that he had practised on the Caliph. He sent a column to get the man alive; and a few days later the brigand was brought to Madina in irons.

Abu Bakr ordered a large pile of faggots arranged in front of the mosque. When ready, the pile was set on fire. As the wood crackled and the flames rose skywards, Al Faja'a, still in

¹Tabari: Vol.2, p.492.

Tuleiha the Impostor   161

irons,  was thrown into the fire!

            When Abu Bakr was dying, two years later, he expressed certain regrets. There were, he said, three things that he hand done and wished he had not done, and three things that he had not done and wished he had. One of these related to Al Eaja’a. “I wish”, said Abu Bakr,”I had had Al Faja’a killed outright and not burnt alive.”¹

         ¹Ibid: Vol. 2,p. 619; Balazuri : p.112; Masudi: Muruj, Vol.2,p. 308.

Malik bin Nuweira was a chief of the Bani Yarbu', a large section of the powerful tribe of Bani Tameem which in­habited the north-eastern region of Arabia, above Bahrein. Being close to Persia, some elements of the Bani Tameem had embraced Zoroastrianism, but by and large the tribe was pagan until Islam came to Arabia. The centre of Malik's clan was Butah.' (See Map. 8).

Malik was a chief of noble birth. Famous for his genero­sity and hospitality, he would keep a light burning outside his house all night so that any traveller passing that way would know where to find shelter and food. He would get up during the night to check the light. A strikingly handsome man, he had a thick head of hair and his face, a contemporary has said, was "as fine as the moon."² He was skilful in the use of weapons and noted for his courage and chivalry; and he was an accomplished poet. Thus Malik possessed all the qualitites which the Arabs looked for in the perfect male. He had everything!

Leila was the daughter of Al Minhal and was later also known as Umm Tameem. A dazzling beauty, she was one of the loveliest girls in Arabia, the fame of whose stunning good looks

¹Butah is now nothing more than a tiny Bedouin settlement 14 miles south-south-west of the present Rass. It shows signs of having been a bigger place at one time.

²Balazuri: p. 108.

had spread far and wide. She was known especially for her gorgeous eyes and her lovely legs. She too had everything!¹

When she came of age she was pursued by every swain in the region but rejected the suit of one and all. Then she met Malik, with whom she was destined to enter the pages of his­tory. Malik married Leila. Thus Malik, in addition to all his other enviable qualifications, also had as wife one of the loveliest women of the time.

Malik bin Nuweira certainly had everything. Everything, that is, but faith.

During the Year of Delegations, when the tribe of Bani Tameem embraced Islam, Malik also moved with the popular trend and became a Muslim. In view of his distinguished position in the tribe and his unquestionable talents, the Holy Prophet appointed him as an officer over the clan of Bani Hanzala. His main responsibility was the collection of taxes and their des­patch to Madina.

Malik performed these duties honestly and efficiently for some time. Then the Holy Prophet died. When news of his death reached Butah, Malik had just collected a good deal of tax, prior to its despatch to Madina. Forgetting his oath of allegiance, he at once opened the coffers and returned the money to the tax-payers. “O Bani Hanzala!" he announced, "your wealth is now our own."² Malik had apostatised.

Sajjah was the daughter of Al Haris. Born in a family of chiefs, she had qualitites of leadership, personality and intel­lect with which few women have been endowed. She was clair­voyant, would predict future events, and was so versatile a poetess that practically everything that she said was in verse. When people spoke to her, she rhymed back at them.

Later known as Umm Sadira, she also belonged, on her father's side, to the Bani Yarbu' and thus was a kinswoman of Malik bin Nuweira. On her mother's side, however, she belonged to the Taghlib, one of the tribes in the large group known as

¹Isfahani: Vol. 14, p. 65. "It used to be said that never had legs more beautiful than hers been seen.

²Balazuri: p. 107.

Rabee'a which inhabited Iraq. Sajjah lived mostly among the Taghlib who followed the Christian faith, and because of her mother's influence, Sajjah also had become a Christian, but Christianity did not have a very strong hold upon her, nor up­on many members of the Taghlib, as we shall see.

When apostasy began to spread, Sajjah heard that Tuleiha and Museilima had proclaimed their prophethood. Her fertile imagination was intrigued by the possibilities that these false claims opened up. Why should only men be prophets? Why could a woman not enter the sacred precincts of prophethood? An adventuress at heart, she finally gave in to the temptation. "I am a prophetess!" she declared, and elucidated the point with a few appropriate verses.

Strangely enough, most of her mother's clan accepted her as prophetess and pledged to obey her. They had been Christians! She mustered many armed followers and came down into Ara­bia, where her father's tribe also flocked to her standard. No doubt many who followed her, elders and clansmen, were led by the temptation of plunder and the desire to settle old scores with some of the tribes in North-Eastern Arabia which had old feuds with them.

Elated by her success in gathering followers, she arrived at Al Hazn with a fair-sized force and exchanged envoys with her kinsman, Malik bin Nuweira.' She proposed a pact: they would operate jointly against the tribes which were their mutual feudal enemies and would thereafter war against the Muslim power at Madina. In order to assure Malik that she had no aggressive designs upon the lands of the Bani Yarbu', she declared, "I am only a woman of the Bani Yarbu'. The land is yours."²

Malik accepted Sajjah's proposal and entered into a pact with her. However, he cooled her martial ardour somewhat and dissuaded her from warring against the Muslims.  This happened in June 632.

The combined forces of Malik and Sajjah now turned upon the hapless tribes which had offended the Bani Tameem and the Taghlib. There was nothing religious in this operation; the

¹The location of Hazn is not certain, but according to local in­formation in Hail, it is the same as the area of Hazm which lies between Sameera and Butah. This seems to fit in with Yaqut's statement (Vol. 1, p. 661) that it was near Butah.

²Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 496.

underlying motives were revenge and the lust for loot. Any tribe that resisted was fought, subdued and plundered. Malik was joined to the impostress by the pact and his followers fought alongside hers in these raids.  It appears, however, that he did not personally take part in these depradations.

Then Sajjah came to Nibbaj and began plundering the neighbourhood.¹ And here she suffered a serious setback. The local clans, driven by their common fear of the terrible lady, united in opposition to her and this resistance resulted in a battle. It was not by any means a decisive battle, but she got the worst of it; a few of her important officers were captured by her op­ponents, who refused to release them unless she pledged to depart from their area. To this she agreed.

The elders of the tribes which made up her following now gathered around their impostress. "Where now?" they asked.

"To Yamama," she replied.

"But the people of Yamama are mighty", they pointed out, "and their Chief, Museilima, is a very powerful man."

"To Yamama", repeated Sajjah and then broke into verse:

Onward to Yamama!

With the flight of soaring pigeons:

Where the fighting is the fiercest;

And no blame shall fall upon you. Onward to Yamama!²

Museilima the Liar was the most formidable of the ene­mies of Islam who rose to threaten the existence of the new state. He was the son of Habeeb, of the Bani Haneefa, which was one of the largest tribes of Arabia and inhabited the region of Yamama.

Museilima first mounted the stage of history in late 9 Hijri --'the Year of Delegations' — when he accompanied a delegation of the Bani Haneefa to Madina. The delegation included two

¹Nibbaj is the present Nabqiyya (also called Nabjiyya by the inhabitants), 25 miles north-east of Bureida. Now it is a village; then it was a sizable town.

²Tabari: Vol.2, p.498.

other prominent men who were to exercise a profound influence on Museilima and his tribe — one in aiding Museilima's rise to power and the other in saving the tribe from destruction. These men were, respectively, Nahar Ar-Rajjal bin Unfuwa¹ and Muja'a bin Marara.

The delegation arrived at Madina. The camels were tied in a traveller's camp, and Museilima remained there to look after them while the other delegates went in. They had talks with the Prophet, submitted to him and embraced Islam. As was his custom, the Prophet presented gifts to the delegates; and when they had received their gifts one of them dropped a hint: "We left one of our comrades in the camp to look after our mounts." The Prophet gave them gifts for him also, and added, "He is not the least among you that he should stay behind to guard the property of his comrades."² These words were to be used by Museilima later to his own advantage,

On their return, this delegation passed on the message of Islam and established the new faith among the Bani Haneefa. The whole tribe was converted. They built a mosque at Yamama and started regular prayers.

Thus some months passed. Then Musylima resiled from his faith and proclaimed his own prophethood. He gathered the people and, referring to Muhammad, addressed them: "I have been given a share with him in this matter. Did he not say to our delegates that I was not the least among them? This could only mean that he knew that I had a share with him in this mat­ter."³ (The matter was the prophethood.)

He then dazzled the crowd with his marvellous tricks. He was a superb conjuror and could do what no one had done before. He could put an egg in a bottle; he could cut off the feathers of a bird and then stick them on so the bird would fly again; and he used this skill to persuade the people that he really was divinely gifted. He took to addressing gatherings as an apostle of God, and would compose verses and offer them as Quranic revelations. Most of his verses extolled the superi­ority of his tribe, the Bani Haneefa, over the Qureish. Some, however, were utterly ridiculous, like the following:

¹Some early historians have given this man's name as Rahhal.

²Ibn Hisham: Vol. 2. pp. 576-7.

³Ibid.

Allah has blessed my wisdom.

It is as strong as the gust that blows

From between the belly and the intestines!¹

And the people marvelled at his widsom and flocked to him. Strangely enough they did not doubt or dispute the divine mission of Muhammad.  They accepted Muhammad as the apostle of God. But they also accepted Museilima as co-prophet — which is all that Museilima claimed.

Gradually the influence and authority of Museilima in­creased. Then one day, in late 10 Hijri, he wrote to Prophet Muhammad;

"From Museilima, Messenger of Allah, to Muham­mad, Messenger of Allah. Salutations to you. I have been given a share with you in this matter. Half the earth belongs to us and half to the Qureish. But the Qureish are a people who transgress."

In reply the Holy Prophet wrote to Museilima:

"In the name of Allah, the Benificent, the Merci­ful. From Muhammad, Messenger of Allah, to Museilima the Liar. Salutations to whosoever follows the Guidance. Lo! The earth belongs to Allah. He gives it to whoever He chooses from among His servants. And the Hereafter is for the virtuous."²

The impostor was henceforth known as Museilima the Liar! Now Nahar Ar-Rajjal, whom we have mentioned earlier as a member of the Bani Haneefa delegation, came into action. This man had stayed behind at Madina when the rest of the delegation returned home; and had attached himself to the Holy Prophet, from whom he acquired a great deal of knowledge about Islam. He learnt the Quran and rose in stature as a close and respected Companion of the Prophet. In a few months he had built up an enviable reputation as a devout and virtuous Muslim, and so he became known over most of Arabia.

When reports of the spread of Museilima's mischief be­came more alarming, the Holy Prophet began to consider ways and means of countering the influence of the Liar. Yamama was too far away for a military operation, so he decided to send a man to work against Museilima amongst the people. And who could

be better suited to this task than Rajjal? He was a chief of the Bani Haneefa; he had learnt the Quran; he had acquired wisdom and grace at the feet of the Prophet. And so Rajjal was sent by the Prophet to undo the mischief that Museilima had wrought at Yamama.

As soon as he arrived at Yamama, the rascal declared that Museilima was indeed a prophet. "I have heard Muhammad say so", he lied.¹ And who could doubt the words of this respected Companion! The arrival of the renegade proved a windfall for Museilima; and the Bani Haneefa came in even larger numbers to swear allegiance to 'Museilima, Messenger of Allah!'

Museilima and Rajjal now formed an evil and accursed partnership. Rajjal became the right hand man of Museilima, and the impostor made no important decision without consulting him.

With the death of the Holy Prophet, Museilima's hold over the Bani Haneefa became total. People flocked to him, and Museilima began making his own rules in matters of moral and religious conduct. He made alcohol lawful. He also ordered that once a man had fathered a son he would live in celibacy unless the son died, in which case women were permitted to him until he got another son.

His people began to believe that Museilima had miraculous powers, and Rajjal helped foster this image. Once Rajjal sug­gested that he stroke the head of every newborn babe, as Pro­phet Muhammad used to do, as a form of blessing. Orders were issued accordingly. Thereafter every newborn babe in Yamama was brought to Museilima to have its head stroked. Historians narrate that when these infants had grown to full manhood or womanhood, they did not have a single hair on their heads! But this was not, of course, known till after Museilima's death. Many are the instances of Museilima emulating the acts of Muhammad with opposite and disastrous results.

Though all the Bani Haneefa followed him, not all be­lieved in his divine mission, certainly not the intelligent ones. Some accepted him for political convenience or for reasons of personal advancement while many were motivated by feelings of tribal loyalty. One day Museilima appointed a new man as Muazzin, to call the men to prayer. This man, Jubeir bin Umeir,

¹Tabari: Vol.2, p-505.

was a doubter. Instead of the words "I bear witness that Muham­mad is the Messenger of Allah", in which the name of Museilima had to be substituted for that of Muhammad, this new Muazzin called, at the top of his voice: "1 bear witness that Museilima thinks he is the messenger of Allah."¹

Once a man — a clear-headed fellow — who had never seen Museilima before, came to visit the impostor. When he got to the door of Museilima's house, he asked the guard "Where is Museilima?" "Silence!" replied the guard. "He is the mes­senger of Allah." "I shall not accept him as such until I have seen him", asserted the visitor, whose name was Talha.

The visitor met the impostor. "Are you Museilima?" he enquired.

"Who came to you?"

"Rahman." (i.e. the Beneficent One).

"In light or in darkness?"

"In darkness."

"I bear witness", declared Talha, "that you are an impostor and Muhammad is genuine. But an impostor from our tribe is preferable to a true one from the Qureish."² This man later fought and died beside Museilima.

In appearance Museilima was terrible. A short-statured man, though immensely strong, he had a yellow complexion, small, close-set eyes and a flat nose. He was extremely ugly. But as often happens with very ugly and evil men, he had an irresistible fascination for women. They could not say "No!" He was such a talented and unscrupulous Casanova that no woman left alone with him could resist his advances or escape his devilish charm.

But Sajjah the impostress did not know this facet of Museilima's many-sided character as she set out for Yamama. She would soon learn!

*

Sajjah marched with her army towards Yamama. Musei­lima came to know of this move and was perturbed, for he did not

¹Balazuri: p. 100.

²Tabari: Vol.2, p.508.

know whether her intentions were hostile or friendly. He could certainly defeat her army in battle: but Ikrama with his corps was camped some distance to the west, and Museilima had been waiting for several weeks for the Muslims to advance. If Ikrama were to move at the time when he was engaged with the army of Sajjah, he would be in a most vulnerable position. It would mean simultaneous war with two enemies — Sajjah and the Muslims. Museilima decided to win over Sajjah and neutralise her. He knew how to deal with her: he would handle her as he would handle any woman, the art of which he knew so well.

He sent a message to Sajjah not to bring her warriors, as there was no work for them at Yamama. She could come alone for talks. Consequently Sajjah left her army in camp and rode forward with 40 of her warriors to meet Museilima the Liar. She arrived at Yamama to find the gate of the fort closed; and she re­ceived Museilima's instructions to leave her men outside and enter alone. Sajjah agreed, and leaving her 40 followers to bide their time in a camp, entered the fort.

Museilima had had a large tent pitched for her in the courtyard of his house. Since the weather was chilly, he had the tent properly heated so that she would be comfortable. And he had a certain incense burning in the tent which would affect Sajjah's senses in the way that he desired. It would make her shed her inhibitions!

She entered the tent. Some time later Museilima also entered. They were alone. The impostor began to talk, weaving a spell over the woman. He talked of God and of politics, of the trouble that he was having with the Qureish who were as numerous as 'the scales of a fish.'        

After this preamble he said, "Tell me of your revelations." "A woman should not begin", she replied. "You tell me first what has been revealed to you."

She gazed at him with awe as he intoned, as if reciting a Quranic verse:

Do you not see your Lord?

How he deals with pregnant women?

He extracts a living being

From between the belly and the intestines.

"And what more?" she asked excitedly.

"He has revealed to me", continued Museilima, "that He

created woman a receptacle and created man as her mate, to enter her and leave her at his pleasure. And then a little lamb is brought forth!"

Sajjah was fascinated.  "You are indeed a prophet!" she gushed.

Museilima moved closer. "Do you feel like marrying me?" he asked. "Then with my tribe and yours I shall eat up the Arabs."

"Yes", she answered.¹ Museilima had conquered again.

She stayed with him for three days: then he sent her back to her army. On arrival at her camp, she assembled the elders of the tribe. "I have found the truth", she declared. "I have accepted him as prophet and married him."

The elders were not a little surprised. "Has he given you a wedding gift?" they asked. Sajjah confessed that she had re­ceived no wedding gift.

These elders knew a little more about Museilima than she did, and feared that their girl had been taken for a ride. "Then go back to him", they insisted, "and do not return without a wed­ding gift."

Again Sajjah rode with her 40 companions to Yamama. Museilima saw her coming and closed the gate of the fort. "What is the matter?" he asked angrily from within.

"Give me a wedding gift", she pleaded from outside. Museilima though for a moment, and then replied, "I give you a wedding gift for all your people. Announce to your followers that I, Museilima bin Habeeb, Messenger or Allah, remit two of the prayers that Muhammad had imposed — the prayer of the early morning and the prayer of the night.”² With this wedding gift Sajjah returned to her army. A few days later, wishing to establish more durable ties with her people than those of the tent in his courtyard, Museilima sent an envoy to Sajijah. He offered her political and economic parternship: she could have half the grain of Yamama. Sajjah refused. But Museilima sent his envoy again to insist that she accept at least a quarter of the grain. She accepted this and left for Iraq. This happened around late October 632 (late Rajah, 11 Hijri), shortly before Ikrama's clash with Museilima.

172   The Sword of Allah

Museilima had finished with her. And she had finished with politics and prophethood. She took up residence amongst her mother's tribe and lived in obscurity for the rest of her life. Later she embraced Islam and was believed to be a pious and virtuous Muslim. During the caliphate of Muawiya she moved to Kufa, where she died at a ripe old age.

15 : THE END OF MALIK BIN NUWEIRA

When, after finishing with Salma and her followers, Khalid gave orders for the march to Butah against Malik bin Nuweira, he had no suspicion that some of his own men would oppose his plan. Preparations for the move were carried out as ordered, but when the time to march came, a large group of his soldiers refused to move.

These were the Ansars. Their elders came to Khalid and said that they would not march to Butah. "What you plan now", they asserted, "was not included in the instructions of the Caliph. His instructions were to fight at Buzakha and free this region of apostasy. Thereafter we were to await his instructions."

Khalid was surprised at this statement. He had no in­tention of letting this group, even if it was a highly honoured group of Companions, deter him from conducting operations as he saw fit. "That may be the Caliph's instructions to you," he replied, "but his instructions to me were to operate against the infidels. In any case I am the commander of this force. I am better informed of the situation than you are. If I see an opportu­nity for which I have received no instructions, I shall certainly not let it slip by. Should we be faced with a challenge for which there were no instructions from the Caliph, would we not accept it? Malik bin Nuweira is there; and I shall go to fight him. Let the Emigrants and those who are willing follow me. The others

174   The Sword of Allah

I shall not compel.”¹

Khalid marched off without the Ansars.

Hardly an hour had passed when the Ansars realised the seriousness of their error in refusing to march with the rest of the corps. "If they meet with success, we shall be left out of it", said one. Others added, "And if they come to grief, nobody will ever talk to us again." Their minds were soon made up. They sent a fast rider after Khalid to say, "Wait! We are com­ing." Khalid waited until they had joined him and then resumed the march to Butah.

During the first week of November 632 (mid-Shaban, 11Hijri) Khalid arrived at Butah, all set for battle. But Butah had no opposition to offer. There was not a single warrior in sight.

When Sajjah the impostress left Arabia for Iraq, Malik bin Nuweira began to have second thoughts about the part that he had played in the conspiracy against Islam. He received reports of how the Sword of Allah had destroyed the army of Tuleiha, and also heard of the swift and severe punishment Khalid had meted out to the murderers of Muslims. Malik was afraid. With the departure of Sajjah he had lost a strong ally, and he felt abandoned, betrayed.

He began to realise the seriousness of his action in making a pact with the impostress. His guilt of apostasy was clear and could not be disputed. Then came reports that Khalid had defeated Salma and was now marching in the direction of Butah. Malik was a brave man, but he did not feel up to fighting Khalid.

Feeling helpless and forsaken, Malik decided to save what he could from the wreckage. He would atone for his crimes by repentance and submission, which was also a political neces­sity, for there was nothing else that he could do. Malik gathered the clan of Bani Yarbu’ and addressed them as follows:

"O Bani Yarbu'! We disobeyed our rulers when they called

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 501. From this exchange it would appear that Khalid’s decision to march to Butah was his own and not part of the over-all plan of the Caliph; but again according to Tabari (Vol. 2, pp. 480, 483) Abu Bakr's instructions to Khalid definitely included Malik bin Nuweira at Butah as the next objective after Tuleiha had been dealt with. Perhaps Khalid's men did not know that the Caliph had given this task to their commander.

The End of Malik bin Nuweira     175

upon us to remain steadfast in faith. And we prevented others from obeying them. We have come to no good.

"I have studied the situation. I see the situation turning in their favour while we have no control over it. Beware of fight­ing them! Disperse to your homes and make peace with them.”¹

Under these orders his warriors dispersed. Malik then went quietly to his house, not far from Butah, to be consoled by the charming Leila.

In one more gesture to show his change of heart, Malik collected all the tax that was due to Madina and sent it to Khalid, who was on the march to Butah when the envoys bringing the tax met him. Khalid took the tax, but did not accept this as sufficient atonement, for the tax was in any case due as an obligation.

"What made you enter into a pact with Sajjah?" Khalid asked the envoys. "Nothing more", they replied, "than a desire for tribal revenge against our feudal enemies."²

Khalid did not question the envoys further, but retained his suspicions. This could be a trick to lull him into a false sense of security and draw him unsuspecting into an ambush. Ever since the ambush at Hunein, Khalid had never relaxed his vigilance. He continued the advance as a military operation against an armed opponent.

Khalid found Butah undefended and unmanned. There was no army to fight — not even an occasional group of soldiers. He occupied Butah and sent out mounted detachments to scour the countryside and deal with the apostate clans of the tribe of Bani Tameem. To the commanders of these detachments, he repeated the instructions of the Caliph — on approaching any clan, they would call the Azan; if the clan responded with the Azan, it would be left alone; if it did not, it would be attacked.

The following day a detachment commanded by Zarrar bin Al Azwar got to the house of Malik bin Nuweira, where Zarrar siezed Malik and Leila and a few men of the Bani Yarbu'. The other detachments had no trouble, for all the clans submitted without opposition.

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, pp. 501-2.

176  The Sword of Allah

Malik and Leila were ushered into the presence of Khalid —Malik appearing as a rebel and apostate chief on trial for crimes against the State and Islam. He looked defiant, true to the nature of a proud, noble-born chieftain who faced the trials of life with dignity. He could not be humble.

Khalid began to talk. He spoke of the crimes that Malik had committed and the damage that he had done to the cause of Islam. Then Khalid asked him some questions. In his reply, Malik referred to the Holy Prophet as "your master". Khalid was angered by the unrepentant and supercilious attitude of the accused. He said, "Do you not regard him as your master?”¹

Khalid felt convinced that Malik was guilty; that he re­mained an unbeliever. He gave the order for his execution. Zarrar took Malik away and personally carried out the sentence. And it was the end of Malik bin Nuweira.

Leila became a young widow, but not for long. That same night Khalid married her! She had hardly made up her mind to mourn her departed husband when she became a bride again — this time of the Sword of Allah!

When Khalid announced his intention of marrying Leila some Muslims did not take kindly to the announcement. Some even began to suggest that perhaps Malik was not really an unbeliever but had returned to the Faith; that perhaps Khalid had ordered his execution in order to be able to have Leila for himself. One man in particular, Abu Qatada, a Companion of high standing, remonstrated with Khalid; but Khalid put him in his place with a few well-chosen words. Feeling slighted and angry at what he regarded as Khalid's high-handedness, Abu Qatada next day mounted his horse and set off at a gallop for Madina. On arrival at the capital, he went straight to Abu Bakr and told him that Malik bin Nuweira was a Muslim and that Khalid had killed him in order to be able to marry the beautiful Leila. This Abu Qatada was the same man who, shortly after the conquest of Mecca, had ridden to the Holy Prophet and complained that Khalid had ruthlessly killed the Bani Jazima despite their surrender. His disapproval of Khalid was not new.

Abu Bakr, however, was not pleased to see Abu Qatada, especially as he had left the army without his commander's permission. "Return at once to your post!" ordered the Caliph;

The End of Malik bin Nuweira 177

and Abu Qatada rode back to Butah.¹

But even before he had gone his words were all over Madina. They were heard by Umar who leapt to his feet and rushed to Abu Bakr. "You have appointed a man to command", he said, "who kills Muslims and burns men alive."² Abu Bakr was not impressed. He had clear evidence of Malik's distributing the tax money on getting news of the Prophet's death and of his pact with Sajjah. There was no doubt about Malik's apostasy. As for burning men alive, the Caliph had himself ordered that those apostates who had burnt Muslims alive would be treated in like manner.³ Khalid had burnt no others.

Umar continued: "There is tyranny in the sword of Khalid. He should be brought home in fetters. Dismiss the man!"

Abu Bakr knew that there was little love lost between these two great men. "O Umar", he replied firmly, "keep your tongue off Khalid. I shall not sheathe the sword that Allah has drawn against the infidels." By now Khalid was being com­monly referred to as the Sword of Allah.

Umar persisted: "But this enemy of Allah has killed a Muslim and taken his wife!"⁴ Abu Bakr agreed to go into the matter. He sent for Khalid.

By now Khalid had come to know of the resentment that his actions had aroused. He shrugged it off with the words:

"When Allah decides a matter, it is done."⁵ Anyway, a little criticism did not worry Khalid. Then came the summons of the Caliph to present himself at Madina. Khalid guessed that this was connected with the allegations against him, and was now more than a little worried.

On arrival at Madina, Khalid went straight to the mos­que. In those early days the mosque was not merely a place of worship. It was also a meeting place, an assembly hall, a school, a place of rest, and the centre of civic activity. Khalid was wear­ing an arrow in his turban as an adornment, and this made him look a bit of a dandy, for most Muslims preferred simplicity in their dress and avoided all forms of ostentation.

Umar was in the mosque and saw Khalid. Livid with anger, he walked up to Khalid, tore the arrow from Khalid's turban

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, pp. 501-2.     ²Balazuri: p. 107.

³Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 482.     ⁴Ibid: Vol. 2, pp. 503-4; Balazuri: p. 107

⁵Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 502.

178    The Sword of Allah

and broke it in two. "You killed a Muslim and snatched his wife", Umar shouted. "You ought to be stoned to death.”¹ Khalid knew that Umar had much influence with Abu Bakr; and fearing that the Caliph might have similar opinions, he turned away in silence.

He next went to see Abu Bakr, who demanded an ex­planation. Khalid told him the whole story. After due considera­tion, the Caliph decided that Khalid was not guilty. He did, how­ever, upbraid his general for marrying Leila and thus leaving himself open to criticism; and since there was some possibility of a mistake, as certain people believed that Malik was a Muslim, Abu Bakr ordered the payment of blood-money to the heirs of Malik.

Khalid came out of the house of the Caliph. His step was light and his manner carefree as he walked to the mosque where Umar sat conversing with some friends. This time Khalid was more sure of his position and could afford to repay the com­pliment. He called to Umar, "Come to me, O left-handed one!"² Umar guessed that the Caliph had acquitted Khalid. He stood up and without a word marched off to his house.

This matter of Malik and Leila has been the subject of much dispute in Muslim history. Some, quoting sources like Abu Qatada, have said that the household of Malik had called the Azan and that Malik had returned to the faith before he was taken captive. Others have said that Khalid never ordered the killing of Malik; that the weather was chilly and Khalid had said, "Warm your prisoners"; that in certain dialects the same word is used to denote 'warming', and 'killing'; thus Zarrar misunder­stood Khalid's order and went and killed Malik.

These versions of the story are, in all probability, not true. They have been offered by factions — one to explain away Umar's hostility towards Khalid and the other to clear Khalid of the possible guilt of murdering a Muslim.

There is no doubt about the apostasy and sedition of Malik bin Nuweira — his distribution of the tax money, his pact with Sajjah, and the participation of his warriors, on his

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 504.    ²Ibid.

The End of Malik bin Nuweira   179

orders, in the depradations of Sajjah. All historians have, without exception, reported these incidents as facts. There is also no doubt, in the mind of this writer that Khalid ordered the killing of Malik and did so with the honest and sincere conviction that Malik was an apostate and a traitor. But suspicion continued to lurk in the minds of some Arabs, certainly in the mind of Umar, that this was a crime de passion. Umar was further encouraged in this belief by the brother of Malik, who came to see him and told him what a wonderful man Malik was and how tragic it was that he had fallen a victim to Khalid's lust!

The long and short of the whole affair was that Malik was killed and the beautiful Leila with the gorgeous eyes and the lovely legs became the wife of Khalid bin Al Waleed. He would one day pay a very high price for the pleasure!

16: THE BATTLE OF YAMAMA

When Abu Bakr organised the Muslim forces into 11 corps at Zu Qissa, he appointed Ikrama, son of Abu Jahl, as the commander of one of them. Ikrama's orders were to advance and make contact with the forces of Museilima the Liar at Yamama, but not to get involved in battle with the impos­tor. Abu Bakr knew better than most of his generals the power and ability of Museilima, and did not wish to risk fighting him with insufficient forces. Since Khalid was his finest general, the Caliph had made up his mind to use him to deal with Museilima after he had finished with the other enemies of Islam.

Abu Bakr’s intention in giving Ikrama this mission was to tie Museilima down at Yamama. With Ikrama on the horizon, the Liar would remain in expectation of a Muslim attack and thus not be able to leave his base. With Museilima so committed, Khalid would be free to deal with the apostate tribes of North-Central Arabia without interference from Yamama. In selecting Ikrama for this task Abu Bakr had picked a valiant man. More­over, Ikrama was anxious to prove his devotion to Islam and atone for his violent hostility to the Holy Prophet before his entry into the new faith.

Ikrama advanced with his corps and established a camp somewhere in the region of Yamama. The location of his camp is not known. From this base he kept the forces of the Bani

The Battle of Yamama   181

Haneefa under observation while awaiting instructions from the Caliph; and the presence of Ikrama had the desired effect of keeping Museilima in Yamama. However, whether or not he had any intention of ever leaving Yamama we do not know.

When Ikrama received reports of the defeat of Tuleiha by Khalid, he began to get impatient for battle. The waiting irked his fiery temperament. Ikrama was a fearless man and a forceful general, but he lacked Khalid’s cool judgement and patience — qualities which distinguish the bold commander from the rash one.

The next development that Ikrama heard of was that Shurahbeel bin Hasana was marching to join him. Shurahbeel too had been given a corps by the Caliph with orders to follow Ikrama and await further instructions. In a few days Shurahbeel would be with him.

Then came news of how Khalid had routed the forces of Salma, the queenly leader of men. Ikrama could wait no longer. Why let Khalid win all the glory? Why wait for Shurah­beel? Why not have a crack at Museilima himself? If he could defeat Museilima singlehanded, he would win glory and renown such as would eclipse the achievements of all the others. And what a delightful surprise it would be for the Caliph! Ikrama set his corps in motion. This happened at the end of October 632 (end of Rajab, 11 Hijri).

A few days later he was back in his camp, having received a sound thrashing from Museilima. Chastened and repentant, he wrote to Abu Bakr and gave him a complete account of his actions, including the inglorious outcome. Shurahbeel also heard the bad news and stopped some distance short of lkrama's camp.

Abu Bakr was both pained and angered by the rashness of Ikrama and his disobedience of the orders given to him. He made no attempt to conceal his anger in the letter that he wrote to Ikrama. "O son of the mother of Ikrama!" he began. (This was a polite way of expressing doubt regarding the identity of the man's father!) "Do not let me see your face. Your return under these circumstances would only weaken the resolve of the people. Proceed with your force to Uman to assist Huzeifa. Once Huzeifa has completed his task, march to Mahra to help Arfaja and thereafter go to the Yemen to help Muhajir. I shall not speak to

182   The Sword ofAllah

you until you have proved yourself in further trials."¹ The three men to be assisted were among the 11 corps commanders.

Smarting under the shame of his ignominious repulse at the hands of Museilima and the harsh words of the Caliph, Ikrama took his corps and, bypassing Yamama, marched to Uman.

Shurahbeel remained in the region of Yamama. To ensure that he did not fall into the error of Ikrama, Abu Bakr wrote to him: "Stay where you are and await further instructions."²

Having ordered the payment of blood-money to the heirs of Malik bin Nuweira, the Caliph sent for Khalid and gave him the mission of destroying the forces of Museilima the Liar at Yamama. In addition to his own large corps, Khalid would have under command the corps of Shurahbeel. Another body of Ansars and Emigrants was being scraped together by Abu Bakr at Madina, and this too would be sent to Butah shortly to join the forces of Khalid. Thus Khalid would command the main army of Islam.

Khalid rode to Butah where his old corps awaited him. Meanwhile the Caliph wrote to Shurahbeel: "You will come under Khalid's command as he joins you. When the problem of Yama­ma has been solved, you will proceed with your men to join Amr bin Al Aas and operate against the Quza'a."³ This was the apos­tate tribe which Usama had punished but not subdued near the Syrian frontier.

Khalid waited at Butah until the arrival of the Ansars and Emigrants from Madina, then marched for Yamama. He was glad to think that the fresh troops of Shurahbeel would also be avail­able to him. He did take them under his command, but they were not all that fresh. A few days before Khalid's arrival Shurahbeel had given in to the same temptation as Ikrama; seeking glory, he had advanced and clashed with Museilima. Feeling sorry about the whole affair, Shurahbeel expressed his regrets to Khalid, who rebuked him severely.

Khalid was still some distance from Yamama when his scouts brought word that Museilima was encamped in the plain of Aqraba, on the north bank of the Wadi Haneefa through which

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, pp. 504, 509.    ² Ibid:  p. 522.    

³Ibid: p. 509.

The Battle of Yamama   183

the road led to Yamama. Not wishing to approach his enemy through the valley, Khalid left the road a few miles west of Aqraba, moved from the south and appeared on the high ground which rose a mile south of the wadi, opposite the town of Jubeila.¹ From this high ground Khalid could see the entire plain of Aqraba, on the forward border of which stretched the camp of the Bani Haneefa. Khalid established his camp on the high ground. The strength of his army amounted to 13,000 men.

Khalid had not gone many days from Butah when Musei-lima's agents informed him of the march of the Muslims and of the fact that this was the main army of Islam. The route from Butah to Yamama came through the Wadi Haneefa; and on the north bank of this wadi, behind Jubeila, lay the plain of Aqraba which marked the outer limit of the fertile region that stretched from Aqraba to Yamama and further south-east. It was a region of farms and orchards and cultivated fields. Ya­mama itself, to be more accurate, was a province rather than a place, with its capital at Hijr, which was also generally called Yamama. The Hijr of old stood where Riyadh stands today.²

Museilima had no intention of letting the Muslims play havoc with the towns and villages of his people. Consequently he took his army forward to Jubeila, 25 miles north-west of Ya­mama, and established his camp near Jubeila, where the plain of Aqraba began. From this location Museilima could not only defend the fertile plains of Yamama but also threaten Khalid's route of advance so that, should Khalid blunder through the Wadi Haneefa, the Bani Haneefa would fall upon his left flank. And Khalid could not avoid battle here and proceed to Yamama, because Museilima would then pounce upon his back. (The principle here was the same as applied by the Holy Prophet at Uhud.)

Museilima was ready for battle on the plain of Aqraba with an army of 40,000 warriors, all eager for combat. The two success­ful actions fought by them against Ikrama and Shurahbeel, both of whom had recoiled from the blows of Museilima, had increased their confidence in themselves and created an aura of

¹Jubeila is now a small village. According to local tradition, it was then a large town.

²The village of Yamama which exists about 50 miles south-east of Riyadh, near Al Kharj, is not the Yamama of history; not the Yamama of this battle.

184   The Sword of Allah

invincibility around the Liar. His men were now prepared to sacrifice their very lives in defence of their leader and his cause. And Museilima had no doubt that he would inflict the same punishment upon Khalid as he had inflicted upon his two pre­decessors.

A few days before the arrival of Khalid, Museilima lost one of his ablest commanders — the chief, Muja'a bin Marara, who has been mentioned as one of the important members of the Bani Haneefa delegation to the Holy Prophet. This man had set off with 40 riders to raid a neighbouring clan with which he had an old feud. On its way back from the raid, the group stopped for the night at a pass called Saniyyat-ul-Yamama, a day's march from Aqraba. Muja'a's men slept soundly; but it was their last sleep, for early in the morning the entire group was captured by one of the mounted detachments which preceded the army of Khalid. The apostates were taken before the Sword of Allah.

Khalid questioned them about their faith. In whom did they believe? In Muhammad or in Museilima? Without exception they remained unrepentant. Some sought to meet Khalid half way by suggesting: "Let there be a prophet from among you and a prophet from among us!"¹ Khalid was not going to waste his time on such trash; he had them all beheaded with the exception of the leader, Muja'a, who was kept in chains as a prisoner. He was a prominent chief and might come in useful as a hostage. With this captive chief in tow, the Muslim army arrived near Aqraba and pitched camp as has already been described. Both armies were now ready for battle.

The actual valley of Wadi Haneefa marked the battle front. On the northern side the bank rose to about 100 feet, rising gently at places, steeply at others, and precipitously at yet others. On the southern side it rose more gently and continued to rise up to a height of 200 feet, a mile away from the valley where Khalid had pitched his camp. On the north bank also lay the town of Jubeila and on the western edge of the town a gulley ran down to the wadi. The Muslim front ran along the southern bank for a length of about 3 miles; on the northern bank stood the apostates. The town and the gulley marked the centre of Musei-

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p.510.

The Battle of Yamama  185

lima's army. Behind the apostates stretched the plain of Aqraba; and on this plain, about 2 miles from the wadi, stood a vast walled garden known as Abaz. As a result of this battle it was to be­come known as "The Garden of Death."¹ (See Map 9.)

On the following morning the two armies deployed for battle. Museilima organised his 40,000 men into a centre, a left wing and a right wing. The left was under the command of Rajjal, the renegade, the right under Muhakkim bin Tufeil, and the centre directly under the Liar. In order to strengthen the deter­mination of the men, the son of Museilima, also named Shurahbeel, rode in front of all the regiments exhorting them to fight with courage. "O Bani Haneefa!" he called. "Fight today for your honour. If you are defeated your women will be enslaved and ravished by the enemy. Fight to defend your women!"²

Museilima decided to await the attack of Khalid. He would fight on the defensive initially, and go on to the offensive when he had blunted the attack of his adversary and thrown him off balance.

The Muslims had spent the night in prayer. This was the largest and most fanatical enemy force they had ever faced and its commander was the most vicious and cunning of men. After the prayer of dawn Khalid drew up his 13,000 men for battle on the south bank, and he too organised his army into a centre and two wings. The left was commanded by Abu Huzeifa, the right by Zeid (elder brother of Umar), while the centre was directly under Khalid. For this battle Khalid formed his men not in tribal groups, as had been the custom heretofore, but in regiments and wings as required for battle, with tribal contingents intermingled.

Khalid planned, as was usual with him, to attack at the very outset, throw his opponent on the defensive and keep him that way. Thus Museilima would be robbed of his freedom of manoeuvre and could do no more than react helplessly to the thrusts of the attacker. But Khalid had no illusions about the trial that faced the Muslims. This was going to be a bitter and bloody battle as had never been fought before by the forces of Islam. The rebels had a numerical superiority of three-to-one and were led by a wily and brave general. But Khalid was con-

¹The exact location of the Garden of Death is not known. I have guessed its location from the course of the battle.

²Tabari: Vol.2, p.509

186   The Sword of Allah

fident of victory. He had confidence in himself and in the skill and courage of his officers and men. As he rode in front of his army, he looked with pride and satisfaction at his stalwarts. There were famous men in this army, and some who would rise to fame in later years. There was Zeid, brother of Umar, and Abdullah, son of Umar. There was Abu Dajana, who at Uhud had shielded the Holy Prophet from the arrows of the enemy with his body. There was the Caliph's son, Abdur Rahman. There was Muawiya, son of Abu Sufyan, who would become the first caliph of the Umayyid Dynasty. There was Umm Umara, the lady who had fought beside the Prophet at Uhud, with her son. And there was the Savage with his deadly javelin.

The officers of the Muslim army paced in front of the regiments, reciting verses of the Quran.  They reminded the Faithful of the promise of paradise for the martyrs and of the threat of hell for the faint-hearted.

Early on a cold morning in the third week of December 632 (beginning of Shawwal, 11 Hijri), began the Battle of Yamama.

Khalid ordered a general attack, and the entire Muslim front surged forward with cries of Allah-o-Akbar. Khalid led the charge of the centre while Abu Huzeifa and Zeid led the charge of the wings. The two armies clashed and the air was rent by shouts and screams as strong men slashed and thrust at each other. Khalid cut down every man who came before him. The Muslim champions performed prodigies of valour and Khalid felt that his warriors would soon break through the army of disbelief.

But the army of disbelief stood as firm as a rock. Many fell before the onslaught of the Faithful, but there was no break in the infidel front. The apostates fought fanatically, preferring death to giving up an inch of ground; and the Muslims realised with some surprise that they were making no headway. After some time spent in hard slogging, a slight lack of order became apparent in the Muslim ranks as a result of their forward move­ment and their attempts to pierce the front of the infidels. But this caused no concern. So long as they remained on the offensive

MAP 9 : THE BATTLE OF YAMAMA

188   The Sword of Allah

and the enemy on the defensive, a certain amount of disorder did not matter.

Then Museilima, realising that if he remained on the defensive much longer the chances of a Muslim break-through would increase, ordered a general counter-attack all along the front. The apostates moved forward like a vast tidal wave, and the Muslims now found to their horror that they were being pressed back. The fighting became more savage as they struggled desperately to stem the advance of the apostates, who paid heavily in blood for every yard of ground that they gained; but strengthened by their belief in the Liar's promise that paradise awaited those who fell, they pressed on relentlessly. Some lack of cohesion was now felt in the Muslim regiments due to the mixture of tribal contingents which were not yet accustomed to fighting side by side.

Gradually the numerical superiority of the apostates be­gan to tell. Fighting in massed, compact bodies against the thinner Muslim ranks, they increased their pressure. The Mus­lims proceeded to fall back steadily. Then the pace of with­drawal became faster. The apostate assaults became bolder. And the Muslim withdrawal turned into a confused retreat. Some regiments turned and fled; others soon followed their exam­ple, causing a general exodus from the battlefield. The officers were unable to stop the retreat and were swept back with the tide of their men. The Muslim army passed through its camp and went on some distance beyond it before it stopped.

As the Muslims left the plain of Aqraba, the apostates followed in hot pursuit. This was not a planned manoeuvre, but an instinctive reaction, like the reaction of the Muslims to the Qureish flight in the first part of the Battle of Uhud. And like those Muslims, the apostates stopped at their opponents' camp and began to plunder it. Again as at Uhud, his opponents’ occupation with looting gave Khalid time to prepare and launch a riposte. But more of that later.

In the Muslim camp stood the tent of Khalid and in this tent sat his latest wife, Leila, and the captive chief, Muja'a, still in irons. A few infidels, flushed with success and excited by thoughts of the orgy of plunder that awaited them, entered the tent of Khalid. They saw and recognised Muja'a. They saw Leila and wanted to kill her, but were restrained by the

The Battle of Yamama   189

chief. "I am her protector", he warned them. "Go for the men!"¹ In their haste to lay their hands on the booty the infidels did not stop to release their chief.

For some time the devastation of the camp proceeded at a horrible pace as the infidels snatched what they could carry and smashed what they could not. They cut the tents to shreds. Then, as quickly as it had started, the looting stopped. The apos­tates hastened back to the plain of Aqraba, for in the south they could see the Muslim army, formed in perfect order with solid ranks, advancing again.

Amazingly, as they stopped to regain their breath and think about what had happened, there was no fear in the hearts of the Muslims. There was only anger at their own disorganisa­tion and the consequent retreat. Just how had this happened? How could it have happened? They had certainly inflicted greater losses on the enemy than they themselves had suffered.

Their courage remained steadfast, but they also felt baffled. Their frustrated anger found an outlet in mutual tribal recrimination — tribe against tribe, clan against clan, city against desert. They blamed each other for the debacle. "We know more about war than you", said the city dwellers. "No", replied the desert Arabs, "we know more." A clamour went up: "Let us separate into our tribal groups. Then we shall see who vindicates his honour."²

Khalid could see what had gone wrong. The apostate front had not given way under the terrible onslaught of the Muslims, as all fronts had done before this. What is more, the apostates had counter-attacked while the Muslims were somewhat disor­ganised. The Muslims had lost their balance and under the pressure of the counter-attack were unable to regain it. There had been no lack of bravery.

Khalid saw that forming regiments out of mixed tribal contingents had been a mistake, for the clan feeling was still very strong among the Arabs.  It added another pillar of strength to the Islamic zeal and the individual courage and skill which distinguished the Muslim army. In face of the three-to-one superiority of the enemy and the blind, fanatical deter-

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 511.        ²Ibid: Vol. 2, p. 513.

190  The Sword of Allah

mination of Museilima's followers, the absence of tribal loyalty had resulted in a weakening of cohesion in the Muslim regiments.

Khalid corrected this mistake and regrouped the army. He deployed it in the same battle formation with the same com­manders, but the soldiers were now formed into clan and tribal units. Thus every man would fight not only for Islam but also for the honour of his clan. There would be healthy rivalry among the clans.

Once the reorganisation was complete, Khalid and his senior commanders went about the regiments. They spoke to the men and strengthened their resolve to punish Museilima for the disgrace that they had suffered. The men swore that if necessary they would fight with their teeth.

Khalid also picked a handful of warriors and formed them into a personal bodyguard. It was his intention to set an example for his men by throwing himself into the thick of the fighting. This bodyguard would prove useful. "Stay close behind me", he told these men.

Thus reorganised and reformed into orderly ranks, the Muslims once again advanced to the plain of Aqraba. They returned to battle not like lions, but like hungry lions!

Meanwhile Museilima the Liar had redeployed his army in the same battle formation as before. He awaited the second strike of the Sword of Allah, confident that he would once again send the Muslims reeling from the battlefield.

On the orders of Khalid, the Muslim army again swept forward with cries of  Allah-o-Akbar and the war cry of this battle: Ya Muhammad! The smaller army again engaged the superior massed forces of the apostates. The wings clashed with the wings and the centre with the centre. The commander of the Muslim right, Zeid, confronted Rajjal the renegade who commanded the infidel left. Wishing to save the renegade from the fire of hell, Zeid called, "O Rajjal! You left the true faith. Return to it. That would be more noble and virtuous.”¹ The renegade refused; and in the fierce duel that followed Zeid des­patched Rajjal to the Fire.

¹Tabari: Vol.2, p. 511.

The Battle of Yamama   191

The Muslims launched violent assaults all along the front, and the apostates were hard put to hold their ground; yet hold it they did. Their front would not break. Apostates fell in hund­reds, and Muslim casualties also began to mount. With the apos­tates superior in numbers and the Muslims superior in skill and courage, the two sides were evenly matched. Parts of the two fronts, locked in mortal combat, heaved back and forth. The dust from thousands of stamping feet rose and hung like a cloud over the heads of the belligerents. Broken swords and spears littered the wadi and the plain as mangled and torn bodies fell in heaps on the blood-sodden earth. The most dreadful carnage took place in the gulley in which human blood ran in a rivulet down to the wadi. As a result, this gulley became known as the Gulley of Blood — Shueib-ud-Dam — and it is still known by that name. But the battle hung in the balance and gave no promise of a decision.

Khalid now realised that with their fanatical faith in their false prophet the apostates would not give in. It was evident that only the death of Museilima could break the spirit of the in­fidels; it would be a moral setback which would lead quickly to physical defeat. But Museilima was not duelling in front like Khalid. He would have to be drawn out of the safety of the apostate ranks in which he stood surrounded by his faithful followers.

As the first violent spasm of combat spent itself, the warriors stopped to regain their breath. There was a lull. Then Khalid stepped out towards the enemy centre and threw a challenge to single combat: "I am the son of Al Waleed! Will anyone duel?" Several champions came out of the apostate ranks to accept the challenge of Khalid and advanced towards him one by one. Khalid took perhaps a minute to dispose of each opponent. After each duel he would recite his own extemporised verses:

I am the son of many chiefs.

My sword is sharp and terrible.

It is the mightiest of things

When the pot of war boils fiercely.¹

Slowly and steadily Khalid advanced towards Museilima, killing champion after champion. Then there were none left

¹Ibid: Vol. 2, p. 513.

192   The Sword of Allah

brave enough to come forth against him. But by now he was close enough to Museilima to talk to him without shouting. The Liar, however, was surrounded by his guards, and Khalid could not get at him.

Khalid proposed talks. Museilima agreed. He stepped forward cautiously and halted just outside duelling distance of Khalid. "If we agree to come to terms, what terms will you accept?"¹ enquired Khalid.

Museilima cocked his head to one side as if listening to some invisible person who stood beside him and would talk to him. It was in this manner that he 'received revelations'! Seeing him thus reminded Khalid of the words of the Holy Prophet, who had said that Museilima was never alone; that he always had Satan beside him; that he never disobeyed Satan; and that when worked up he foamed at the mouth. Satan for­bade Museilima to agree to terms, and the Liar turned his face to Khalid and shook his head.

Khalid had already determined to kill Museilima. The talks were only a bait to draw him close enough. He would have to work fast before Museilima withdrew to the safety of his guards. Khalid asked another question. Again Museilima turned his head to one side, intently listening to 'the voice.' At that instant Khalid sprang at him.

Khalid was fast. But Museilima was faster. In a flash he had turned on his heels and was gone!

Museilima was safe once again in the arms of his guards. But in that moment of flight something meaningful happened to the spirit of the two armies, depressing one and exalting the other. The flight of their 'prophet' and commander from Khalid was a disgraceful sight in the eyes of the apostates; the Muslims rejoiced. To exploit the psychological opportunity which now presented itself, Khalid ordered an immediate renewal of the offensive.

With shouts of Allah-o-Akbar the Muslims again went into the attack. They fought with fresh vigour and dash; and at last victory beckoned. The apostates began to fall back as the Muslims struck with sword and dagger. The retrograde move­ment of the apostates gathered speed. The spirits of the Muslims rose as they redoubled their efforts. Then the infidel front broke

¹Ibid: Vol. 2, p. 514.

The Battle of Yamama   193

Museilima could do nothing. His top commander Rajjal, was dead. It was now the commander of his right wing, Muhakkim, who came to the rescue of the apostates. "O Bani Haneefa!" he shouted. “The garden! The garden! Enter the garden and I shall protect your rear."

But the disintegration of the apostates had gone too far to be halted. The bulk of the army broke and fled, scattering in all directions. Only about a fourth of Museilima's army remained in fighting shape, and this part hastened to the walled garden while Muhakkim covered its retreat with a small rear-guard. This rear-guard was soon cut to pieces by the Muslims, and Muhakkim fell to the arrow of the Caliph's son, Abdur Rahman.

The Muslims now pursued the fleeing apostates across the plain of Aqraba, striking down the stragglers left and right. Soon they arrived at the walled garden where a little over 7,000 apostates, Museilima among them, had taken shelter. The in­fidels had closed the gate, and as they looked at the high wall that surrounded the vast garden, they felt safe and secure. Little did they know!

The major portion of the Muslim army assembled in the vicinity of the Garden of Death. It was now afternoon and the Muslims were anxious to get into the garden and finish the job that they had started early that morning, before darkness intervened. But no way could be found into the garden. The wall stretched on all sides as an impenetrable barrier, with the gate securely bolted from within. There was no siege equipment, nor time to spend on a siege.

While Khalid searched his brain for ideas, an old warrior by the name of Baraa bin Malik, who stood in the group that confronted the gate, said to his comrades "Throw me over the wall into the garden."¹ His comrades refused, for Baraa was a dis­tinguished and much-respected Companion, and they hesita­ted to do something which would certainly result in his death. But Baraa insisted. At last his comrades agreed to his request and lifted him on their shoulders near the gate. He got his hands onto the edge of the wall, swung himself up and jumped into the garden. In a minute or so he had killed two or three infidels who stood between him and the gate; and before others could inter-

¹Ibid.

194   The Sword of Allah

cept him, he had loosened the heavy bolt. The gate was flung open and a flood of Muslims roared through it like water thunder­ing through a breach in a dam. The last and most gory phase of the Battle of Yamama had begun.

Initially the infidels were able to contain the advance of the Muslims, who were confined by the gate to a narrow front and lacked elbow-room. But steadily the Muslims cut their way through the apostates, who began to fall in heaps under the attacker's blows. The apostates stepped back as the Muslims poured into the garden in ever-increasing numbers.

The fighting became more vicious. Since there was no room for manoeuvre, both sides engaged in a straight slogging match. Gradually the ranks of the apostates thinned as they fell in combat. But Museilima was still fighting: he had no intention of giving up. As the front moved closer to him, he drew his sword and joined in the combat, surprising the Muslims by his strength and dexterity. The wily general was also a brave and skilful fighter. He began to foam at the mouth, for desperation had turned the ugly impostor into an awesome demon.

The last phase of the battle now entered its climax. The Muslim army pressed the apostates everywhere and it was only the endeavours of Museilima which prevented a general collapse. The Muslims cut, slashed and stabbed with wild fury. Maimed and mutilated bodies covered the ground. Those who fell suffe­red a painful death under the trampling feet of those who would not give in. The carnage was frightful and the dust on the ground turned into red mud.

Many apostates ran in despair to Museilima. "Where is the victory that you promised?" they asked. "Fight on, O Bani Haneefa!" was the impostor's set answer. "Fight on till the end!"¹

Museilima knew that he would get no quarter from Khalid, that he was doomed; and evil genius that he was, he decided to take his tribe down with him. The blood of several Muslims dripped from his sword, and his guards, as fanatical as ever, fought around him. Then he came under the hawk-like gaze of the Savage.

The Savage was one of the 'war criminals' whose names

¹Ibid.

The Battle of Yamama   195

had been announced by the Holy Prophet on the eve of the conquest of Mecca. Fearing the worst, he had fled Mecca and gone to Taif, where he lived among the Saqeef for some time. In 9 Hijri, when the Saqeef submitted to the Prophet, he too embraced Islam and went personally to swear allegiance to the Prophet.

The Prophet had not seen him for many years, and was not certain if he was the man. "Are you the Savage?" he asked.

"Yes, O Messenger of Allah!"

"Tell me how you killed Hamza."¹

The Savage recounted the whole story from beginning to end. It never occurred to him that there was an ethical angle too to this episode, that he had killed one of the noblest and most gallant of the Faithful. He narrated the story as a proud veteran would regale his audience with tales of his daring exploits. And the killing of a matchless warrior like Hamza was undoubt­edly a military achievement. The Savage excelled himself as a story-teller.

But there was no applause. On the face of the Prophet was a look of deep sorrow as he said "Never let me see you again."²  Something inside him warned the Savage that to remain in Madina, where the memory of Hamza was deeply cherished, might be unhealthy for him. He left at once.

For the next two years he lived in various settlements around Taif, seeking obscurity and avoiding travellers. He was troubled by his conscience and feared for his life. It was a wret­ched existence. Then came the apostasy. The Savage remained loyal to his new faith and elected to fight for Islam against the unbelievers. Now he was serving under the banner of the Sword of Allah.

The Savage tightened his grip on his javelin when he saw Museilima — the javelin that had sent so many men to their death. The Liar was fighting ferociously. In beating off the as­saults of Muslims who strove to get to him, he would fight now in front of his guards, now amongst them. At times he was cove­red by his guards, but he was never lost to the unblinking gaze of the black killer. The Savage had chosen his next victim — one whose death might ease the gnawing pain in his heart.

From his position some distance behind the Muslim

¹Ibn Hisham: Vol.2, p.72.

²Ibid.

196   The Sword of Allah

front, the Savage stealthily moved forward to get within javelin range of his target. The throng of swearing, sweating, blood-covered warriors around Museilima seemed to disappear from his sight. In the terrible mind of the Savage only his victim re­mained.

The Savage saw Umm Ummara, the grand lady of Uhud (though at this moment there was nothing ladylike about her appearance or actions), struggle to get to Museilima. She was duelling with an infidel who barred her way. Suddenly the in­fidel struck at her and cut off her hand. Her son, who stood next to her, felled the infidel with one mortal blow and helped his mother away. She was heart-broken at being unable to get to Museilima.

The Savage moved closer. In his mind appeared a vision of the noble martyr of Uhud, Hamza, whose killing had been the cause of all his troubles. He could picture the fine, strong, handsome features of Hamza. With an effort he drove the me­mory of that painful episode from his mind and looked again at Museilima. He was shocked at the contrast. The ugly, yellow, flat-nosed face of the impostor, distorted with rage and hate, with foam discolouring his mouth, was a frightening sight. All the evil in this demoniac man seemed to have come out on his face.

With a practised eye the Savage measured the distance. The range was just right. As he poised for the throw and aimed his javelin, he noticed Abu Dajana (the human shield of the Prophet at Uhud) slashing away with his sword to get to Musei­lima. Abu Dajana was a superb swordsman and would soon reach his objective. With a grunt the Savage hurled his weapon.

The javelin struck Museilima in the belly. The false pro­phet fell, his face twisted with pain, his hands clawing at the shaft. The next moment Abu Dajana was upon him. With one neat stroke of his sword he severed the evil head of the Liar. As Abu Dajana straightened up to announce the good news, a flashing infidel sword struck him down. One apostate, looking at the Liar, shouted, "A black slave has killed him." The cry was taken up by Muslim and infidel and rang across the garden: "Museilima is dead !"¹

¹Ibn Hisham: Vol. 2, p. 73.

The Battle of Yamama   197

The Savage later served in the Syrian Campaign under Khalid. When Syria had been conquered and established as a province of the Muslim State, the Savage settled down at Emessa and lived to a ripe old age. But he spent most of his days in a drunken stupor. He was even awarded 80 stripes by Umar for drinking (he was the first Muslim to be punished for this offence in Syria),¹ but refused to stay away from the bottle. Umar gave up, with the philosophical remark, "Perhaps the curse of Allah rests on the Savage for the blood of Hamza."²

In Emessa, in later years, the Savage became a famous figure and a tourist attraction. Visitors would go to his house, hoping to find him sober, and ask him about Hamza and Museilima. If sober, he would recount in detail first the killing of Hamza and then the killing of Museilima. Coming to the end of his story, he would raise his javelin with fierce pride and say, "With this javelin, in my days of unbelief I killed the best of men, and in my days of belief I killed the worst!"³

*

The news of the death of Museilima the Liar brought about a rapid collapse of the apostates. Some turned in suicidal desperation to greater violence, but they could only prolong their agony, not save their lives. Most of the apostates ceased to struggle, and in total despair waited for a Muslim sword to end their suffering. With one last superhuman effort the Muslims charged into the confused, helpless mass of apostates, and with their swords fulfilled the promise of the wrath of God against the unbelievers. Now it was no longer a battle; if was plain slaughter.

By the time the sun set, peace and quiet had returned to the Garden of Death. The Muslims were too tired to raise their swords. And there was no one left to kill.

For the night the Muslims dropped where they stood, and escaped from the nightmare of the battle into the sleep of the victorious.

Next morning Khalid walked about the battlefield. Every­where he saw the wreckage of battle. Broken, twisted bodies,

¹Ibn Quteiba: p. 330.

²Ibn Hisham: Vol. 2, p. 73.

³Ibid.

198   The SwonJ ofAllah

lying in grotesque shapes, littered the wadi and the plain ofAqraba and the Garden of Death. In places he picked his way over blood-soaked earth.

All the important leaders of the apostasy in Yamama had been killed — all save the captive Muja'a who now, still in irons, dragged his feet beside the victor. Khalid had taken him along so that he could identify some of the dead leaders and also feel the full impact of the defeat of the Bani Haneefa.

The state of the Muslims too was appalling. The battle had taken a heavy toll, and right now they were in no condi­tion even to defend themselves, let alone fight a battle. Exhausted and worn-out, they lay where they had dropped the night be­fore, resting their weary limbs. But Khalid had reason to be satis­fied with the outcome of the battle: Museilima was dead and his army had been torn to pieces. A glow of pleasure warmed the heart of Khalid. But Muja'a soon dispelled it.

"Yes, you have won a victory", he conceded. "But you should know that you have fought only a small portion of the Bani Haneefa — all that Museilima could hastily gather. The major portion of the army is still in the fort at Yamama."

Khalid stared at him incredulously. "May Allah curse you! What are you saying?"

"Yes, that is so", Muja'a went on. "I suggest that you accept a peaceful surrender. If you will state your terms, I shall go into the fort and try to persuade the army to lay down its arms."

It did not take Khalid long to realise the impossibility of fighting, with his exhausted men, an even larger army than the one he had just tackled. "Yes", he replied, accepting Muja'a's pro­posal. "Let there be peace."

The terms of surrender were worked out by the two leaders. The Muslims would take all the gold, the swords, the armour and the horses in Yamama, but only half its population would be enslaved. Muja'a was released from his fetters and, on giving his word to return,  allowed to proceed to the fortified city. After some time he returned, shaking his head sadly. "They do not agree. They are all set to fight. In fact they turned against me. You can attack now if you wish."

Khalid decided to take a look at the city himself. Leaving the bulk of his weary army to bury the martyrs and gather the

The Battle of Yamama   199

spoils, he took a mounted detachment and rode to Yamama, accompanied by Muja'a. As he got near the northern wall of the fortified city he stopped in amazement, for the battlements were crowded with warriors whose armour and weapons glinted ominously in the sun. How on earth would he deal with this fresh army in an impregnable fort? His men were in no state to fight; they wanted nothing but rest.

The voice of Muja'a broke the silence."They might be prepared to surrender the fort if you do not enslave any of them. You could have all the gold, the swords, the armour, the horses."

"Have they agreed to this?" asked Khalid.  

"I have discussed the matter; but they gave no decision."

 Khalid was prepared to go so far and no further. He looked at Muja'a sternly. "I will give you three days", he said. "If the gates are not opened on these revised terms, I shall attack. And then there shall be no terms of any kind."

     Muja'a again went into the fort. This time he returned smiling. They  have agreed",¹ he announced.

The pact was drawn up accordingly. It was signed on behalf of the Muslims by Khalid and on behalf of the Bani Haneefa by Muja'a bin Marara.²

When the pact had been signed, Muja'a returned to the fort; and soon after the gates of the fort were thrown open. Khalid, accompanied by his mounted warriors and Muja'a, rode into the city, expecting to see hordes of armed warriors; but wherever he looked, he saw nothing but women and old men and children. He turned in amazement to Muja'a. "Where are the warriors I saw?”

Muja'a pointed at the women. "Those are the warriors you saw", he explained. "When I came into the fort I dressed these women in armour, gave them weapons, and made them parade on the battlements. There are no warriors!"

Furious at being tricked, Khalid swore at Muja'a, "You deceived me, O Muja'a!"

Muja'a merely shrugged his shoulders.  "They are my people. I could do nothing else."

But for the pact, Khalid would have torn Muja'a apart

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, pp. 515-7; Balazuri: pp. 99-100.

²There is some difference of opinion among early historians about the exact terms of the pact; but the details are not important.

200   The Sword of Allah

with his bare hands. However, the pact had been signed and its terms had to be respected. The Bani Haneefa, those of them who were in the city, were safe. Soon they had come out of their city and roamed freely in the neighbourhood.

A day or two later a message arrived from the Caliph, who was not yet aware of the end of the Battle of Yamama, instructing Khalid to kill all the apostates of the Bani Haneefa. Khalid wrote back explaining that the Caliph's order could not be implemented because of the pact that he had signed. Abu Bakr agreed to the observance of the terms of the pact.

But the pact only applied to those who had been in the fort. The rest of the vast tribe of Bani Haneefa — tens of thousands of people living in the region around Yamama—were not cove­red by the pact. The most important element of the Bani Haneefa now was the remnants of the army of Museilima which had fled from the plain of Aqraba. These warriors, amounting to more than 20,000 men, were moving at random in clans and groups. After Museilima's death they posed no great danger to Islam, but they could nevertheless cause considerable mis­chief. They had to be crushed. Under the harsh laws of war, they had no claim to immunity from attack until they had fully submitted.

Khalid was determined to wipe out all resistance among the Bani Haneefa so that undisturbed peace might prevail in the region. He allowed his army a couple of days rest: then he divi­ded it into several columns which he despatched to subdue the region around Yamama and to kill or capture all who resisted. These columns fanned out in the countryside.

The fugitives were sought out wherever they had taken shelter. Thousands remained unrepentant and defiant; these were attacked and wiped out, and their women and children taken captive. But other thousands submitted and were spared. Even­tually all the survivors re-entered Islam.

Khalid set up his headquarters near Yamama, where he was to stay about two months before receiving his next military task from the Caliph.

With the successful conclusion of the Battle of Yamama, most of Arabia was freed of the mischief of the apostasy. Some

The Battle of Yamama   201

of it still remained on the fringes of the peninsula, but this posed no serious threat. Some battles were still to be fought, but they were minor affairs compared with the great clashes which have been described in this and the preceding chapters.

The Battle of Yamama was the fiercest and bloodiest battle so far fought in the history of Islam. Never before had the Muslims been faced with such a trial of strength; and they rose gloriously to the occasion under the leadership of the Sword of Allah. By crushing the vastly superior forces of the Bani Haneefa led by the redoubtable Museilima, the Muslims proved themselves to be men of steel. Half a century later old men would describe this battle in vivid detail to their grandchildren and end the account with the proud boast: "I was at Yamama!"

The casualties were staggering. Of the apostates 21,000 were killed — 7,000 in the plain of Aqraba, 7,000 in the Garden of Death, and 7,000 in the mopping up operations of the columns sent out by Khalid.

The Muslims suffered lightly in comparison with the apostates, but compared with their own past battle losses, their casualties were heavy indeed. Twelve hundred Muslims fell as martyrs — most of them in or near the wadi¹ Half this loss was suffered by the Ansars and the Emigrants — the closest and most revered Companions of the Prophet. It is also said that the martyrs included 300 of those who knew the whole Quran by heart. Some of the finest of Muslims fell in this battle — Abu Dajana, Abu Huzeifa (the commander of the left wing), Zeid (brother of Umar and commander of the right wing). While Zeid fell, Umar's son, Abdullah, survived.

When Abdullah returned to Madina he went to pay his respects to his father, but there was no welcome in the eyes of Umar as he looked at his son. "Why were you not killed beside Zeid ? Zeid is dead and you live! Let me not see your face again!"

"Father", pleaded this brave young man, "my uncle asked for martyrdom and Allah honoured him with it. I also sought martyrdom but did not attain it."²

In the Battle of Yamama, Abu Bakr's campaign against

¹The visitor to Jubeila today is shown a graveyard on the southern bank of the wadi, where the Muslim martyrs lie buried; and on the northern bank he is shown a low mound, between the village and the gulley, where the apostate dead were buried.

²Tabari: Vol.2, pp. 512-3.

202   The Sword of Allah

the apostates reached its high-water mark. This was the climax. Abu Bakr's strategy of using Khalid as his right arm to fight the main apostate chiefs in turn, going from nearer to farther ob­jectives, had met with admirable success.  Henceforth things would be easier.

One episode remains to be narrated before we finish with the Battle of Yamama. On the day that the city of Yamama opened its gates, Khalid sat outside his tent in the evening. Beside him sat Muja'a. They were alone.

Suddenly Khalid turned to Muja'a. "I want to marry your daughter!"

Muja'a stared in amazement at Khalid. He could not possibly have heard aright!

Khalid, his tone more insistent, repeated, “I want to marry your daughter!"

Muja'a now realised that Khalid was not mad; that he knew what he wanted. Yet in view of the occasion, the whole idea seemed utterly ridiculous. "Steady, 0 Khalid!" he replied. "Do you want the Caliph to break your back and mine also?"

"I want to marry your daughter", repeated Khalid. And that very evening he married the beautiful daughter of Muja'a bin Marara.

A few days later Khalid received an angry letter from Abu Bakr. "0 son of the mother of Khalid!" wrote the Caliph. "You have time to marry women while in your courtyard the blood of 1,200 Muslims is not yet dry!" When he had read the letter Khalid muttered, "This must be the work of that left-handed one!"¹

However, he continued to enjoy his new bride. It seems that he had discarded the glamorous widow of Malik bin Nuweira. We do not know what happened to that lady, for history makes no further mention of the beautiful Leila with the gorgeous eyes and the lovely legs.

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 519.

What remained of the apostasy in the less vital areas of Arabia was rooted out by the Muslims in a series of well-planned campaigns within five months.

Amr bin Al Aas had been sent with his corps to the Syrian border to subdue the apostates in that region. The most impor­tant tribes that needed chastisement were the Quza'a and the Wadee'a, the latter being a section of the large tribe of Kalb. While Khalid was fighting in Central Arabia, Amr struck at the apostates in the north, but achieved only limited success. He was not able to beat the tribes into submission.

When the Battle of Yamama was over, Shurahbeel bin Hasana proceeded with his corps, on the orders of the Caliph, to reinforce Amr; and the two commanders operated in unison to bring about the subjugation of the northern tribes. Most of the apostates were concentrated in the region of Tabuk and Daumat-ul-Jandal, and it was here that Amr and Shurahbeel struck their hardest blows. In a few weeks the apostasy was destroyed and the tribes re-entered Islam. Peace returned to Northern Arabia.

The main tribe inhabiting Uman was the Azd. The chief of this tribe was Laqeet bin Malik, known more commonly as

Zul Taj, the Crowned One. These Arabs, like those whose apos­tasy is described later in this chapter, had embraced Islam in the time of the Prophet and agreed to abide by the terms imposed by the Muslim State.

On hearing the news of the Holy Prophet's death, the bulk of the Azd, led by Zul Taj, revolted and renounced Islam. It is not certain that this man was an impostor. Going by a brief comment of Tabari that he "claimed what prophets claim,"¹ we could assume that he probably did make some claim to prophethood. Be that as it may, while Abu Bakr was busy dealing with the immediate threat to Madina, Zul Taj declared himself King of Uman and established himself as its undisputed ruler with his headquarters at Daba. (See Map 7.)

After Khalid had left Zu Qissa to seek Tuleiha, the Caliph despatched Huzeifa bin Mihsan (one of the corps commanders) to tackle the apostasy in Uman. Huzeifa entered the province of Uman, but not having strong enough forces to fight Zul Taj he decided to await reinforcements. He wrote to the Caliph accordingly, who, as has already been noted, instructed Ikrama to march from Yamama to the aid of Huzeifa. On his arrival, the two generals combined their forces and set out to fight Zul Taj at Daba.

The Battle of Daba was fought towards the end of Novem­ber 632 (early Ramazan, 11 Hijri). At first the battle went badly for the Muslims; but at a critical moment a force of local Mus­lims, who had clung to their faith in spite of Zul Taj, appeared on the battlefield in support of their co-religionists. With this fresh addition to their strength the Muslims were able to defeat the infidel army. Zul Taj was killed in battle.

Being appointed governor of Uman, Huzeifa next set about the re-establishment of law and order. Ikrama, having no local administrative responsibility, used his corps to subdue the neighbourhood of Daba; and in a number of small actions succeeded in breaking the resistance of those of the Azd who had continued to defy the authority of Islam. Thereafter the Azd once again became peaceful, law-abiding Muslims and gave no further trouble to Madina.

¹Tabari: Vol.2, p. 529.

The Collapse of the Apostasy   205

From Uman, following the orders of Abu Bakr, Ikrama marched to Mahra. Here too the germs of apostasy had in­fected the local population, though not in such virulent a form as in some other provinces. Mahra actually was the objective of Arfaja bin Harsama (one of the corps commanders) and Ikrama's instructions were to assist Arfaja; but as the latter had not yet arri­ved, Ikrama decided that instead of waiting for him he would tackle the local apostasy on his own.

The army of local rebels that had gathered at Jeirut con­sisted of two unequal factions. Ikrama arrived at Jeirut and confronted the infidels in early January, 633 (mid-Shawwal, 11 Hijri). When ready to engage the enemy, he called upon the apostates to return to the fold of Islam. Of the two apostates factions, the larger rejected the call, but the smaller one accepted it and came over to join the Muslims, whereupon Ikrama attacked and defeated the rebels. Their commander was killed, and a large quantity of booty came into Ikrama's hands.

Having re-established Islam in Mahra, Ikrama moved his corps to Abyan, where he rested his men and awaited further developments.

In Bahrein an independent action against the rebels was fought by the corps of Ula bin Al Hazrami. It was after the Battle of Yamama that Abu Bakr had sent this general to crush the apostasy in Bahrein, telling him that he would get no help from other Muslim forces; that he would be entirely on his own.

Ula arrived in Bahrein to find the apostate forces gathered at Hajr and entrenched in a strong position. (This was the only instance of entrenchments being used in these campaigns.) Ula mounted several attacks and the battle continued for some days but without success, as he found it difficult to cross the trench line. Whenever he managed to get some forces across they were repulsed. Ula began to wonder just how he was going to crack this virtually impregnable position.

Then early one night Ula heard wild, joyous shouts com­ing from the rebel position. At a loss to understand this phe­nomenon, he sent spies to investigate. These spies returned soon

206   The Sword of Allah

after to inform him that there was wild revelry in the enemy camp and that everybody was drunk. Ula at once ordered a night attack. As the Muslims went into the assault they found no sentries and caught the enemy completely by surprise. They plun­ged into the rebels, and hundreds of them were killed before they realised that their celebration had been disturbed! Hundreds more were slain before the rest could come to their senses and escape.

The following day Ula pursued the fugitives to the coast, where they made one more stand but were decisively defeated. Most of them surrendered and re-entered Islam.

This operation was completed at about the end of January 633 (second week of Zu Qad, 11 Hijri).

The Yemen had been the first province to rebel against the authority of Islam when the tribe of Ans rose in arms under the leadership of its chief and false prophet — Aswad, the Black One. The affair of Aswad has already been described. He was killed by Firoz the Persian while the Holy Prophet still lived, and thereafter Firoz had acted as governor at San'a.

When word arrived that the Holy Prophet had died, the people of the Yemen again revolted, this time under the leader­ship of a man named Qeis bin Abd Yaghus. The avowed aim of the apostates was to drive the Muslims out of the Yemen; and they decided to achieve this objective by assassinating Firoz and other important Muslim leaders, thus rendering the Muslim community leaderless.  Its subsequent expulsion would then present no difficulty.

To implement this perfidious plan Qeis invited Firoz and other Muslim officers to his house for talks. Some Muslims fell into the trap and were speedily despatched by the assassins; but at the eleventh hour Firoz got wind of the plot and of the organisation behind it. Having no military force at his disposal for immediate use, Firoz sought safety in flight. He left San'a. Qeis came to know of his departure and pursued him, but Firoz was able to evade his pursuers and reach the hills where he found a safe refuge. This happened in June or July 632 (Rabi-ul-Awwal or Akhir, 11 Hijri).

For the next six months Firoz remained in his mountain-

The Collapse of the Apostasy   207

ous stronghold, where over the months he was joined by thous­ands of Muslims who were prepared to shed their blood to oust Qeis and restore Muslim rule in the Yemen. Firoz organised these Muslims into an army. When he felt strong enough to face Qeis in the field, he marched to San'a with this army. Qeis awaited him here, and in mid-January 633 (late Shawwal, 11 Hijri) they joined battle just outside the town. The Muslims were victorious, and Qeis fled to Abyan — where Ikrama was to rest later, after subduing Mahra.

At Abyan, Qeis was joined by other apostate chiefs, but they fell out amongst themselves. Seeing no hope of further successful opposition to Madina, they all surrendered to the Muslims and were subsequently pardoned by the Caliph. Some of these apostate chiefs, after re-entering Islam, fought bravely in Iraq and Syria during the years that followed.

The last of the great revolts of the apostasy was that of the powerful tribe of Kinda, which inhabited the region of Najran, Hazramaut and Eastern Yemen.  The progress of events in this revolt followed much the same pattern as else­where.

On the death of the Prophet, the Kinda became restive, though they did not break into revolt immediately. The gover­nor of Hazramaut was Ziyad bin Lubeid who lived at Zafar, the capital of Hazramaut. An honest, God-fearing Muslim, he was extremely strict in the collection of taxes, which caused some heart-burning among the Kinda. All their attempts at evading full payment of taxes were thwarted by Ziyad.

In January 633 (Shawwal, 11 Hijri), the discontent of the Kinda came to a head. One of their minor chieftains had handed in a rather fine camel as part of the tax. He later changed his mind and asked to have it back but Ziyad rejected the request. This chieftain then sent some of his men to steal the camel.

In return Ziyad sent a few soldiers to catch the camel-lifters.  Shortly afterwards the camel and the culprits were brought in and locked up. Next morning a riotous assembly of the Kinda demanded the return of their imprisoned comardes. Ziyad refused to release the thieves, announcing that they would be tried under Muslim law. At this the situation exploded.

208   The Sword of Allah

Large sections of the Kinda revolted and apostatised. They not only refused to pay taxes or abide by the laws of Islam, but also took up arms to oppose the authority of Madina with violence. Several other dissident elements joined them in this purpose; and together they established military camps and pre­pared for war.                                              

One of these rebel camps was at Riyaz, not far from Zafar. To this Ziyad sent a column on a night raid which turned out to be eminently successful. Some apostates were killed, several captured, and the rest driven away. As the captives were being taken to Zafar, they passed the greatest of the Kinda chiefs, Ash'as bin Qeis, who had not yet turned apostate. "O Ash'as", the captives called to him, "we are of your mother's clan."¹ The tribal loyalty of Ash'as proved itself stronger than his faith or his respect for central authority. Accompanied by many of his warriors, he intercepted the Muslim column, liberated the captives, and sent the Muslims home empty-handed.

This marked the beginning of the revolt of Ash'as. The Kinda flocked to his standard in large numbers and prepared for battle; but the strength of the two forces, apostate and Muslim, was so well balanced that neither side felt able to start serious hostilities.  Ziyad waited for reinforcements before attacking Ash'as.

Reinforcements were on the way. Muhajir bin Abi Umayya, the last of the corps commanders to be despatched by Abu Bakr, had just subdued some rebels in Najran and was to go on to the Yemen. Abu Bakr directed him to proceed instead to Hazramaut to join Ziyad and deal with the apostasy of the Kinda. Similar instructions reached Ikrama, who was now at Abyan.

The forces of Muhajir and Ziyad combined at Zafar, under the over-all command of the former, and set out to fight Ash'as.

Ash'as bin Qeis was one of the most remarkable men of his time. Coming from a princely family of the Kinda, he was a man of many parts. An able general, a clever chief, a bold warrior and an accomplished poet, he had a fertile imagination and a smooth tongue. A man of charm and wit, he was the most colour­ful of the many colourful personalities thrown up by the apostasy.

The Collapse of the Apostasy   209

But he had one big flaw; he was treacherous! Historians have noted that his was the only family that produced four breakers of pacts in an unbroken line — Ash'as, his father, his son, and his grandson.

Ash'as lived close to the borderline between virtue and evil, between faith and unbelief, but never quite crossed that line. Practising a kind of moral and spiritual brinkmanship, he was clever enough to get away with it. And now, in late Jan­uary 633 (the second week of Zu Qad, 11 Hijri), he faced the Muslim army in battle.

The battle did not last long. Ash'as was defeated, though the defeat was not decisive. He speedily withdrew his army from the battlefield and retreated to the fort of Nujeir, where he was joined by other dissident clans. Here Ash'as prepared for a siege.

Just after this battle the corps of Ikrama also arrived. The three Muslim corps, under the over-all command of Muhajir, advanced on Nujeir and laid siege to the fortified city. There were three routes leading into the city. The generals deployed their forces on all three of these routes, completely surrounding and isolating the city. Reinforcements and provisions coming to Ash'as were either captured or driven back.

The siege continued for several days. A number of sallies were made by the beleaguered garrison, but all were repulsed with losses. Yet the Kinda remained firm in their determination to fight on.

Some time in mid-February 633 (early Zul Haj, 11 Hijri) Ash'as realised that the situation was hopeless. There was no possibility of success. It was only a matter of time before the fort fell to the Muslims, and then there would be a blood-bath. The next action of Ash'as was characteristic of the man: he decided to sell his tribe to save himself!

He sent a message to Ikrama proposing talks. Ash'as knew Ikrama well, for in their days of unbelief they had been good friends. As a result of the proposal talks were arranged with Ikrama and Muhajir on one side and Ash'as on the other. Accompanied by a few men, Ash'as came out of the fort secretly to the rendezvous.

"I shall open the gates of the fort to you if you will spare the lives of 10 men and their families", Ash'as offered. To this the

Muslims agreed. "Write down the names of the 10 men," said Muhajir, "and we shall seal the document."

Ash'as went aside with his men and began to write down the names. It was his intention first to write the name of nine favou­red ones and then add his own as the tenth; but he did not notice that one of his men was looking over his shoulder and reading the names as he wrote. This man, named Jahdam, was not one of the favoured nine. As Asha's wrote the ninth name, Jahdam drew his dagger. "Write my name," he hissed, "or I kill you."¹ Hoping to save himself later by his wits, Ash'as wrote down Jahdam as the tenth name. The list was complete. Muhajir sealed the document.

Ash'as and his men returned to the fort. At the agreed time he opened one of the gates, and the Muslims poured into the fort and fell upon the unsuspecting garrison. There was a terrible slaughter, and it continued until everyone in the fort had laid down his arms. Ash'as and a group of men and families that remained near him were spared.

The fort of Nujeir had now fallen. When Muhajir checked the list prepared by Ash'as, he noticed that the name of Ash'as was not in it. He was delighted. "0 Enemy of Allah!" he said to Ash'as. "Now I have a chance to punish you."² He would have killed Ash'as, but Ikrama intervened and insisted that Ash'as be sent to Madina, where Abu Bakr could decide his fate. Consequently Ash'as was put in chains.

Within the fort the Muslims had taken many captives who were to be sent to Madina as slaves, and these included a large number of attractive young women. They were led out of the fort and passed Ash'as, of whose perfidy they had by now come to know. As they slowly filed past him, the captive women looked at him reproachfully and wailed, "You traitor! you traitor!"³ To add to his discomfiture, Ash'as was sent with this same group of captives to Madina. It could not have been a very pleasant journey!

Ash'as was no stranger to Madina. He had visited the place during the Year of Delegations, when the Kinda submitted to the Holy Prophet and embraced Islam. During that visit he had

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 547.

²Ibid, p.548.

³lbid.

The Collapse of the Apostasy   211

also married Umm Farwa, sister of Abu Bakr; but when leaving Madina he had left her behind with Abu Bakr, with the promise of picking her up on his next visit. This next visit was now taking place under very different and uncongenial circumstances.

The Caliph charged Ash'as with all his crimes against Is­lam and the State. He expressed his low opinion of the way Ash'as had betrayed his own tribe. Was there any reason why the accused should not be beheaded at once?

Attention has been drawn to the smooth tongue of Ash'as. This time he excelled himself. Not only did he win a pardon, he also persuaded Abu Bakr to return his wife to him! He re­mained in Madina, though, unwilling to return to his own tribe. In later years he fought with distinction in Syria, Iraq and Persia; and in the time of Usman he was made governor of Azarbeijan.

But his treacherousness never left him. Many were the people, including Abu Bakr, who wished that he had not been pardoned after his apostasy. In fact when Abu Bakr was dying, and spoke to his friends of his regrets about things he had not done and wished he had, he said, "I wish I had had Ash'as beheaded."¹

Students of Muslim history might recollect that Imam Hassan's wife, who poisoned him at the instigation of Caliph Muawiya, for which service he paid her 100,000 dirhams, was the daughter of Ash'as.²

With the defeat of the Kinda at Nujeir the last of the great apostate movements collapsed. Arabia was safe for Islam. The unholy fire that had raged across the land was now dead. Arabia would see revolt and civil war many times in its stormy history, but it would never again see apostasy.

The Campaign of the Apostasy was fought and completed

 during the eleventh year of the Hijra. The year 12 Hijri dawned, on March 18, 633, with Arabia united under the central authority of the Caliph at Madina.³

¹Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 619; Masudi: Muruj, Vol. 2, p. 308; Balazuri:

p.112.

²Ibn Quteiba: p. 212; Masudi: Muruj, Vol. 3, p. 5. This is Masud’s figure. Some historians have given the sum as 150,000 dirhams.

³For an explanation of the chronology of the Campaign of the Apostasy, which is subject to some possible sources of error, see Note 3 in Appendix B.