The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V
RECOVERY OF ARABIA. CAMPAIGN OF KHĀLID
11 A.H. 632–633 A.D.
The struggle of a year for Arabia's recovery.It was indeed time for decisive action. But a few weeks before and the entire Peninsula was submissive to the claims of Moḥammad both as Prophet and King. Now all was on a sudden changed, and the Arabs abjuring Islām were fast relapsing into apostasy and independence. It took a year to reclaim the Peninsula, a year of hard fighting and obstinate resistance in every corner of the land. It was the indomitable spirit breathed by Moḥammad into his faithful followers that alone crowned their efforts with victory. The Arabs at last were forced back, in sullen mood and with unwilling step, to confess the faith of Moḥammad and submit themselves to his Successor.
Details meagre and hazy.A brief outline of the twelvemonths' campaign will suffice; for tradition, up to the Prophet's death clear and copious, now suddenly becomes curt, obscure, and disconnected. The scene of confusion that prevailed throughout the land, presents itself to us in meagre, dim, and hazy outline. With Islām struggling thus for very life, its followers thought at the moment only of the lance and sword; and when the struggle at last was over, little remained but the sense of escape from a terrible danger. No date is given for the many battles fought throughout the year. We can only guess at the sequence of events.
Such being the case, we shall begin with the campaign of Khālid on the north and east, and then take up the other Provinces in order, as they lie around the coast, from Al-Baḥrein on the Persian Gulf to the Yemen on the Red Sea.
Campaign of Khālid
I. Against Ṭoleiḥa
After Abu Bekr and ʿOmar, the most prominent figure in the early days of Islām is without doubt that of Khālid son of Al-Welīd. More to him than to any other is it due that the Faith so rapidly recovered its standing, and thereafter spread with such marvellous rapidity. A dashing soldier, brave even to rashness, his courage was tempered by a cool and ready judgment. His conduct on the battlefields which decided the fate of the Persian Empire, and of the Byzantine rule in Syria, ranks him as one of the greatest generals of the world. Over and again, always with consummate skill and heroism, he cast the die in crises where loss would have been destruction to Islām. From the carnage of his arms he was named The Sword of God, and so little care had he for loss of life, that he would wed the widow of his enemy on the field still sodden with his own soldiers' blood. He had already distinguished himself in the annals of Islām. While fighting on the side of Ḳoreish, the Prophet's defeat at Oḥod was due mainly to his prowess. After conversion, his was the only column which, on the capture of Mecca, disobeyed by shedding blood; and again shortly after, the cruel massacre of an unoffending tribe brought down upon him the Prophet's stern reproof. On the field of Mūta he gave signal promise of his great future when, the Muslim army having been routed by Roman legions and its leaders one after another slain, he saved the shattered remnants from destruction by skilful and intrepid tactics. It was this Khālid whom Abu Bekr now sent forth against the rebel Prophets Ṭoleiḥa and Museilima.
Khālid marches against Ṭoleiḥa.His column, by far the strongest, was composed of the flower both of the Refugees and of the Citizens of Medīna. To divert the enemy's attention, Abu Bekr gave out his destination as for Kheibar; and, to strike the greater terror, that the Caliph himself would join it there with a fresh contingent. Khālid, however, was not long in quitting the northern route. Striking off to the right, he made direct for the mountain range, seat of the Beni Ṭaiʾ, and not distant from the scene of Ṭoleiḥa's revolt among the Beni Asad.
Ṭoleiḥa.Of the doctrines of Ṭoleiḥa, and the other pretenders to prophetic office, we know little; nor indeed anything at all to show wherein the secret of their influence lay, So far as appears, their worship was a mere travesty of Islām. Some doggerel verses and childish sayings are all that the contemptuous voice of tradition has transmitted of their teaching. That four Pretenders (for Sajāḥ the Prophetess was also such) should just then have arisen in different parts of Arabia and drawn multitudes after them, would seem to imply something deeper than senseless rhymes, and more specious than petty variations of the Muslim rite. It is not unreasonable to assume that the spiritual sense of Arabia had been quickened by the preaching of Moḥammad, and that his example had both suggested the claims of others, and contributed thus rapidly to their success. Bedawīn jealousy of Mecca and MedīnaJealousy of Mecca and Medīna, moreover, and impatience of the trammels of Islām, were powerful incentives for the Bedawīn tribes to cast in their lot with these Pretenders. Thus the Beni Ghaṭafān who aforetime were in league with the Beni Asad, had recently fallen out with them and lost some pasture-land. ʿOyeina their chief now counselled a return to their old relations; "Let us go back," he said, "to the ancient alliance which before Islam we had with the Beni Asad, for never since we gave it up have I known our pasture boundaries. A Prophet of our own is better than a Prophet of Ḳoreish. Beside all this, Moḥammad is dead and Ṭoleiḥa is alive." So saying, ʿOyeina with 700 of his warriors joined Ṭoleiḥa and his army at Al-Buzākha.
Beni Ṭaiʾ reclaimed.On first hearing of Ṭoleiḥa's heresy, Moḥammad had sent an Envoy to rally the faithful amongst the Beni Asad and thus crush the Pretender. But the cause gaining ground, was now supported by the neighbouring Beni Ṭaiʾ, as well as by insurgents who flocked to Ṭoleiḥa after their defeat at Rabadha; and so the Envoy had to fly. The great family of Ṭaiʾ, however, was not wholly disloyal, for (as above mentioned) the legal dues had been already presented to Abu Bekr on behalf of some of them. ʿAdī their loyal chief was therefore now sent forward by Khālid in the hope of detaching his people from Ṭoleiḥa's cause. He found them in no friendly humour. "The father of the foal!" they cried (such was the sobriquet they contemptuously used for Abu Bekr[1]), "thou shalt not persuade us to do homage to him." "Think better of it," replied ʿAdī; "an army approacheth which ye cannot withstand. Ye shall know full soon he is no foal but the lusty stallion. Wherefore see ye to it." Alarmed at his words, they begged for time to recall their fellows who had joined Ṭoleiḥa; "for," said they, "he will surely hold them as hostages, or else put them to death." So Khālid halted three days, and in the end the whole tribe not only tendered submission but joined him with 1000 horse, "the flower of the land of Ṭaiʾ and the bravest of them."
Battle of Buzākha.Thus reinforced, Khālid advanced against Ṭoleiḥa. On the march his army was exasperated by finding the bodies of two of their scouts, one a warrior of note named ʿOkkāsha, who had been slain and left by Ṭoleiḥa to be trampled on upon the road. The armies met at Al-Buzākha, and the combat was hot and long. At last the tide of battle was turned by a strange utterance of Ṭoleiḥa who was fighting in his prophetic garb of hair. ʿOyeina held on bravely with his 700 when, the situation becoming critical, he turned to Ṭoleiḥa saying, "Hath any message come to thee from Gabriel?" "Not yet," answered the Prophet; a second time he asked, and received the same reply. "Yes," cried Ṭoleiḥa a little after, "a message now hath come." "And what is it?" inquired ʿOyeina eagerly. "Thus saith Gabriel to me, Thou shalt have a millstone like unto his, and an affair shall happen that thou wilt not forget." "Away with thee!" cried ʿOyeina scornfully; "no doubt the Lord knoweth that an affair will happen that thou shalt not soon forget! Ho, every man to his tent!" So they turned to go; and thereupon the army fled.
Ṭoleiḥa's sequel.Ṭoleiḥa escaped with his wife to Syria. The sequel is curious. At the first he took refuge with another tribe on the Syrian frontier. When the Beni Asad were pardoned he returned to them, and embraced Islām. Passing Medīna soon after on pilgrimage to Mecca, he was seized and carried to Abu Bekr who set him at liberty, saying, "Let him alone. The Lord hath now verily guided him into the right path." When ʿOmar succeeded, Ṭoleiḥa presented himself to do homage. At first ʿOmar spoke roughly to him,—"Thou art he that killed ʿOkkāsha, and his comrade too. I love thee not." "Was it not better," answered the quondam prophet, "that they by my hand should obtain the crown of martyrdom, rather than that I by theirs should have perished in hell-fire?" When he had sworn allegiance, the Caliph asked him concerning his oracular gift, and whether anything yet remained of it. "Ah," he replied, "it was but a puff or two, as from a pair of bellows." So he returned to his tribe and went forth with them to the war in Al-ʿIrāk, where in the great struggle with Persia he became a hero of renown.
Repentant tribes received back into Islām.After the battle of Al-Buzākha the Beni Asad, fearing lest their families should fall into the conqueror's hands, submitted and were pardoned. Other important tribes in the neighbourhood which had stood aloof watching the event, now came in and received from Khalid the same terms. They resumed the profession of Islam with all its obligations, and in proof thereof brought in the tithe. A full amnesty was accorded on but one condition, that those who during the apostasy had taken the life of any Muslim should be delivered up. These were now (to carry out the Caliph's vow) put to the like death as that which they had inflicted. If they had speared their victims, cast them over precipices, drowned them in wells, or burned them in the fire, the persecutors were now subjected to the same cruel fate.
Body of malcontents discomfited.Khālid stayed at Al-Buzākha for a month, receiving the submission of the people and their tithes. Troops of horse scoured the country, striking terror all around. In only one direction was serious opposition met. A body of malcontents from amongst the penitent tribes, unable to brook submission, assumed a defiant attitude. They had yet to learn that the grip of Islam was stern and crushing. These gathered in a great multitude around Um Ziml, daughter of a famous chieftain of the Ghaṭafān. Her mother had been taken prisoner, and put to a cruel death by Moḥammad. She herself had waited upon ʿĀisha as a captive maid in the Prophet's household; but the haughty spirit of her race survived. Mounted on her mother’s war-camel, she led the force herself and incited the insurgents to a bold resistance. Khālid proclaimed a great reward to him who should maim her camel. It was soon disabled; and Um Ziml slain, the rout of the rebel host was easy.
ʿOyeina pardoned.A few of the leading rebels were sent prisoners to Abu Bekr. One of them, ʿOyeina a notable marauding chieftain, had often been the terror of Medīna. When the City was besieged by Ḳoreish, he offered assistance to the Prophet on humiliating terms which were happily refused; and he was also one of the influential leaders "whose hearts," after the battle of Ḥonein, "had been reconciled" by the Prophet's largesses. He was now led into Medīna with the rest in chains, his hands tied behind his back. The Citizens crowded round to gaze at the fallen chief, and the very children smote him with their hands, crying out, "Oh enemy of the Lord, apostate!" "Not so," said ʿOyeina bravely; "I am no apostate, and never was a believer until now." The Caliph listened patiently to the appeal of the captives. He forgave them, and commanded their release.[2]
II. Discomfiture of the Bent Temīm. Story of Mālik ibn Nuweira
Khālid's advance, 11 A.H. (Nov.?) 632 A.D.Having subdued the tribes inhabiting the hills and deserts north of Medīna, Khālid bent his steps eastward, against the Beni Temīm who occupied the plateau towards the Persian Gulf.
Beni Temīm.This great tribe, partly Christian and partly heathen, had from time immemorial spread its innumerable branches over the pasture-lands between Al-Yemāma and the mouth of the Euphrates. With the rest of Arabia it. acknowledged Moḥammad and submitted to his claims. But the Prophet's death had produced amongst them the same apostasy as elsewhere. After Abu Bekr's first success some of its Chieftains, as we have seen, came to Medīna with the tithes. Meanwhile a strange complication had arisen which embroiled the Beni Yerbūʿ (one of their clans, commanded by the famous Mālik ibn Nuweira) in hostilities with the rest of the tribe, and eventually brought Khālid on the scene.
Sajāḥ, the prophetess, invades Central Arabia.It was no less than the advent of the Prophetess Sajāḥ, at the head of a great host from Mesopotamia. Descended from the Beni Yerbūʿ, her family had migrated north and joined the Beni Taghlib, among whom in Mesopotamia she had been brought up as a Christian. How long she had assumed the prophetic office and what were her peculiar tenets, we do not know. At the head of the Taghlib and other Christian tribes she now crossed into Arabia hoping to profit by the present confusion, and was on her way to attack Medīna. Reaching the seats of Temīm, she summoned to her presence the Beni Yerbūʿ her own clan, and promised them the kingdom should victory crown her arms. They joined her standard, with Mālik ibn Nuweira at their head. The other clans of Temīm refused to acknowledge the Prophetess; and so, diverted from her design upon Medīna, she turned her arms against them. In a series of combats, though supported by Mālik, she was worsted. Then, having made terms and exchanged prisoners, she bethought her of attacking the rival prophet Museilima, and so passed onwards to Al-Yemāma.
Mālik ibn Nuweira;As Khālid flushed with victory now approached, most of the branches of the Temīm hastened to tender their submission. At this critical juncture, the withdrawal of Sajāḥ left Mālik ibn Nuweira with the Yerbūʿ tribe in a position of some perplexity, and he was undecided how to act. Conflicting views respecting Mālik's loyalty divided the Muslim camp. For some reason Khālid was bent on attacking the Yerbūʿ. The men of Medīna were equally opposed to the design, for which they alleged there was no authority. It had been better for Khālid to have listened. But he replied haughtily, "I am Commander, and it is for me to decide. I will march against Mālik with such as choose to follow me. I compel no man." So he went forward and left the malcontents behind. These, however, thinking better of it rejoined the army. Khālid then in full force, marched straight against the headquarters of Mālik, but found not a soul upon the spot. It was utterly deserted.
Brought a prisoner to Khāid.In fact, Mālik had resolved on submission, though his proud spirit rebelled against presenting himself before Khālid. He knew the ordinance of Abu Bekr, that none but they who resisted and who refused the call to prayer should be molested. So he told his people that there was no longer use in opposing this new way, but that bowing down they should suffer the wave to pass over them. "Break up your camp," he said, "and depart every man to his house." Khālid, still bent on treating the neighbourhood as enemy's land, sent forth bands everywhere to slay and plunder, and take captive all who failed to respond to the call for prayer. Amongst others, Mālik was seized with his wife and a party of his people. When challenged, they replied that they were Muslims. "Why, then, these weapons?" it was asked. So they laid aside their arms and were led as captives to the camp. As they passed by Khālid, Mālik cried aloud to him, "Thy Master never gave command for this." "Thy master," rejoined Khālid, "didst thou say? Then, rebel, by thine own admission, he is not thine!"
Mālik ibn Nuweira put to death.The captors differed in their evidence. Some averred that the prisoners had offered resistance. Others, with Abu Ḳatāda, a citizen of Medīna at their head, deposed that they had declared themselves Muslims, and at once complied with the call to prayer. So the party was remanded till morning under an armed guard. The night set in cold and stormy, and Khālid, with the view (so he averred) of protecting them from its inclemency, gave command "to wrap the prisoners." The word was ambiguous, signifying in another dialect "to slay"; and Ḍirār, commandant of the guard, taking it in that sense, began to put the prisoners, including Ibn Nuweira, forthwith to the sword. Khālid, hearing the uproar, hurried forth; but all was over, and he retired exclaiming, "When the Lord hath determined a thing, the same cometh verily to pass." But the fate of Mālik was not thus easily to be set at rest. The men of Medīna who had opposed the advance were shocked at his cruel fate. Abu Ḳatāda roundly asserted the responsibility of Khālid. "This is thy work!" he said; and though chided, persisted in the charge, declaring that never again would he serve under Khālid's banner. In company with Mutemmam, Ibn Nuweira's brother, he set out at once for Medīna, and there laid formal complaint before the Caliph. ʿOmar, with his native impetuosity, took up the cause of the Yerbūʿ chief. Khālid had given point to the allegations of his enemies by wedding Leila, the beautiful widow of his victim, on the spot.His widow taken to wife by Khālid. From this scandalous act, ʿOmar drew the worst conclusion. "He hath conspired to slay a believer," he said, "and hath gone in unto his wife." He was instant with Abu Bekr that the offender should be degraded and put in bonds, saying, "The sword of Khālid, dipped in violence and outrage, must be sheathed." "Nay!" replied the Caliph (of whom it is said that he never degraded any one of his Commanders);—"the Sword which the Lord hath made bare against the heathen, shall I sheathe it? That be far from me!" Nevertheless he summoned Khālid to answer the charge.
Khālid exonerated by Abu Bekr,Khālid obeyed the call. On reaching Medīna, he went straightway to the great Mosque and entered it in rough costume, his clothes rusty with the girded armour, and his turban, stuck with arrows, coiled rudely about the head. As he passed along the courtyard towards the Caliph's chamber, ʿOmar met him. Unable to restrain himself, he seized the arrows from the warrior's turban, broke them over his shoulder, and abused him as hypocrite, murderer, and adulterer. Khālid, unaware whether Abu Bekr might not be of the same mind, answered not a word but passed into the Caliph's presence. There he told his story, and the explanation was accepted by Abu Bekr; but he chided him roughly for having taken to wife his victim's widow, and run counter to Arab sentiment in incontinently celebrating his nuptials on the field of battle. As Khālid, thus relieved, again passed out, he lightly rallied ʿOmar in words which showed that he had been exonerated. Mutemmam then pressed his claim of blood-money for his brother's life and release of the prisoners that remained. For the release Abu Bekr gave command, but payment he declined.
But held guilty by ʿOmar.ʿOmar, still unconvinced of Khālid's innocence, advised that he should be withdrawn from the command. He persevered in pressing this view upon Abu Bekr, who at last replied, "ʿOmar, hold thy peace! Refrain thy tongue from Khālid. He gave an order, and the order was misunderstood." But ʿOmar heeded not. He neither forgave nor forgot, as in the sequel we shall see.
Scandal of the case.The scandal was the greater because Mālik ibn Nuweira was a chief renowned for generosity and princely virtues, as well as for poetic talent. His brother Mutemmam, a poet also of no mean fame, commemorated his tragic end in many touching verses which ʿOmar loved to listen to, and used to say that, "had he been himself a poet, he would have had no higher ambition than to mourn in such verse the fate of his own brother Zeid," who shortly after fell at Al-Yemāma.
The materials are too meagre for a conclusive judgment on the. guilt or innocence of Khālid. But his scandalous marriage with the widow of Ibn Nuweira whose blood was yet fresh upon the spot, if it gave no colour to darker suspicion, justified at anyrate the indictment of shameless indulgence and reckless disregard of the proprieties of life.
III. Battle of Al-Yemāma
END OF 11 A.H. BEGINNING OF 633 A.D.
Khālid's campaign against Museilima. End of 11 A.H.. Beginning of 633 A.D.But sterner work was in reserve for Khālid. In the centre of Arabia, a little towards the east, lay Al-Yemāma. The Beni Ḥanīfa, a powerful branch of the great Bekr tribe, resided there. Partly Christian and partly heathen, they had submitted to Moḥammad, but now were in rebellion 40,000 strong, around their Prophet Museilima. It was against these that Khālid next directed his steps.
Museilima.The beginning of Museilima's story belongs to the life of Moḥammad.[3] Small in stature, and of mean countenance, he yet had qualities which fitted him for command. He visited Medīna with a deputation from his people, and it was pretended that words had then fallen from Moḥammad signifying that he was destined to share with him the prophetic office. On this Museilima advanced the claim, and was accepted by his people as their prophet. Summoned from Medīna to abandon these pretensions, he sent an insolent reply claiming to divide the land. Moḥammad in. anger drove the ambassador from his presence, and thereupon sent Ar-Rajjāl a convert of the same tribe, to counteract the heresy and reclaim his brethren; but Ar-Raijjāl, like the rest, was gained over by the Pretender. Museilima, we are told, deceived the people by pretended miracles, counterfeited the language of the Ḳorʾān, and instituted prayers like those of Moḥammad. In short, his religion was but a wretched travesty of Islām. Though strongly supported by his own people both as their Prophet and their Ruler, he now felt that the meshes of Abu Bekr began to close round him. The Caliph’s Generals were steadily reclaiming the coast of the Persian Gulf, and Khālid whom he dreaded most was not far behind.His marriage with Sajāḥ. the Prophetess. At this juncture came tidings that the Prophetess Sajāḥ, worsted as we have seen by the Beni Temīm, was coming with troops against him. In his perplexity he sent her a friendly invitation. She came, and their sentiments were so much alike that the Prophet of Al-Yemāma took the Prophetess of Mesopotamia to wife, and celebrated their nuptials on the spot—the dower to be one-half the revenues of Al-Yemāma. After a few days, Sajāḥ departed for her northern home and, like a meteor, vanished, just as she had startled Arabia by her advent. Parties of Mesopotamian horse still ranged over the land collecting her dues when Khālid's approach at once changed the scene; and Museilima marching out with a heavy force to meet him, pitched his camp at ʿAḳrabā.
ʿIkrima and Shuraḥbīl's reverse.ʿIkrima and Shuraḥbīl, sent by Abu Bekr to quell the rising at Al-Yemāma, had already suffered badly at the hands of Museilima from a hasty and ill-advised advance. The reverse was so serious that Abu Bekr wrote angrily to ʿIkrima—"I will not see thy face, nor shalt thou see mine, as now thou art. Thou shalt not return hither to dishearten the people. Depart unto the uttermost coasts, and there join the armies in the east and south." So, skirting Al-Yemāma, ʿIkrima went forward to ʿOmān, there to retrieve his tarnished reputation. Shuraḥbīl, meanwhile, was directed to halt and await the approach of Khālid.
Khālid sets out for Yemāma.It was upon this reverse that Khālid, when summoned to Medīna about the affair of Mālik, received his commission to attack Museilima. In anticipation of severe fighting the Caliph sent with him a fresh column of veterans from amongst the men of Mecca and Medīna. Thus reinforced Khālid returned to his camp at Al-Biṭāḥ, and advanced in strength to meet the enemy.
Majāʿa taken prisoner.While yet a march from ʿAḳrabā, Khālid surprised a mounted body of the Beni Ḥanīfa under command of their chief Majāʿa. They were returning from a raid against a neighbouring tribe, unaware of his approach. But as they belonged to the enemy, they were all put to the sword excepting Majāʿa, whom Khālid spared in hope of his being useful on the morrow, and kept chained in his tent under charge of Leila his lately espoused wife.
Battle of Yemāma.Next day the armies met upon the sandy plain of ʿAķrabā. The enemy rushed on with desperate bravery. "Fight for your loved ones!" they cried,—"it is the day of jealousy and vengeance; if ye be worsted, your maidens will be ravished and your wives dragged to their foul embrace!" So fierce was the shock that the Muslims were driven back and their camp uncovered. The wild Bedawīn entered the tent of Khālid, and, but for the chivalry of her captive, who conjured his countrymen to spare a lady of noble birth, Leila would have perished by their swords. "Go, fight against men," Majāʿa cried, "and leave this woman," on which they cut the tent-ropes and departed. There was danger for Islām at the moment. Defeat would have been disastrous; indeed, the Faith could hardly have survived. But now the spirit of the Muslims was aroused. To stimulate rivalry between the Bedawīn and City Arabs of his force, Khālid made them to fight apart. On this they rallied one the other,—"Now," cried the sons of the desert, "we shall see carnage wax hot amongst the raw levies of the town. We shall teach them how to fight!" Prodigies of valour were fought all round. Tradition dwells with enthusiasm on the heroic words and deeds of the leaders, as one after another they fell in the thick of battle. Zeid, brother of ʿOmar, leading the men of Mecca, singled out Ar-Rajjāl and, reproaching his apostasy, despatched him forthwith. A furious south wind charged with desert sand, blinded the Muslims and caused a momentary check, Upbraiding their slackness, Zeid cried out,—"Onwards to those that have gone before! Not a word will I speak till we drive these apostates back, or I appear to clear me before my Lord. Close your eyes and clench your teeth. Forward like men!" So saying, he led the charge and fell. Abu Ḥodheifa, with leaves of the scripture stuck on the spear shaft which he bore, and calling out, "Fight for the Ḳorʾān, ye Muslims, and adorn it by your deeds!" followed his example and shared the common fate. His freedman seized the banner as it fell, and exclaiming "I were a craven bearer of the sacred text if I feared death," plunged with it into the battle and was slain. Nor were the men of Medīna far behind. Their Commander as they gave way reproached them thus,—"Woe to you because of this backsliding. Verily, I am clear of ye, even as I am clear of these," pointing to the apostate enemy, and so he flung himself among them and perished in their midst. Animated thus, the rank and file charged furiously. Backwards and forwards swayed the line, and heavy was the carnage.Enemy discomfited. But urged by Khālid's valiant arm, and raising the battle-cry "Ya Moḥammadā!" the Muslim arms at length prevailed. The enemy broke and fled. "To the garden!" cried Al-Muḥakkam, a brave leader of the Beni Ḥanīfa; "to the garden, and close the gate!" Taking his stand, he guarded their retreat as they rushed into an orchard surrounded by a strong wall, and Museilima with them. The Muslim troops following close, swarmed round the wall but found the entrance barred.The Garden of Death. At last Al-Barā ibn Mālik cried, "Lift me aloft upon the wall." So they lifted him up. For a moment, as he looked on the surging mass below, the hero hesitated; then, boldly leaping down, he beat right and left, until he reached the gate, and threw it open. Like waters pent up, his comrades rushed in; and, as beasts of the forest snared in a trap, so wildly struggled the brave Beni Ḥanīfa in the Garden of Death, Hemmed within the narrow space, hampered by the trees, arms useless from their very numbers, they were hewn down and perished to a man. The carnage was fearful, for besides the "thousands" (as tradition puts it) slain within the walls, an equal number were killed on the field, and again an equal number in the flight.Terrible slaughter on both sides. The Muslims too, despite their splendid victory, had cause to remember the "Garden of Death," for their loss was beyond all previous experience. Besides those killed hand to hand in the garden, great numbers fell in the battle. The Refugees lost 360 men, and the Men of Medīna 300, nearly 700 in all; while the slaughter amongst the Bedawīn, though somewhat less, raised the loss beyond 1200, besides the wounded. Amongst the dead were nine-and-thirty chief Companions of the Prophet. At Medīna there was hardly a house, whether of Refugees or Citizens, in which the voice of wailing was not heard.
Museilima among the slain.Museilima was slain by Waḥshi, the same negro warrior who, swinging round his head a javelin after the savage Ethiopian style, had on the field of Oḥod brought Ḥamza to the ground. After the battle, Khālid carried the chief Majāʿa, still in chains, over the field to identify the dead. Turning the bodies over, they came upon a stalwart figure. "Look, was this your Master?" said Khālid. "Nay," replied Majāʿa, "that was a nobler and a better man";—it was the brave Muḥakkam who, covering the retreat, was slain by the Caliph's son. Entering the "Garden of Death," among the heaps of mangled dead they stumbled on one of insignificant mien. "This is your man," Majāʿa said, as he turned the body of Museilima on its side;—"truly ye have done for him!" "Yea," replied Khālid, "or rather it is he that hath done for you all that which he hath done."
Truce with the Bani Ḥanīfa.The Muslim horse now scoured the country and every day brought in bands of prisoners. Aware that after their crushing defeat the Beni Ḥanīfa were incapable of resistance, their chief Majāʿa bethought him of a stratagem. He represented that the forts and fastnesses were still held in force throughout the country; in proof of which he sent to tell the aged men, the women,—all that were left behind, and even the children,—to line their battlements in warrior's disguise. Persuaded thus that the inhabitants would fight to the last, and seeing the army wearied and anxious for their homes, Khālid concluded a truce more favourable than he would otherwise have given. When Majāʿa's artifice came to light, Khālid was angry; but excusing him on the ground of patriotism, in the end stood by the treaty. No sooner was it concluded than he received a despatch of unwonted severity from Abu Bekr, who, to strike terror into other apostate tribes, commanded that not a single fighting man of the rebel and ungodly race be spared. Fortunately this the truce forbade; the Beni Ḥanīfa were received back into Islām, and a portion only of the multitude were retained as prisoners. The campaign ended, Khālid sent a deputation of the tribe to Abu Bekr, who received them courteously. "Out upon you!" at first he said; "how is it that this impostor has led you all astray?" "Oh Caliph!" they answered, "thou hast heard it all; he was one whom the a Lord blessed not, nor yet his people"; and they repeated to him some of the things he used to say. "Good heavens!" exclaimed Abu Bekr; "what kind of words are these? There is neither sense in them for good nor yet for evil, but a strange fatuity to have beguiled you thus." So he dismissed them to their homes.
Many Companions slain.Among the slain are not a few names familiar to the student of the Prophet's life. The carnage amongst the "Reader" (those who had the Ḳorʾān by heart) was so great as to give ʿOmar the first idea of collecting the Sacred Text, "lest any part of it should be lost." At the death of his brother Zeid who had shared with him all the dangers of the early battles of Islām, ʿOmar was inconsolable. "Thou art returned home," he said to his son ʿAbdallah, "safe and sound; and Zeid is dead. Wherefore; wast not thou slain before him? I wish not to see thy face." "Father," was his reply, "he asked for martyrdom, and the Lord granted it. I strove after the same, but it was not given unto me." Such was the spirit of these Muslim warriors.
Khālid takes Majāʿa's daughter to wife.Khālid again signalised his victory by wedding a captive maid upon the field. "Give me thy daughter to wife," he said to Majāʿa, the same who had so faithfully defended his bride in the hour of peril. "Wait," replied Majāʿa; "be not so hasty; thou wilt harm thyself in the Caliph's eyes, and me likewise." "Man, give me thy daughter!" he repeated imperiously ; so Majāʿa gave her to him. When Abu Bekr heard of it, he wrote him a letter sprinkled with blood. "By my life! thou son of Khālid's father, thou art a pretty fellow, living thus at thine ease. Thou weddest a damsel, whilst the ground beneath the nuptial couch is yet moistened with the blood of twelve hundred!" The reproof fell lightly upon Khālid. "This is the work," he said as he read the epistle, "of that left-handed fellow," meaning ʿOmar. The sentiment, however, was Abu Bekr's own; but the "Sword of the Lord" could not be spared.
We shall meet Khālid next in Chaldæa, by the banks of the Euphrates.