The history of Islam’s glory was not free from jihad, which was done by the predecessors of this nation. Jihad possesses a noble position in Islam. Of course, if it is done according to the shari’a of Allah and His Messenger, not a kind of terrorism that arises from a mere spirit without basis of knowledge. The following article will expose to you the picture of jihad in Allah’s Cause, during the time of caliph Abu Bakr Ash Shiddiq.
After recovering the condition of Arab peninsula by fighting against the apostates and people who refused to pay their zakat obligation, Abu Bakr attempted hard to mobilize the army of muslims in order to conquer the Syam which was included in the territory of the Roman Empire.
Condition of the Roman before the War
When the army of muslims headed to Syam, the Roman troops were surprised and caught by fear. They immediately sent a letter to report about it to Heraclius, king of Rome who was at Himsh (now known as Homs, -ed). He then sent a reply, which stated, “Woe to you! Verily, they are the followers of the new religion. There is no one that can defeat them. Obey me and make peace with them by handing over half of the harvests of Syam! Don’t you still have the mountains of Roman?! If you don’t obey me, they will certainly take over the land of Syam and corner you until you are squeezed between the Roman mountains .”
When they received such reply, they (the Roman troops) refused to obey the advice. As a result, King Heraclius was forced to send a large personnels of army. The Roman army started to move and stopped at the valley of Al Waqusa, in the side of Yarmuk river that has a low plain and many precipices.
The Arrival of Khalid Ibn Al Walid from Iraq
The army of muslims who were resided at Syam immediately asked for help. Then Abu Bakr Ash Shiddiq commanded Khalid Ibn Al Walid to retreat from Iraq and instead head to Syam together with his troops. At once, Khalid appointed Al Mutsanna Ibn Haritsa as his replacement in Iraq, then he moved swiftly to Syam with 9.500 personnels of troops with him. They crossed the paths that never before were crossed by anyone, by crossing desert, climbing mountain, and passing through the very arid valleys.
The Preparation of Islamic forces
Abu Sufyan, as a master of war strategy, suggested the troops to be divided into three formations. One third of them would be ready in front of the Roman army, another one third which was consisted of the logistic and women would walk, and the rest one third would be lead by Khalid at the rear. If the enemy had reached the camps of the women and logistic troops, Khalid would move forward to the front of the women, thus they could save themselves behind the troops of Khalid Ibn Walid.
They realized his suggestion at once. The Islamic forces started to gather and face the enemy at the beginning of month Jumadi Tsani, year 13 of Hijra.
Strategy of The Islamic Forces
At that time, the Islamic forces were about 36.000 to 40.000 personnels of army. Among them, there were about 1000 companions of the Prophet. 100 of them were the veterans of the battle of Badr. Abu ‘Ubaida Ibn al Jarrah (his name was Hanzhola Ibn Ath Thufail), led the middle court of the army. ‘Amr Ibn Al ‘Ash and Syarahbil Ibn Hasanah led the right wing of the army. Whereas the leader of the left wing of the army was Yazid bin Abi Sufyan (he was known as Yazid Al Khoir).
Khalid brought his horse close to Abu ‘Ubaida, and said, “I have a suggestion.” Abu ‘Ubaida answered, “Say it, I’ll listen and obey it.” Then Khalid said, “I’m sure that the enemy has prepared a large army to break the defense of ours. I’m worried that the defense of our right and left wings will be broken. In my opinion, the cavalry must be divided into two groups. One group will be stationed behind the right wing, and the other behind the left wing. If the enemy were able to break the defense of the right or left wing, the cavalry will aid them. Then we will come and attack them from behind.” Abu ‘Ubaida replied, “What a precise idea!”.
Khalid Ibn Walid then ordered Abu ‘Ubaida Ibn al Jarrah to move to the rear position. This was so that if there were Islamic soldier that ran backwards, he would be ashamed upon seeing him and went back to the battlefield. Then Khalid instructed the women to prepare themselves with swords, daggers, and sticks. Khalid said, “Anyone whom you meet fleeing from the battlefield, kill him! ”
Strategy of The Roman Army
After the back up army from the central government arrived, the Roman army head forward arrogantly, bringing with them 240.000 personnels of troops, 80.000 infantries, 80.000 cavalries, and 80.000 troops that were tied with iron chains (every ten soldiers were tied into one, so that they wouldn’t flee from the battle).
They moved until they covered the places they passed like black clouds. They shouted, and raised their voices, whereas the priests, bishops, and people from the church surrounded the army, reciting the bible while motivating them to be persistent in fighting.
The front line troops were led by Jaraja (George), the left and right wings were led by Mahan and Ad Daraqus. The attacker army was led by Al Qolqolan, son in law of Heraclius. As for the highest leader of the army was the brother of Heraclius, Tadzariq.
Negotiation before the outbreak of the Battle
Abu ‘Ubaida and Yazid Ibn Abi Sufyan went forward to the army of Roman, and went with them Dhirar Ibn Al-Azur, Al-Harits Ibn Hisyam and Abu Jandal Ibn Suhail to meet Tadzariq who was sitting inside his silken tent.
The companions said, “We are not allowed to enter this tent.” Then a silken carpet was spread before them and they were welcomed to sit on it. The companions said, “We are not allowed to sit on it.” Finally, Tadzariq sat at the place that they approved. The companions enjoined him to Islam, but it went without any result. In the end, they got back to their army. The leader of the left wing of Roman army, named Mahan, wished to see Khalid Ibn Walid between the two armies that were facing each other. Mahan said, “We know that it is poverty and starvation that drives you out of your country. Would you like me to give you 10 dinars for every soldier, together with foods and clothes, and you go back to your country? And in the next year, I’ll give you the same shares?”
Khalid Ibn Walid answered, “Indeed, nothing that you’ve mentioned drive us out of our country. But the truth is we are the blood-thirst men. And the news had reached us that there is no blood that is fresher than your blood, the Romans. Therefore, we’ve came here!”. Upon hearing that answer, the companions of Mahan said, “By Allah, that speech is the first time we hear from the nation of ‘Arab. ”
The course of the Battle
The Roman army came to this battle with a large number of troops, which was never happened before. Khalid also brought with him a great number of troops which was never happened before in the history of the Arabs. When the preparations were all set, Khalid commanded to start the duel. Then the Muslim hero in each squad advanced thus the atmosphere were heated up. Whereas Khalid stood witnessing the fight.
In the middle of the heated situation, the leader of the front line of Roman troops named Jaraja wished to meet Khalid, in between the armies. He asked him about Islam, then Khalid informed him about the calling of Islam that was brought by Prophet Muhammad. Finally, Jarjara embraced Islam, he reversed the side of his shield and joined the ranks of muslim army.
Upon witnessing the desertion of Jarjara, the Roman army rushed to the ranks of the muslims. Mahan ordered the right wing troops to attack and break through the defense of the right wing of the Islamic forces. The muslims still fought toughly under their banners, until they managed to stem the enemy’s attack.
After that, the large amount of Roman army came like a great mountain, and they managed to crush the right wing troops, thus the Islamic forces moved to the middle court. Not before long, they called upon each other to go back to the battlefield thus they succeeded to strike back their enemies. As for the women, whenever they see an Islamic soldier fleeing from the battlefield, they rushed to hit him with woods or throw stones to him thus he ran back to the battlefield.
Then Khalid and his troops who were at the left wing broke through the right wing which was crushed by the enemy, until they managed to kill 6.000 soldiers of the Roman. Then Khalid brought with him 100 cavalries to face 100.000 of the Roman soldiers, until they were able to destroy their enemies.
On that day, the persistence, patience, and heroism of Islamic troops shined brightly, thus the Roman army were whirling like the grinder of wheat. They didn’t see anything at the battle, but flying heads, remains of mutilated hands and fingers, and bursts of blood that soaked the battlefield.
At that time, all of the Islamic forces attacked at once, then they were free to eliminate the enemies without the slightest resistance. Even Jaraja was severely wounded and passed away. Whereas he had not done any single prayer, but the two rak’ahs of prayer that Khalid taught him when he just embraced Islam.
The battle lasted from noon until night, until the victory was in the hand of Islam and the muslims. That night, the Romans ran away in the middle of the dark. As for the Roman troops that were tied with iron chains, if one of them fell, then all of them fell together. That night, Khalid spent the night at the camp of Tadzariq, the highest leader of Roman army.
The cavalry gathered around the camp of Khalid, waited for the Roman to pass to kill, until the morning came. Even Tadzariq was killed, and the casualties of the Roman army were more than 120.000 personnels. As for the muslim soldiers who were killed during the battle, their number was 3.000 personnels. The muslims got plenty of war booties in this battle.
Likewise, the muslims were able to seal the victory when they stood firmly upon the purity of worship to Allah alone, and held firmly onto the teaching of His messenger. As revealed in Allah’s decree, which can be translated as,
“Allah has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely bestow power on them in the land even as He bestowed power on those that preceded them, and that He will firmly establish their religion which He has been pleased to choose for them, and He will replace with security the state of fear that they are in. Let them serve Me and associate none with Me in My Divinity. Whoso thereafter engages in unbelief, such indeed are the ungodly.”(Chapter An-Nur/The Light: 55)
And Allah knows best.
Author: Editorial Team of Islamic Bulletin “Al Ilmu”
Article of www.KisahMuslim.com