Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
military commander. He initially headed campaigns against
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
on behalf of the
Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
. He later became a
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
and spent the remainder of his career in service to Muhammad and the first two
Rashidun
, image = تخطيط كلمة الخلفاء الراشدون.png
, caption = Calligraphic representation of Rashidun Caliphs
, birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia present-day Saudi Arabia
, known_for = Companions of t ...
successors:
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
and
Umar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
. Following the establishment of the
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate ( ar, اَلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ, al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah) was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his ...
, Khalid held a senior command in the
Rashidun army
The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, granti ...
; he played the leading role in the
Ridda Wars
The Ridda Wars ( ar, حُرُوْبُ الرِّدَّةِ, lit=Apostasy Wars) were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic proph ...
against rebel tribes in
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
in 632–633, the
initial campaigns in Sasanian Iraq in 633–634, and the
conquest of Byzantine Syria in 634–638.
As a horseman of the Quraysh's aristocratic
Banu Makhzum
The Banu Makhzum () was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim (the tribe of the Islamic prop ...
, which ardently opposed Muhammad, Khalid played an instrumental role in defeating Muhammad and his followers during the
Battle of Uhud
The Battle of Uhud ( ar, غَزْوَة أُحُد, ) was fought on Saturday, 23 March 625 AD (7 Shawwal, 3 AH), in the valley north of Mount Uhud.Watt (1974) p. 136. The Qurayshi Meccans, led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, commanded an army of 3,000 m ...
in 625. In 627 or 629, he converted to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
in the presence of Muhammad, who inducted him as an official military commander among the Muslims and gave him the title of (). During the
Battle of Mu'ta, Khalid coordinated the safe withdrawal of Muslim troops against the Byzantines. He also led the
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
s under the Muslim army during the
Muslim conquest of Mecca in 629–630 and the
Battle of Hunayn
:''This is a sub-article to Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca.''
The Battle of Hunayn ( ar, غَزْوَة حُنَيْن, Ghazwat Hunayn) was between the Muslims of Muhammad and the Bedouins of the Qays, including its clans of Hawazi ...
in 630. After Muhammad's death, Khalid was appointed to
Najd
Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
and
al-Yamama
Al-Yamama ( ar, اليَمامَة, al-Yamāma) is a historical region in the southeastern Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia, or sometimes more specifically, the now-extinct ancient village of Jaww al-Yamamah, near al-Kharj, after which the rest ...
with the purpose of suppressing or subjugating Arab tribes who were opposed to the Rashidun Caliphate; this campaign culminated in Khalid's victory over Arab rebel leaders
Tulayha
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi ( ar, طليحة بن خويلد بن نوفل الأسدي) was a wealthy Arab clan chief and military commander during the time of Muhammad; he belonged to the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe.
In 625 he ...
and
Musaylima
Musaylima ( ar, مُسَيْلِمَةُ), otherwise known as Maslama ibn Ḥabīb ( ar, مَسْلَمَةُ بْنُ حَبِيبٍ) d.632, was a preacher of monotheism from the Banu Hanifa tribe. He claimed to be a prophet in 7th-century Arabia ...
at the
Battle of Buzakha
The Battle of Buzakha took place between Khalid ibn al-Walid and Tulayha, in September 632.
Strength
Khalid had 6,000 men under his disposal while Tulayha had 35,000 men.
General Engagement
Tuhlaya himself took up a position somewhere t ...
in 632 and the
Battle of Yamama
The Battle of Yamama was fought in December 632 as part of the Ridda Wars against a rebellion within the Rashidun Caliphate in the region of al-Yamama (in present-day Saudi Arabia) between the forces of Abu Bakr and Musaylima, a self-procla ...
in 633, respectively.
Khalid subsequently moved against the largely
Christian Arab
Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic language, Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab ...
tribes and the
Sasanian Persian garrisons of the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
valley in Iraq. He was reassigned by Abu Bakr to command the Muslim armies in Syria and he led his men there on an unconventional march across a long, waterless stretch of the
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of sou ...
, boosting his reputation as a military strategist. As a result of decisive victories led by Khalid against the Byzantines at
Ajnadayn (634),
Fahl (634 or 635),
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
(634–635), and the
Yarmouk (636), the Rashidun army conquered most of the Levant. Khalid was subsequently demoted and removed from the army's high command by Umar. However, he continued service as a key lieutenant of his military successor,
Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah. Under Abu Ubayda, Khalid participated in the
first siege of Emesa in 635 and the
second siege of Emesa (Homs) in 638, as well as in the
siege of Aleppo and the
Battle of Qinnasrin in 637; these successive engagements collectively precipitated the retreat of Byzantine troops from the Levant under
Heraclius
Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...
. Umar then dismissed Khalid from the governorship of
Jund Qinnasrin
''Jund Qinnasrīn'' ( ar, جُـنْـد قِـنَّـسْـرِيْـن, "military district of Qinnasrin") was one of five sub-provinces of Syria under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, organized soon after the Muslim conquest of Syria in t ...
around 638. Khalid died in either
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
or
Homs
Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...
in 642.
He is generally considered by historians to be one of the most seasoned and accomplished generals of the early Islamic era, and he is likewise commemorated throughout the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
. Islamic tradition credits Khalid for his battlefield tactics and effective leadership of the
early Muslim conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...
, but also accuses him of illicitly executing Arab tribesmen who had accepted Islam—namely members of the
Banu Jadhima Banu Jadhimah () was one of the Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad. It was "of Ta'if" and it is a branch of Banu Kinanah which is the mother tribe of Quraysh, the tribe of Mohammed
History
They were a branch of the Kinana tribe, descen ...
during the lifetime of Muhammad, and
Malik ibn Nuwayra
Malik ibn Nuwayra ( ar, مالك بن نويرة: died 632), was the chief of the Banu Yarbu, a clan of the Banu Hanzala, a large section of the powerful tribe of Bani Tamim which inhabited the north-eastern region of Arabia, between Bahrain and ...
during the Ridda Wars—and being responsible for moral and fiscal misconduct in the Levant. Khalid's military fame disturbed some of the pious early Muslims, most notably Umar, who feared it could develop into a personality cult.
Ancestry and early life
Khalid's father was
al-Walid ibn al-Mughira
, image =
, title = Abu Abd Shams
, caption =
, succession = Chief of Banu Makhzum
, moretext =
, reign = 570–622
, reign-type = Rule
, predecessor = Mughira ibn Abd Allah
, pre-type =
, c ...
, an arbitrator of local disputes in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
in the
Hejaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
(western Arabia). Al-Walid is identified by the historians
Ibn Hisham (d. 833),
Ibn Durayd
Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Duraid al-Azdī al-Baṣrī ad-Dawsī Al-Zahrani (), or Ibn Duraid () (c. 837-933 CE), a leading grammarian of Baṣrah, was described as "the most accomplished scholar, ablest philologer and first poet of t ...
(d. 837) and
Ibn Habib
Abū Marwān ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ḥabīb al-Sulami () (180–238 AH) (796–853 AD) also known as Ibn Habib, was an Andalusi Arab polymath of the 9th century. His interests include medicine, fiqh, history, grammar, genealogy and was reportedly th ...
(d. 859) as the "derider" of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
mentioned in the
Meccan sura
The Meccan surat are, according to the timing and contextual background of supposed revelation (''asbāb al-nuzūl''), the chronologically earlier chapters (''suwar'', singular ''sūrah'') of the Qur'an. The traditional chronological order attribu ...
s (chapters) of the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
. He belonged to the
Banu Makhzum
The Banu Makhzum () was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim (the tribe of the Islamic prop ...
, a leading clan of the
Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
tribe and Mecca's
pre-Islamic aristocracy. The Makhzum are credited for introducing Meccan commerce to foreign markets, particularly
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
and
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
(Ethiopia), and developed a reputation among the Quraysh for their intellect, nobility and wealth. Their prominence was owed to the leadership of Khalid's paternal grandfather
al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah
, image =
, title =
, caption =
, succession = Chief of the Quraysh
, moretext =
, reign = Early 6th century – 570
, reign-type = Rule
, predecessor = Abd Allah ibn Umar al-Makhzumi
, pre-type ...
. Khalid's paternal uncle
Hisham was known as the 'lord of Mecca' and the date of his death was used by the Quraysh as the start of their calendar. The historian Muhammad Abdulhayy Shaban describes Khalid as "a man of considerable standing" within his clan and Mecca in general.
Khalid's mother was al-Asma bint al-Harith ibn Hazn, commonly known as Lubaba al-Sughra ('Lubaba the Younger', to distinguish her from her elder half-sister
Lubaba al-Kubra) of the nomadic
Banu Hilal
The Banu Hilal ( ar, بنو هلال, translit=Banū Hilāl) was a confederation of Arabian tribes from the Hejaz and Najd regions of the Arabian Peninsula that emigrated to North Africa in the 11th century. Masters of the vast plateaux of th ...
tribe. Lubaba al-Sughra converted to Islam about and her paternal half-sister
Maymuna became a wife of Muhammad. Through his maternal relations Khalid became highly familiarized with the
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
(nomadic Arab) lifestyle.
Early military career
Opposition to Muhammad
![Battle of Uhud 624 CE](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Battle_of_Uhud_624_CE.png)
The Makhzum were strongly opposed to Muhammad, and the clan's preeminent leader
Amr ibn Hisham
ʿAmr ibn Hishām al-Makhzūmī ( ar, عمرو بن هشام المخزومي), (570 – 13 March 624), also known as Abu Jahl (lit. 'Father of Ignorance'), was one of the Meccan polytheist pagan leaders from the Quraysh known for his opposition t ...
(Abu Jahl), Khalid's first cousin, organized the boycott of Muhammad's clan, the
Banu Hashim
)
, type = Qurayshi Arab clan
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, nisba = al-Hashimi
, location = Mecca, Hejaz Middle East, North Africa, Horn of Africa
, descended = Hashim ibn Abd Manaf
, parent_tribe = Qu ...
of Quraysh, in . After Muhammad
emigrated from Mecca to
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
in 622, the Makhzum under Abu Jahl commanded the war against him until they were routed at the
Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr ( ar, غَزْوَةُ بَدِرْ ), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ) in the Quran, Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan (calendar month), Ramadan, 2 Anno Hegirae, AH), near the ...
in 624. About twenty-five of Khalid's paternal cousins, including Abu Jahl, and numerous other kinsmen were slain in that engagement.
![Mount Uhud](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Mount_Uhud.JPG)
The following year Khalid commanded the right flank of the cavalry in the Meccan army which confronted Muhammad at the
Battle of Uhud
The Battle of Uhud ( ar, غَزْوَة أُحُد, ) was fought on Saturday, 23 March 625 AD (7 Shawwal, 3 AH), in the valley north of Mount Uhud.Watt (1974) p. 136. The Qurayshi Meccans, led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, commanded an army of 3,000 m ...
north of Medina. According to the historian
Donald Routledge Hill
Donald Routledge Hill (6 August 1922 – 30 May 1994)D. A. King, “In Memoriam: Donald Routledge Hill (1922-1994)”, ''Arabic Sciences and Philosophy,'' Volume 5 / Issue 02 / September 1995, pp 297-302 was a British engineer and historian of sc ...
, rather than launching a frontal assault against the Muslim lines on the slopes of
Mount Uhud
Mount Uhud ( ar, جَبَل أُحُد, Jabal Uḥud) is a mountain north of Medina, Saudi Arabia. It is high and 7.5 km long. It was the site of the second battle between Muslim and unbelievers. The Battle of Uhud was fought on 19 March, 625 ...
, "Khalid adopted the sound tactics" of going around the mountain and bypassing the Muslim flank. He advanced through the
Wadi Qanat valley west of Uhud until being checked by Muslim archers south of the valley at Mount Ruma. The Muslims gained the early advantage in the fight, but after most of the Muslim archers abandoned their positions to join the raiding of the Meccans' camp, Khalid charged against the resulting break in the Muslims' rear defensive lines. In the ensuing rout, several dozen Muslims were killed. The narratives of the battle describe Khalid riding through the field, slaying the Muslims with his lance. Shaban credits Khalid's "military genius" for the Quraysh's victory at Uhud, the only engagement in which the tribe defeated Muhammad.
In 628 Muhammad and his followers headed for Mecca to perform the (lesser pilgrimage to Mecca) and the Quraysh dispatched 200 cavalry to intercept him upon hearing of his departure. Khalid was at the head of the cavalry and Muhammad avoided confronting him by taking an unconventional and difficult alternate route, ultimately reaching Hudaybiyya at the edge of Mecca. Upon realizing Muhammad's change of course, Khalid withdrew to Mecca. A truce between the Muslims and the Quraysh was reached in the
Treaty of Hudaybiyya
The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah ( ar, صُلح ٱلْحُدَيْبِيَّة, Ṣulḥ Al-Ḥudaybiyyah) was an event that took place during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was a pivotal treaty between Muhammad, representing the state of ...
in March.
Conversion to Islam and service under Muhammad
In the year 6
AH () or 8 AH () Khalid embraced Islam in Muhammad's presence alongside the Qurayshite
Amr ibn al-As
( ar, عمرو بن العاص السهمي; 664) was the Arab commander who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was assigned impor ...
; the modern historian Michael Lecker comments that the accounts holding that Khalid and Amr converted in 8 AH are "perhaps more trustworthy". The historian Akram Diya Umari holds that Khalid and Amr embraced Islam and relocated to Medina following the Treaty of Hudaybiyya, apparently after the Quraysh dropped demands for the extradition of newer Muslim converts to Mecca. Following his conversion, Khalid "began to devote all his considerable military talents to the support of the new Muslim state", according to the historian
Hugh N. Kennedy
Hugh Nigel Kennedy (born 22 October 1947) is a British medieval historian and academic. He specialises in the history of the early Islamic Middle East, Muslim Iberia and the Crusades. From 1997 to 2007, he was Professor of Middle Eastern Histor ...
.
Khalid participated in the
expedition to Mu'ta in modern-day Jordan ordered by Muhammad in September 629. The purpose of the raid may have been to acquire booty in the wake of the
Sasanian Persian army's retreat from
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
following its defeat by the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
in July. The Muslim detachment was routed by a Byzantine force consisting mostly of Arab tribesmen led by the Byzantine commander
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
and several high-ranking Muslim commanders were slain. Khalid took command of the army following the deaths of the appointed commanders and, with considerable difficulty, oversaw a safe withdrawal of the Muslims. Muhammad rewarded Khalid by bestowing on him the honorary title ('the Sword of God').
![The old city of Adummatu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/The_old_city_of_Adummatu.jpg)
In December 629 or January 630, Khalid took part in Muhammad's
capture of Mecca, after which most of the Quraysh converted to Islam. In that engagement Khalid led a nomadic contingent called ('the Bedouin emigrants'). He led one of the two main pushes into the city and in the subsequent fighting with the Quraysh, three of his men were killed while twelve Qurayshites were slain, according to
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
, the 8th-century biographer of Muhammad. Khalid commanded the Bedouin
Banu Sulaym
The Banu Sulaym ( ar, بنو سليم) is an Arab tribe that dominated part of the Hejaz in the pre-Islamic era. They maintained close ties with the Quraysh of Mecca and the inhabitants of Medina, and fought in a number of battles against the Is ...
in the Muslims' vanguard at the
Battle of Hunayn
:''This is a sub-article to Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca.''
The Battle of Hunayn ( ar, غَزْوَة حُنَيْن, Ghazwat Hunayn) was between the Muslims of Muhammad and the Bedouins of the Qays, including its clans of Hawazi ...
later that year. In that confrontation, the Muslims, boosted by the influx of Qurayshite converts, defeated the
Thaqif
The Banu Thaqif ( ar, بنو ثقيف, Banū Thaqīf) is an Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history.
During the pre-Islami ...
—the
Ta'if
Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...
-based traditional rivals of the Quraysh—and their nomadic
Hawazin )
, type = Qaysi
, image = Hawazin Flag (20).png
, image_size =170px
, alt =
, caption = Banner of the Hawazin at the Battle of Siffin
, nisba =
, location =
, descended = Hawazin ibn Mansur ib ...
allies. Khalid was then appointed to destroy the
idol
Idol or Idols may refer to:
Religion and philosophy
* Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents
* Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...
of
al-Uzza
Al-ʻUzzā ( ar, العزى or Old Arabic l ʕuzzeː was one of the three chief goddesses of Arabian religion in pre-Islamic times and she was worshiped by the pre-Islamic Arabs along with al-Lāt and Manāt. A stone cube at Nakhla (near M ...
, one of the goddesses worshiped in
pre-Islamic Arabian religion, in the
Nakhla area between Mecca and Ta'if.
Khalid was afterward dispatched to
invite to Islam the
Banu Jadhima Banu Jadhimah () was one of the Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad. It was "of Ta'if" and it is a branch of Banu Kinanah which is the mother tribe of Quraysh, the tribe of Mohammed
History
They were a branch of the Kinana tribe, descen ...
in
Yalamlam
The miqat ( ar, مِيْقَات, lit=a stated place, translit=mīqāt) is a principal boundary at which Muslim pilgrims intending to perform the '' Ḥajj'' or ʿUmrah must enter the state of '' iḥrām'' (lit. 'prohibition')'','' a state of co ...
, about south of Mecca, but the Islamic traditional sources hold that
he attacked the tribe illicitly. In the version of Ibn Ishaq, Khalid had persuaded the Jadhima tribesmen to disarm and embrace Islam, which he followed up by executing a number of the tribesmen in revenge for the Jadhima's slaying of his uncle Fakih ibn al-Mughira dating to before Khalid's conversion to Islam. In the narrative of
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or ''Ibn Ḥajar'' ( ar, ابن حجر العسقلاني, full name: ''Shihābud-Dīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūrud-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī al-Kināni'') (18 February 1372 – 2 Febru ...
(d. 1449), Khalid misunderstood the tribesmen's acceptance of the faith as a rejection or denigration of Islam due to his unfamiliarity with the Jadhima's accent and consequently attacked them. In both versions Muhammad declared himself innocent of Khalid's action but did not discharge or punish him. According to the historian
W. Montgomery Watt, the traditional account about the Jadhima incident "is hardly more than a circumstantial denigration of Khālid, and yields little solid historical fact".
Later in 630, while
Muhammad was at Tabuk, he dispatched Khalid to capture the oasis market town of
Dumat al-Jandal. Khalid gained its surrender and imposed a heavy penalty on the inhabitants of the town, one of whose chiefs, the
Kindite Ukaydir ibn Abd al-Malik al-Sakuni, was ordered by Khalid to sign the capitulation treaty with Muhammad in Medina. In June 631 Khalid was sent by Muhammad at the head of 480 men to invite the mixed Christian and polytheistic
Balharith tribe of
Najran
Najran ( ar, نجران '), is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province. Designated as a new town, Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom; its population has risen fr ...
to embrace Islam. The tribe converted and Khalid instructed them in the Qur'an and Islamic laws before returning to Muhammad in Medina with a Balharith delegation.
Commander in the Ridda wars
![Khalid ibn al-Walid's Ridda campaign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid%27s_Ridda_campaign.png)
After Muhammad's death in June 632, one of his early and close companions,
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
, became
caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
(leader of the Muslim community). The
issue of succession had caused discord among the Muslims. The
Ansar (), the natives of Medina who hosted Muhammad after his emigration from Mecca, attempted to elect their own leader. Opinion was split among the
Muhajirun
The ''Muhajirun'' ( ar, المهاجرون, al-muhājirūn, singular , ) were the first converts to Islam and the Islamic prophet Muhammad's advisors and relatives, who emigrated with him from Mecca to Medina, the event known in Islam as the ''Hijr ...
(), the mostly Qurayshite natives of Mecca who emigrated with Muhammad to Medina. One group advocated for a companion closer in kinship to Muhammad, namely his cousin
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
, while another group, backed by new converts among the Qurayshite aristocracy, rallied behind Abu Bakr. The latter, with the key intervention of the prominent Muhajirun,
Umar ibn al-Khattab
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
and
Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah,
overrode the Ansar and acceded. Khalid was a staunch supporter of Abu Bakr's succession. A report preserved in a work by the 13th-century scholar
Ibn Abi'l-Hadid
‘Izz al-Dīn ‘Abu Hamīd ‘Abd al-Hamīd bin Hībat-Allah ibn Abi al-Hadīd al Mutazilī al-Mada'ini ( ar, ابو حامد عز الدین عبدالحمید بن ابی الحُسین ھبۃ اللہ بن محمد بن محمد بن الح ...
claims that Khalid was a partisan of Abu Bakr, opposed Ali's candidacy, and declared that Abu Bakr was "not a man about whom one needs
oenquire, and his character needs not be sounded out".
Most tribes in Arabia, except those inhabiting the environs of Mecca, Medina and Ta'if discontinued their allegiance to the nascent Muslim state after Muhammad's death or had never established formal relations with Medina.
Islamic historiography describes Abu Bakr's efforts to establish or reestablish Islamic rule over the tribes as the
Ridda wars
The Ridda Wars ( ar, حُرُوْبُ الرِّدَّةِ, lit=Apostasy Wars) were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic proph ...
(wars against the '
apostate
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...
s'). Views of the wars by modern historians vary considerably. Watt agrees with the Islamic characterization of the tribal opposition as anti-Islamic in nature, while
Julius Wellhausen
Julius Wellhausen (17 May 1844 – 7 January 1918) was a German biblical scholar and orientalist. In the course of his career, he moved from Old Testament research through Islamic studies to New Testament scholarship. Wellhausen contributed to t ...
and
C. H. Becker
Carl Heinrich Becker (12 April 1876 – 10 February 1933) was a German orientalist and politician in Prussia. In 1921 and 1925–1930 he served as Minister for Culture in Prussia (independent). He was one of the founders of the study of t ...
hold the tribes were opposed to the tax obligations to Medina rather than Islam as a religion. In the view of
Leone Caetani
Leone Caetani (September 12, 1869 – December 25, 1935), Caetani, Duke of Sermoneta (also known as Prince Caetani), was an Italian scholar, politician, and historian of the Middle East.
Caetani is considered a innovator, pioneer in the applicati ...
and
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near E ...
, the opposing tribes who had established ties with Medina regarded their religious and fiscal obligations as being a personal contract with Muhammad; their attempts to negotiate different terms after his death were rejected by Abu Bakr, who proceeded to launch the campaigns against them.
Of the six main conflict zones in Arabia during the Ridda wars, two were centered in
Najd
Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
(the central Arabian plateau): the rebellion of the
Asad,
Tayy
, location = 2nd century CE–10th century: Jabal Tayy and Syrian Desert
10th century–16th century: Jabal Tayy, Syrian Desert, Jibal al-Sharat, al-Balqa, Palmyrene Steppe, Upper Mesopotamia, Northern Hejaz, Najd
, parent_tribe = Madh ...
and
Ghatafan
The Ghaṭafān ( ar, غطفان) were an Arab tribal confederation originally based northeast of Medina. The main branches of the Ghatafan were the tribes of Banu Abs, Banu Dhubyan and Ashja'. They were one of the Arab tribes that interacted wi ...
tribes under
Tulayha
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi ( ar, طليحة بن خويلد بن نوفل الأسدي) was a wealthy Arab clan chief and military commander during the time of Muhammad; he belonged to the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe.
In 625 he ...
and the rebellion of the
Tamim tribe led by
Sajah
Sajah bint Al-Harith ibn Suayd ( ar, سجاح بنت الحارث بن سويد, fl. 630s CE) from the tribe of Banu Taghlib, was an Arab Christian protected first by her tribe; then causing a split within the Arab tribes and finally defended by ...
; both leaders claimed to be prophets. After Abu Bakr quashed the threat to Medina by the Ghatafan at the
Battle of Dhu al-Qassa, he dispatched Khalid against the rebel tribes in Najd. Khalid was Abu Bakr's third nominee to lead the campaign after his first two choices,
Zayd ibn al-Khattab
Zayd ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (Arabic: زيد بن الخطاب) (died 632) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muḥammad and a brother of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Islamic caliph.
Biography
He was the son of al-Khattab ibn Nufayl, a mem ...
and
Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba
Abū Ḥudhayfa ibn ʿUtba (Arabic: أبو حذيفة بن عتبة; died 633), full name Abū Ḥudhayfa ibn ʿUtba ibn Rabīʿa was an early companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the son of Utba ibn Rabi'a, one of the Leaders of Ban ...
, refused the assignment. His forces were drawn from the Muhajirun and the Ansar. Throughout the campaign, Khalid demonstrated considerable operational independence and did not stringently abide by the caliph's directives. In the words of Shaban, "he simply defeated whoever was there to be defeated".
Battle of Buzakha
Khalid's initial focus was the suppression of Tulayha's following. In late 632, he confronted Tulayha's forces at the
Battle of Buzakha
The Battle of Buzakha took place between Khalid ibn al-Walid and Tulayha, in September 632.
Strength
Khalid had 6,000 men under his disposal while Tulayha had 35,000 men.
General Engagement
Tuhlaya himself took up a position somewhere t ...
, which took place at the eponymous well in Asad territory where the tribes were encamped. The Tayy defected to the Muslims before Khalid's troops arrived to Buzakha, the result of mediation between the two sides by the Tayy chief
Adi ibn Hatim. The latter had been assigned by Medina as its tax collector over his tribe and its traditional Asad rivals.
Khalid bested the Asad–Ghatafan forces in battle. When Tulayha appeared close to defeat, the
Fazara
The Banu Fazara or Fazzara or Fezara or Fezzara () were an Arab tribe whose original homeland was Najd.
Origins of the tribe
According to Arab genealogical tradition, the progenitor of the Banu Fazara was Fazāra ibn Dhubyān ibn Baghīd ibn R ...
section of the Ghatafan under their chief Uyayna ibn Hisn deserted the field, compelling Tulayha to flee for Syria. His tribe, the Asad, subsequently submitted to Khalid, followed by the hitherto neutral
Banu Amir
The Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa ( ar, بنو عامر بن صعصعة) was a large and ancient Arab tribe originating from central Arabia, that dominated Najd for centuries after the rise of Islam. The tribe is an Arab Adnanite tribe and its ...
, which had awaited the results of the conflict before giving its allegiance to either side. Uyayna was captured and brought to Medina. As a result of the victory at Buzakha, the Muslims gained control over most of Najd.
Execution of Malik ibn Nuwayra
After Buzakha, Khalid proceeded against the rebel Tamimite chieftain
Malik ibn Nuwayra
Malik ibn Nuwayra ( ar, مالك بن نويرة: died 632), was the chief of the Banu Yarbu, a clan of the Banu Hanzala, a large section of the powerful tribe of Bani Tamim which inhabited the north-eastern region of Arabia, between Bahrain and ...
headquartered in al-Butah, in the present-day
Qassim region. Malik had been appointed by Muhammad as the collector of the ('alms tax') over his clan of the Tamim, the Yarbu, but stopped forwarding this tax to Medina after Muhammad's death. Abu Bakr consequently resolved to have him executed by Khalid. The latter faced divisions within his army regarding this campaign, with the Ansar initially staying behind, citing instructions by Abu Bakr not to campaign further until receiving a direct order by the caliph. Khalid claimed such an order was his prerogative as the commander appointed by the caliph, but he did not force the Ansar to participate and continued his march with troops from the Muhajirun and the Bedouin defectors from Buzakha and its aftermath; the Ansar ultimately rejoined Khalid after internal deliberations.
According to the most common account in the Muslim traditional sources, Khalid's army encountered Malik and eleven of his clansmen from the Yarbu in 632. The Yarbu did not resist, proclaimed their Muslim faith and were escorted to Khalid's camp. Khalid had them all executed over the objection of an Ansarite, who had been among the captors of the tribesmen and argued for the captives' inviolability due to their testaments as Muslims. Afterward, Khalid married Malik's widow
Umm Tamim bint al-Minhal. When news of Khalid's actions reached Medina, Umar, who had become Abu Bakr's chief aide, pressed for Khalid to be punished or relieved of command, but Abu Bakr pardoned him.
According to the account of the 8th-century historian
Sayf ibn Umar
}) was an 8th-century Islamic historian and compiler of reports who lived in Kufa. He wrote the ('The Great book of Conquests and Apostasy Wars'), which was the later historian al-Tabari's (839–923) main source for the Ridda wars and the early ...
, Malik had also been cooperating with the prophetess Sajah, his kinswoman from the Yarbu, but after they were defeated by rival clans from the Tamim, left her cause and retreated to his camp at al-Butah. There, he was encountered with his small party by the Muslims. The modern historian
Wilferd Madelung
Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung FBA (b. December 26, 1930 in Stuttgart) is a German-British author and scholar of Islamic history.
Life
After World War II, the adolescent Wilferd accompanied his parents to the USA where his father Georg Hans Madel ...
discounts Sayf's version, asserting that Umar and other Muslims would not have protested Khalid's execution of Malik if the latter had left Islam, while Watt considers accounts about the Tamim during the Ridda in general to be "obscure ... partly because the enemies of Khālid b. al-Walīd have twisted the stories to blacken him". In the view of the modern historian Ella Landau-Tasseron, "the truth behind Malik's career and death will remain buried under a heap of conflicting traditions".
Elimination of Musaylima and conquest of the Yamama
![Yamama english](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Yamama_english.jpg)
Following a series of setbacks in her conflict with rival Tamim factions, Sajah joined the strongest opponent of the Muslims:
Musaylima
Musaylima ( ar, مُسَيْلِمَةُ), otherwise known as Maslama ibn Ḥabīb ( ar, مَسْلَمَةُ بْنُ حَبِيبٍ) d.632, was a preacher of monotheism from the Banu Hanifa tribe. He claimed to be a prophet in 7th-century Arabia ...
, the leader of the sedentary
Banu Hanifa
Banu Hanifa ( ar, بنو حنيفة) is an ancient Arab tribe inhabiting the area of al-Yamama in the central region of modern-day Saudi Arabia. The tribe belongs to the great Rabi'ah branch of North Arabian tribes, which also included Abdu ...
tribe in the
Yamama, the agricultural eastern borderlands of Najd. Musaylima had laid claims to prophet-hood before Muhammad's emigration from Mecca, and his entreaties for Muhammad to mutually recognize his divine revelation were rejected by Muhammad. After Muhammad died, support for Musaylima surged in the Yamama, whose strategic value lay not only with its abundance of wheat fields and date palms, but also its location connecting Medina to the regions of
Bahrayn
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...
and Oman in eastern Arabia. Abu Bakr had dispatched
Shurahbil ibn Hasana
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasana () was one of the earliest Muslim converts, ''sahaba'' (companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) and a key commander in the Rashidun army during the Muslim conquest of the Levant.
Early life
Shurahbil ...
and Khalid's cousin
Ikrima with an army to reinforce the Muslim governor in the Yamama, Musaylima's tribal kinsman
Thumama ibn Uthal
Thumāmah ibn Uthāl ( ar, ثمامة بن أثال) was chieftain of the Banu Hanifah and one of the rulers of al-Yamamah, making him among the most powerful Arab rulers in pre-Quranic times. In 628 Muhammad sent eight letters to rulers in the ...
. According to the modern historian
Meir Jacob Kister Meir Jacob Kister ( he, מאיר יעקב קיסטר 16 January 1914 in Mościska – 16 August 2010 in Jerusalem) was a Jewish Arabist from Poland who worked in Israel.
Kister went to school in Sanok and Przemyśl. In 1932 he began studies ...
, it was likely the threat posed by this army which compelled Musaylima to forge an alliance with Sajah. Ikrima was repelled by Musaylima's forces and thereafter instructed by Abu Bakr to quell rebellions in Oman and
Mahra (central southern Arabia) while Shurahbil was to remain in the Yamama in expectation of Khalid's large army.
After his victories against the Bedouin of Najd, Khalid headed to the Yamama with warnings of the Hanifa's military prowess and instructions by Abu Bakr to act severely toward the tribe should he be victorious. The 12th-century historian
Ibn Hubaysh al-Asadi holds that the armies of Khalid and Musaylima respectively stood at 4,500 and 4,000. Kister dismisses the much larger figures cited by most of the early Muslim sources as exaggerations. Khalid's first three assaults against Musaylima at the plain of Aqraba were beaten back. The strength of Musaylima's warriors, the superiority of their swords and the fickleness of the Bedouin contingents in Khalid's ranks were all reasons cited by the Muslims for their initial failures. Khalid heeded the counsel of the Ansarite
Thabit ibn Qays
Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās al-Ḥārithī al-Khazrajī (Arabic: ثابت بن قيس بن شماس الحارثي الخزرجي) was a companion of Muhammad, who served as one of his orators and scribes, and a leader of the Ansar, the native ...
to exclude the Bedouins from the next fight.
In the fourth assault against the Hanifa, the Muhajirun under Khalid and the Ansar under Thabit killed a lieutenant of Musaylima, who subsequently fled with part of his army. The Muslims pursued the Hanifa to a large enclosed garden which Musaylima used to stage a last stand against the Muslims. The enclosure was stormed by the Muslims, Musaylima was slain and most of the Hanifites were killed or wounded. The enclosure became known as the 'garden of death' for the high casualties suffered by both sides.
Khalid assigned a Hanifite taken captive early in the campaign, Mujja'a ibn al-Murara, to assess the strength, morale and intentions of the Hanifa in their Yamama fortresses in the aftermath of Musaylima's slaying. Mujja'a had the women and children of the tribe dress and pose as men at the openings of the forts in a ruse to boost their leverage with Khalid; he relayed to Khalid that the Hanifa still counted numerous warriors determined to continue the fight against the Muslims. This assessment, along with the exhaustion of his own troops, compelled Khalid to accept Mujja'a's counsel for a ceasefire with the Hanifa, despite Abu Bakr's directives to pursue retreating Hanifites and execute Hanifite
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
.
Khalid's terms with the Hanifa entailed the tribe's conversion to Islam and the surrender of their arms and armor and stockpiles of gold and silver. Abu Bakr ratified the treaty, though he remained opposed to Khalid's concessions and warned that the Hanifa would remain eternally faithful to Musaylima. The treaty was further consecrated by Khalid's marriage to Mujja'a's daughter. According to Lecker, Mujja'a's ruse may have been invented by the Islamic tradition "in order to protect Khalid's policy because the negotiated treaty ... caused the Muslims great losses". Khalid was allotted an orchard and a field in each village included in the treaty with the Hanifa, while the villages excluded from the treaty were subject to punitive measures. Among these villages were Musaylima's hometown al-Haddar and Mar'at, whose inhabitants were expelled or enslaved and the villages resettled with tribesmen from clans of the Tamim.
Conclusion of the Ridda wars
The traditional sources place the final suppression of the Arab tribes of the Ridda wars before March 633, though Caetani insists the campaigns must have continued into 634. The tribes in Bahrayn may have resisted the Muslims until the middle of 634. A number of the early Islamic sources ascribe a role for Khalid on the Bahrayn front after his victory over the Hanifa. Shoufani deems this improbable, while allowing the possibility that Khalid had earlier sent detachments from his army to reinforce the main Muslim commander in Bahrayn,
al-Ala al-Hadhrami Al-Ala al-Hadrami ( ar, العلاء الحضرمي, al-ʿAlāʾ al-Haḍramī; died 635–636 or 641–642) was an early Muslim commander and the tax collector of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia) under the Islamic prophet Muhammad in and Bahrayn's govern ...
.
The Muslim war efforts, in which Khalid played a vital part, secured Medina's dominance over the strong tribes of Arabia, which sought to diminish Islamic authority in the peninsula, and restored the nascent Muslim state's prestige. According to Lecker, Khalid and the other Qurayshite generals "gained precious experience
uring the Ridda warsin mobilizing large multi-tribal armies over long distances" and "benefited from the close acquaintance of the Kuraysh ''
ic' with tribal politics throughout Arabia".
Campaigns in Iraq
![Mohammad adil-Khalid's conquest of Iraq](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Mohammad_adil-Khalid%27s_conquest_of_Iraq.PNG)
With the Yamama pacified, Khalid marched northward toward Sasanian territory in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
(lower Mesopotamia). He reorganized his army, possibly because the bulk of the Muhajirun may have withdrawn to Medina. According to the historian Khalil Athamina, the remnants of Khalid's army consisted of nomadic Arabs from Medina's environs whose chiefs were appointed to replace the vacant command posts left by the ('companions' of Muhammad). The historian
Fred Donner holds that the Muhajirun and the Ansar still formed the core of his army, along with a large proportion of nomadic Arabs likely from the
Muzayna
Banu Muzaina ( ar, بنو مزينة) was an Arab tribe during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They were involved in the Expedition of Zayd ibn Harithah September, 627 CE, 6AH of the Islamic calendarNote: Book contains a list of battle ...
, Tayy, Tamim, Asad and Ghatafan tribes. The commanders of the tribal contingents appointed by Khalid were Adi ibn Hatim of the Tayy and
Asim ibn Amr
ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAmr ibn Mālik al-Usaydī al-Tamīmī ( ar, عاصم بن عمرو بن مالك الأسيدي التميمي) was a prominent member of Banu Tamim and military leader of Rashidun Caliphate during the rule of Abu Bakr and Umar.
H ...
of the Tamim. He arrived at the southern Iraqi frontier with about 1,000 warriors in the late spring or early summer of 633.
The focus of Khalid's offensive was the western banks of the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
river and the nomadic Arabs who dwelt there. The details of the campaign's itinerary are inconsistent in the early Muslim sources, though Donner asserts that "the general course of Khalid's progress in the first part of his campaigning in Iraq can be quite clearly traced". The 9th-century histories of
al-Baladhuri
ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...
and
Khalifa ibn Khayyat
Abū ʿAmr Khalīfa ibn Khayyāṭ al-Laythī al-ʿUṣfurī () (born : 160/161 AH/777 AD– died 239/240 AH/854 AD) was an Arab historian.
His family were natives of Basra in Iraq. His grandfather was a noted muhaddith or traditionalist, and Kh ...
hold Khalid's first major battle in Iraq was his victory over the Sasanian garrison at
Ubulla
Al-Ubulla ( ar, الأبلة), called Apologou ( gr, 'Απολόγου 'Εμπόριον) by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the Persian Gulf east of Basra in present-day Iraq. In the medieval period, it served ...
(the ancient Apologos, near modern
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
) and the nearby village of Khurayba, though
al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
(d. 923) considers attribution of the victory to Khalid as erroneous and that Ubulla was conquered later by
Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini
Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini ( ar, عُتبة بن غَزْوان المازني, ʿUtba ibn Ghazwān al-Māzinī) (–638) was a well-known companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the seventh person to convert to Islam and participated in ...
. Donner accepts the town's conquest by Utba "somewhat later than 634" is the more likely scenario, though the historian
Khalid Yahya Blankinship
Khalid Yahya Blankinship (born 1949 in Seattle, Washington) is an American historian who specialises in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies.
Biography
He graduated ( BA) in History from the University of Washington in 1973 and in the same year, whi ...
argues "Khālid at least may have led a raid there although
tbahactually reduced the area".
From Ubulla's vicinity, Khalid marched up the western bank of the Euphrates where he clashed with the small Sasanian garrisons who guarded the Iraqi frontier from nomadic incursions. The clashes occurred at
Dhat al-Salasil,
Nahr al-Mar'a (a canal connecting the Euphrates with the
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
immediately north of Ubulla), Madhar (a town several days north of Ubulla),
Ullays (likely the ancient trade center of
Vologesias) and
Walaja. The last two places were in the vicinity of
al-Hira
Al-Hirah ( ar, الحيرة, translit=al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq.
History
Kingdom of the Lakhmids
Al-Hirah was a significant city in pre- I ...
, a predominantly Arab market town and the Sasanian administrative center for the middle Euphrates valley.
Al-Hira's capture was the most significant gain of Khalid's campaign. After besting the city's Persian cavalry under the commander
Azadhbih in minor clashes, Khalid and part of his army entered the unwalled city.
Al-Hira's Arab tribal nobles, many of whom were
Nestorian
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...
Christians with blood ties to the nomadic tribes on the city's western desert fringes, barricaded in their scattered fortified palaces. In the meantime, the other part of Khalid's army harried the villages in al-Hira's orbit, many of which were captured or capitulated on tributary terms with the Muslims. The Arab nobility of al-Hira surrendered in an agreement with Khalid whereby the city paid a tribute in return for assurances that al-Hira's churches and palaces would not be disturbed. The annual sum to be paid by al-Hira amounted to 60,000 or 90,000 silver
dirham
The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass.
Unit of mass
The dirham was a un ...
s, which Khalid forwarded to Medina, marking the first tribute the Caliphate received from Iraq.
During the engagements in and around al-Hira, Khalid received key assistance from
al-Muthanna ibn Haritha
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place =
, death_cause =
, body_discovered =
, resting_place =
, resting_place_coordinates = ...
and his
Shayban tribe, who had been raiding this frontier for a considerable period before Khalid's arrival, though it is not clear if al-Muthanna's earlier activities were linked to the nascent Muslim state. After Khalid departed, he left al-Muthanna in practical control of al-Hira and its vicinity. He received similar assistance from the Sadus clan of the
Dhuhl tribe under Qutba ibn Qatada and the
Ijl tribe under al-Madh'ur ibn Adi during the engagements at Ubulla and Walaja. None of these tribes, all of which were branches of the
Banu Bakr
The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il ( ar, بنو بكر بن وائل '), or simply Banu Bakr, were an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah branch of Adnanite tribes, which also included Abd al-Qays, Anazzah, Taghlib. The tribe is reputed to have en ...
confederation, joined Khalid when he operated outside of their tribal areas.
Khalid continued northward along the Euphrates valley, attacking
Anbar on the east bank of the river, where he secured capitulation terms from its Sasanian commander. Afterward, he plundered the surrounding market villages frequented by tribesmen from the Bakr and
Quda'a
The Quda'a ( ar, قضاعة, translit=Quḍāʿa) were a confederation of Arab tribes, including the powerful Kalb and Tanukh, mainly concentrated throughout Syria and northwestern Arabia, from at least the 4th century CE, during Byzantine rule, t ...
confederations, before
moving against Ayn al-Tamr, an oasis town west of the Euphrates and about south of Anbar. Khalid encountered stiff resistance there by the tribesmen of the Namir, compelling him to besiege the town's fortress. The Namir were led by Hilal ibn Aqqa, a Christian chieftain allied with the Sasanians, who Khalid had crucified after defeating him.
Ayn al-Tamr
Ayn al-Tamr or Ain al-Tamur ( ar, عين التمر) is a city in central Iraq, located about 67 km west of Karbala near Razzaza Lake. The oasis of Ayn al-Tamr comprises many villages which are famous for palm orchards and mineral water. The ci ...
capitulated and Khalid captured the town of Sandawda to the north. By this stage, Khalid had subjugated the western areas of the lower Euphrates and the nomadic tribes, including the Namir,
Taghlib
The Banu Taghlib (), also known as Taghlib ibn Wa'il, were an Arab tribe that originated in Najd (central Arabia), but later migrated and inhabited the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) from the late 6th century onward. Their parent tribe was the Rabi ...
,
Iyad Iyad may refer to:
*Iyad (tribe), Arab tribe, 3rd–7th centuries
*Iyad Jamal Al-Din (born 1961), prominent Iraqi intellectual, politician and religious cleric
* Iyad Al-Khatib, Jordanian football player
* Abdallah Iyad Barghouti (born 1979), Palest ...
,
Taymallat and most of the Ijl, as well as the settled Arab tribesmen, which resided there.
Modern assessments
Athamina doubts the Islamic traditional narrative that Abu Bakr directed Khalid to launch a campaign in Iraq, citing Abu Bakr's disinterest in Iraq at a time when the Muslim state's energies were focused principally on the conquest of Syria. Unlike Syria, Iraq had not been the focus of Muhammad's or the early Muslims' ambitions, nor did the Quraysh maintain trading interests in the region dating to the pre-Islamic period as they had in Syria. According to Shaban, it is unclear if Khalid requested or received Abu Bakr's sanction to raid Iraq or ignored objections by the caliph. Athamina notes hints in the traditional sources that Khalid initiated the campaign unilaterally, implying that the return of the Muhajirun in Khalid's ranks to Medina following Musaylima's defeat likely represented their protest of Khalid's ambitions in Iraq. Shaban holds that the tribesmen who remained in Khalid's army were motivated by the prospect of war booty, particularly amid an economic crisis in Arabia which had arisen in the aftermath of the Ridda campaigns.
According to
Fred Donner, the subjugation of Arab tribes may have been Khalid's primary goal in Iraq and clashes with Persian troops were the inevitable, if incidental, result of the tribes' alignment with the Sasanian Empire. In Kennedy's view, Khalid's push toward the desert frontier of Iraq was "a natural continuation of his work" subduing the tribes of northeastern Arabia and in line with Medina's policy to bring all nomadic Arab tribes under its authority. Madelung asserts Abu Bakr relied on the Qurayshite aristocracy during the Ridda wars and
early Muslim conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...
and speculates that the caliph dispatched Khalid to Iraq to allot the Makhzum an interest in that region.
The extent of Khalid's role in the conquest of Iraq is disputed by modern historians.
Patricia Crone
Patricia Crone (March 28, 1945July 11, 2015) was a Danish historian specializing in early Islamic history. Crone was a member of the Revisionist school of Islamic studies and questioned the historicity of the Islamic traditions about the beginnin ...
argues it is unlikely Khalid played any role on the Iraqi front, citing seeming contradictions by contemporary, non-Arabic sources, namely the
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
chronicle of
Sebeos () and the
Khuzistan Chronicle
The ''Chronicle of Khuzestan'' (also spelled ''Khuzistan'') is an anonymous 7th-century Nestorian Christian chronicle. Written in Syriac, it covers the period from the reign of the Sasanian ruler Hormizd IV () to the fall of the Sasanian Empire ( ...
(). The former only records Arab armies being sent to conquer Iraq as the
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of the Levant ( ar, فَتْحُ الشَّام, translit=Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam."Syria." Encyclopædia Br ...
was already underway—as opposed to before as held by the traditional Islamic sources—while the latter mentions Khalid as the conqueror of Syria only. Crone views the traditional reports as part of a general theme in the largely Iraq-based,
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
-era (post-750) sources to diminish the early Muslims' focus on Syria in favor of Iraq. Crone's assessment is considered a "radical critique of the
raditionalsources" by
R. Stephen Humphreys
R. Stephen Humphreys is an American historian specializing in the history of Southwest Asia and North Africa. He was the 'Abd al-Aziz al-Sa'ud Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and is now an emeritus professor at that inst ...
, while
Khalid Yahya Blankinship
Khalid Yahya Blankinship (born 1949 in Seattle, Washington) is an American historian who specialises in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies.
Biography
He graduated ( BA) in History from the University of Washington in 1973 and in the same year, whi ...
calls it "too one-sided ... The fact that Khālid is a major hero in the historical traditions of Iraq certainly suggests ties there that can have come only from his early participation in its conquest".
March to Syria
All early Islamic accounts agree that Khalid was ordered by Abu Bakr to leave Iraq for Syria to support Muslim forces already present there. Most of these accounts hold that the caliph's order was prompted by requests for reinforcements by the Muslim commanders in Syria. Khalid likely began his march to Syria in early April 634. He left small Muslim garrisons in the conquered cities of Iraq under the overall military command of al-Muthanna ibn Haritha.
The chronological sequence of events after Khalid's operations in Ayn al-Tamr is inconsistent and confused. According to Donner, Khalid undertook two further principal operations before embarking on his march to Syria, which have often been conflated by the sources with events that occurred during the march. One of the operations was against Dumat al-Jandal and the other against the Namir and Taghlib tribes present along the western banks of the upper Euphrates valley as far as the
Balikh tributary and the
Jabal al-Bishri mountains northeast of
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
. It is unclear which engagement occurred first, though both were Muslim efforts to bring the mostly nomadic Arab tribes of north Arabia and the
Syrian steppe under Medina's control.
In the Dumat al-Jandal campaign, Khalid was instructed by Abu Bakr or requested by one of the commanders of the campaign,
al-Walid ibn Uqba
Al-Walīd ibn ʿUqba ibn Abī Muʿayṭ ( ar, الْوَلِيْد ابْنِ عُقبَة ابْنِ أَبِيّ مُعَيْط, died 680) was the governor of Kufa in 645/46–649/50 during the reign of his half-brother, Caliph Uthman ().
Durin ...
, to reinforce the lead commander
Iyad ibn Ghanm
ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm ibn Zuhayr al-Fihrī ( ar, عياض بن غنم بن زهير الفهري) (died 641), was an Arab general who played a leading role in the Muslim conquests of al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) and northern Syria. He was among th ...
's faltering siege of the oasis town. Its defenders were backed by their nomadic allies from the
Byzantine-confederate tribes, the
Ghassanids
The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...
,
Tanukhids
The Tanûkhids ( ar, التنوخيون, transl=al-Tanūḫiyyūn) or Tanukh ( ar, تنوخ, translit=Tanūḫ) or Banū Tanūkh (, romanized as: ) were a confederation of Arab tribes, sometimes characterized as Saracens. They first rose to prom ...
,
Salihids,
Bahra and
Banu Kalb
The Banu Kalb ( ar, بنو كلب) was an Arab tribe which mainly dwelt in the desert between northwestern Arabia and central Syria. The Kalb was involved in the tribal politics of the eastern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire, possibly as early ...
. Khalid left Ayn al-Tamr for Dumat al-Jandal where the combined Muslim forces bested the defenders in a pitched battle. Afterward, Khalid executed the town's Kindite leader Ukaydir, who had defected from Medina following Muhammad's death, while the Kalbite chief Wadi'a was spared after the intercession of his Tamimite allies in the Muslims' camp.
The historians
Michael Jan de Goeje
Michael Jan de Goeje (August 13, 1836 – May 17, 1909) was a Dutch orientalist focusing on Arabia and Islam.
Early life
Michael Jan de Goeje was born in Dronrijp, Friesland. He devoted himself at an early age to the study of oriental lan ...
and Caetani dismiss altogether that Khalid led an expedition to Dumat al-Jandal following his Iraqi campaign and that the city mentioned in the traditional sources was likely the town by the same name near al-Hira. The historian
Laura Veccia Vaglieri
Laura Veccia Vaglieri (1893 – 1989) was an Italian orientalist.
A scholar and one of the pioneers of Arabic and Islamic studies in Italy, Veccia Vaglieri served as professor at the Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" and was the a ...
calls their assessment "logical" and writes that "it seems impossible that Khālid could have made such a detour which would have taken him so far out of his way while delaying the accomplishment of his mission
o join the Muslim armies in Syria. Vaglieri surmises that the oasis was conquered by Iyad ibn Ghanm or possibly Amr ibn al-As as the latter had been previously tasked during the Ridda wars with suppressing Wadi'a, who had barricaded himself in Dumat al-Jandal. Crone, dismissing Khalid's role in Iraq entirely, asserts that Khalid had definitively captured Dumat al-Jandal in the 631 campaign and from there crossed the desert to engage in the Syrian conquest.
Itineraries and the desert march
![Khalid ibn al-Walid's Desert March to Syria, ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid%27s_Desert_March_to_Syria%2C_ca._April_634.png)
The starting point of Khalid's general march to Syria was al-Hira, according to most of the traditional accounts, with the exception of al-Baladhuri, who places it at Ayn al-Tamr. The segment of the general march called the 'desert march' by the sources occurred at an unclear stage after the al-Hira departure. This phase entailed Khalid and his men—numbering between 500 to 800 strong—marching from a well called Quraqir across a vast stretch of waterless desert for six days and five nights until reaching a source of water at a place called Suwa. As his men did not possess sufficient
waterskin
A waterskin is a receptacle used to hold water. Normally made of a sheep or goat skin, it retains water naturally and therefore was very useful in desert crossings until the invention of the canteen, though waterskins are still used in some part ...
s to traverse this distance with their horses and camels, Khalid had some twenty of his camels increase their typical water intake and sealed their mouths to prevent the camels from eating and consequently spoiling the water in their stomachs; each day of the march, he had a number of the camels slaughtered so his men could drink the water stored in the camels' stomachs. The utilization of the camels as water storage and the locating of the water source at Suwa were the result of advice given to Khalid by his guide, Rafi ibn Amr of the Tayy.
Excluding the above-mentioned operations in Dumat al-Jandal and the upper Euphrates valley, the traditional accounts agree on only two events of Khalid's route to Syria after the departure from al-Hira: the desert march between Quraqir and Suwa, and a subsequent raid against the Bahra tribe at or near Suwa and operations which resulted in the submission of Palmyra; otherwise, they diverge in tracing Khalid's itinerary. Based on these accounts, Donner summarizes three possible routes taken by Khalid to the vicinity of Damascus: two via Palmyra from the north and the one via Dumat al-Jandal from the south. Kennedy notes the sources are "equally certain" in their advocacy of their respective itineraries and there is "simply no knowing which version is correct".
In the first Palmyra–Damascus itinerary, Khalid marches upwards along the Euphrates—passing through places he had previously reduced—to Jabal al-Bishri and from there successively moves southwestwards through Palmyra,
al-Qaryatayn
Al-Qaryatayn ( ar, ٱلْقَرْيَتَين, syr, ܩܪܝܬܝܢ), also spelled Karyatayn, Qaratin or Cariatein, is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate located southeast of Homs. It is situated on an oasis i ...
and
Huwwarin
Huwwarin ( ar, حوارين, also spelled Hawarin, Huwarin or Hawarine) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, south of Homs. Situated in the Syrian Desert, the village is adjacent to the larger town of Mahin ...
before reaching the Damascus area. In this route the only span where a desert march could have occurred is between Jabal al-Bishri and Palmyra, though the area between the two places is considerably less than a six-day march and contains a number of water sources. The second Palmyra-Damascus itinerary is a relatively direct route between al-Hira to Palmyra via Ayn al-Tamr. The stretch of desert between Ayn al-Tamr and Palmyra is long enough to corroborate a six-day march and contains scarce watering points, though there are no
placename
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
s that can be interpreted as Quraqir or Suwa. In the Dumat al-Jandal–Damascus route, such placenames exist, namely the sites of Qulban Qurajir, associated with 'Quraqir', along the eastern edge of
Wadi Sirhan
Wadi Sirhan ( ar, وَادِي سِرْحَان, Wādī Sirḥān; translation: "Valley of Sirhan") is a wide depression in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula. It runs from the Azraq oasis in Jordan southeastward into Saudi Arabia, where most o ...
, and
Sab Biyar, which is identified with Suwa east of Damascus. The span between the two sites is arid and corresponds with the six-day march narrative.
The desert march is the most celebrated episode of Khalid's expedition and medieval ('Islamic conquests') literature in general. Kennedy writes that the desert march "has been enshrined in history and legend. Arab sources marvelled at his
halid'sendurance; modern scholars have seen him as a master of strategy." He asserts it is "certain" Khalid embarked on the march, "a memorable feat of military endurance", and "his arrival in Syria was an important ingredient of the success of Muslim arms there". The historian
Moshe Gil
Moshe Gil ( he, משה גיל; February 8, 1921 – January 23, 2014) was an Israeli historian.
Academic career
Moshe Gil specialized in the historical interaction between Islam and the Jews, including the history of Palestine under the Islami ...
calls the march "a feat which has no parallel" and a testament to "Khalid's qualities as an outstanding commander".
The historian Ryan J. Lynch deems Khalid's desert march to be a literary construct by the authors of the Islamic tradition to form a narrative linking the Muslim conquests of Iraq and Syria and presenting the conquests as "a well-calculated, singular affair" in line with the authors' alleged polemical motives. Lynch holds that the story of the march, which "would have excited and entertained" Muslim audiences, was created out of "fragments of social memory" by inhabitants who attributed the conquests of their towns or areas to Khalid as a means "to earn a certain degree of prestige through association" with the "famous general".
Conquest of Syria
Most traditional accounts have the first Muslim armies deploy to Syria from Medina at the beginning of 13 AH (early spring 634). The commanders of the Muslim armies were Amr ibn al-As,
Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan
Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb ibn Umayya ( ar, يزيد بن أبي سفيان بن حرب بن أمية, Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya; died 639) was a leading Arab Muslim commander in the conquest of Syria from 634 until his de ...
, Shurahbil ibn Hasana and Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, though the last may have not deployed to Syria until after Umar's succession to the caliphate in the summer of 634, following Abu Bakr's death. According to Donner, the traditional sources' dating of the first Muslim armies' deployment to Syria was behind by several months. It most likely occurred in the autumn of 633, which better conforms with the anonymous
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
''
Chronicle of 724 Thomas the Presbyter ( fl. 640) was a Syriac Orthodox priest from the vicinity of Reshaina in Upper Mesopotamia who wrote the Syriac ''Chronicle of 640'', which is also known by many other names.
The ''Chronicle of 640'' is an idiosyncratic unive ...
'', which dates the first clash between the Muslim armies and the Byzantines to February 634. By the time Khalid had left Iraq, the Muslim armies in Syria had already fought a number of skirmishes with local Byzantine garrisons and dominated the southern Syrian countryside, but did not control any urban centers.
Khalid was appointed supreme commander of the Muslim armies in Syria. Accounts cited by al-Baladhuri, al-Tabari,
Ibn A'tham
Abū Muḥammad Aḥmad ibn Aʿtham al-Kūfī al-Kindī ( ar, أبو محمد أحمد بن أعثم الكوفي) was a 9th-century Arab Muslim historian, poet and preacher (''qāṣṣ'') active in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. He was a ...
,
al-Fasawi (d. 987) and Ibn Hubaysh al-Asadi hold that Abu Bakr appointed Khalid supreme commander as part of his reassignment from Iraq to Syria, citing the general's military talents and record. A single account in al-Baladhuri instead attributes Khalid's appointment to a consensus among the commanders already in Syria, though Athamina asserts "it is inconceivable that a man like
mr ibn al-As
''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...
would agree" to such a decision voluntarily. Upon his accession, Umar may have confirmed Khalid as supreme commander.
Khalid reached the meadow of
Marj Rahit
Marj ( ar, المرج, Al Marǧ, The Meadows), also spelt ''El Merj'', generally believed to be on the site of the ancient city of Barca (ancient city), Barca or Barce, is a city in northeastern Libya and the administrative seat of the Marj Di ...
north of
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
after his army's trek across the desert. He arrived on
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
day of that year, i.e. 24 April 634, a rare precise date cited by most traditional sources, which Donner deems to be likely correct. There, Khalid
attacked a group of Ghassanids celebrating Easter before he or his subordinate commanders raided the
Ghouta agricultural belt around Damascus. Afterward, Khalid and the commanders of the earlier Muslim armies, except for Amr, assembled at
Bosra
Bosra ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ, Buṣrā), also spelled Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra and officially called Busra al-Sham ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ ٱلشَّام, Buṣrā al-Shām), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Dara ...
southeast of Damascus. The trading center of Bosra, along with the
Hauran
The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa (Syria), al-Safa ...
region in which it lies, had historically supplied the nomadic tribes of Arabia with wheat, oil and wine and had been visited by Muhammad during his youth. The Byzantines may not have reestablished an imperial garrison in the city in the aftermath of the Sasanian withdrawal in 628 and the Muslim armies encountered token resistance during their siege. Bosra capitulated in late May 634, making it the first major city in Syria to fall to the Muslims.
Khalid and the Muslim commanders headed west to Palestine to join Amr as the latter's subordinates in the
Battle of Ajnadayn
The Battle of Ajnadayn ( ar, معركة أجنادين) was fought in July or August 634 ( Jumada I or II, 13 AH), in a location close to Beit Guvrin in present-day Israel; it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roman) ...
, the first major confrontation with the Byzantines, in July. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims and the Byzantines retreated toward
Pella
Pella ( el, Πέλλα) is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is best-known for serving as the capital city of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, and was the birthplace of Alexander the Great.
On site of the ancient cit ...
('Fahl' in Arabic), a major city east of the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
. The Muslims pursued them and scored another major victory at the
Battle of Fahl
The Battle of Fahl ( ar, يوم فحل, Yawm Faḥl), also known as the Battle of the Marshes () and the Battle of Beisan (), was a major battle in the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Syria fought by the Arab troops of the nascent Islamic calipha ...
, though it is unclear if Amr or Khalid held overall command in the engagement.
Siege of Damascus
![Muslim-Byzantine troop movement (635-636)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Muslim-Byzantine_troop_movement_%28635-636%29.svg)
The remnants of the Byzantine forces from Ajnadayn and Fahl retreated north to Damascus, where the Byzantine commanders called for imperial reinforcements. Khalid advanced, possibly besting a Byzantine unit at the
Marj al-Suffar
Marj al-Saffar or Marj al-Suffar ( ar, مرج الصفر ') is a large plain to the south of Damascus. Marj al-Saffar is bounded to the north by the right bank of the al-A'waj river, which flows from Mount Hermon to the Sabkhat al-Hijana. In the ...
plain before besieging the city. Each of the five Muslim commanders were charged with blocking one of the city gates; Khalid was stationed at
Bab Sharqi
Bab Sharqi ( ar, بَابٌ شَرْقِيٌّ, Bāb Šarqī; "The Eastern Gate"), also known as the Gate of the Sun, is one of the seven ancient city gates of Damascus, Syria. Its modern name comes from its location in the eastern side of the cit ...
(the East Gate). A sixth contingent positioned at
Barzeh immediately north of Damascus repulsed relief troops dispatched by the Byzantine emperor
Heraclius
Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...
().
Several traditions relate the Muslims' capture of Damascus. The most popular narrative is preserved by the Damascus-based
Ibn Asakir (d. 1175), according to whom Khalid and his men breached the Bab Sharqi gate. Khalid and his men scaled the city's eastern walls and killed the guards and other defenders at Bab Sharqi. As his forces entered from the east, Muslim forces led by Abu Ubayda had entered peacefully from the western
Bab al-Jabiya gate after negotiations with Damascene notables led by
Mansur ibn Sarjun Mansur ibn Sarjun was a Byzantine fiscal official or governor of Damascus of local Syrian origin under emperors Maurice () and Heraclius (), as well as during the Persian occupation of Damascus in 614–628. He surrendered the city to the besieg ...
, a high-ranking city official. The Muslim armies met up in the city center where capitulation terms were agreed. On the other hand, al-Baladhuri holds that Khalid entered peacefully from Bab Sharqi while Abu Ubayda entered from the west by force. Modern research questions Abu Ubayda's arrival in Syria by the time of the siege. Caetani cast doubt about the aforementioned traditions, while the orientalist
Henri Lammens
Henri Lammens (1 Jul 1862 – 23 Apr 1937) was a Belgian Orientalist historian and Jesuit, who wrote (in French) on the early history of Islam.
Education and career as a Jesuit
Born in Ghent, Belgium of Catholic Flemish stock, Henri Lammens joi ...
substituted Abu Ubayda with Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan.
In the versions of the Syriac author
Dionysius of Tel Mahre
Dionysius I Telmaharoyo (Latin: ''Dionysius Telmaharensis'', Syriac: ܕܝܘܢܢܘܣܝܘܣ ܬܠܡܚܪܝܐ, Arabic: مار ديونيسيوس التلمحري), also known as Dionysius of Tel Mahre, was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syr ...
(d. 845) and the
Melkite
The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...
patriarch
Eutychius of Alexandria
Eutychius of Alexandria (Arabic: ''Sa'id ibn Batriq'' or ''Bitriq''; 10 September 877 – 12 May 940) was the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria. He is known for being one of the first Christian Egyptian writers to use the Arabic language. H ...
(d. 940), the Damascenes led by Mansur, having become weary of the siege and convinced of the besiegers' determination, approached Khalid at Bab Sharqi with an offer to open the gate in return for assurances of safety. Khalid accepted and ordered the drafting of a capitulation agreement. Although several versions of Khalid's treaty were recorded in the early Muslim and Christian sources, they generally concur that the inhabitants' lives, properties and churches were to be safeguarded, in return for their payment of the
jizya
Jizya ( ar, جِزْيَة / ) is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on dhimmis, that is, permanent Kafir, non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Sharia, Islamic law. The jizya tax has been unde ...
(
poll tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources.
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
). Imperial properties were confiscated by the Muslims. The treaty probably served as the model for the capitulation agreements made throughout Syria, as well Iraq and Egypt, during the early Muslim conquests.
Although the accounts cited by
al-Waqidi
Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...
(d. 823) and Ibn Ishaq agree that Damascus surrendered in August/September 635, they provide varying timelines of the siege ranging from four to fourteen months.
Battle of Yarmouk
![Battlefield of yarmouk-mohammad adil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Battlefield_of_yarmouk-mohammad_adil.jpg)
In the spring of 636, Khalid withdrew his forces from Damascus to the old Ghassanid capital at
Jabiya in the
Golan
Golan ( he, גּוֹלָן ''Gōlān''; ar, جولان ' or ') is the name of a biblical town later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical ...
. He was prompted by the approach of a large Byzantine army dispatched by Heraclius, consisting of imperial troops led by
Vahan and
Theodore Trithyrius
Theodore Trithyrius ( el, Θεόδωρος Τριθύριος; died 636), commonly known by his title as Theodore the Sacellarius, was a Byzantine treasurer of the state ('' sacellarius'') and a military commander during the last years of the rei ...
and frontier troops, including Christian Arab light cavalry led by the Ghassanid
phylarch
A phylarch ( el, φύλαρχος, la, phylarchus) is a Greek title meaning "ruler of a tribe", from '' phyle'', "tribe" + ''archein'' "to rule".
In Classical Athens, a phylarch was the elected commander of the cavalry provided by each of the ...
Jabala ibn al-Ayham and Armenian auxiliaries led by a certain Georgius (called Jaraja by the Arabs). The sizes of the forces are disputed by modern historians; Donner holds the Byzantines outnumbered the Muslims four to one,
Walter E. Kaegi writes the Byzantines "probably enjoyed numerical superiority" with 15,000–20,000 or more troops, and John Walter Jandora holds there was likely "near parity in numbers" between the two sides with the Muslims at 36,000 men (including 10,000 from Khalid's army) and the Byzantines at about 40,000.
The Byzantine army set up camp at the
Ruqqad
The Ruqqad is a wadi flowing in south-west Syria, and ''de facto'' also in Northeast Israel. It flows into the Yarmouk River, of which it is one of the main tributaries, and forms the topographical eastern boundary of the Golan Heights. It marks ...
tributary west of the Muslims' positions at Jabiya. Khalid consequently withdrew, taking up position north of the
Yarmouk River
The Yarmuk River ( ar, نهر اليرموك, translit=Nahr al-Yarmūk, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; la, Hieromyces or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk), is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel ...
, close to where the Ruqqad meets the Yarmouk. The area spanned high hilltops, water sources, critical routes connecting Damascus to the
Galilee
Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...
and historic pastures of the Ghassanids. For over a month, the Muslims held the strategic high ground between
Adhri'at (modern
Daraa
Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jordan ...
) and their camp near
Dayr Ayyub
Dayr Ayyub ( ar, دير أيوب ) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on March 6, 1948 by the Givati and Sheva' brigades of Operation Nachshon. It wa ...
and bested the Byzantines in a skirmish outside Jabiya on 23 July 636. Jandora asserts that the Byzantines' Christian Arab and Armenian auxiliaries deserted or defected, but that the Byzantine force remained "formidable", consisting of a vanguard of
heavy cavalry
Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a Military reserve, tactical reserve; they are also often termed ''shock cavalry''. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the re ...
and a rear guard of infantrymen when they approached the Muslim defensive lines.
![Hayton BNF886 9v](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Hayton_BNF886_9v.jpg)
Khalid split his cavalry into two main groups, each positioned behind the Muslims' right and left infantry wings to protect his forces from a potential envelopment by the Byzantine heavy cavalry. He stationed an elite squadron of 200–300 horsemen to support the center of his defensive line and left archers posted in the Muslims' camp near Dayr Ayyub, where they could be most effective against an incoming Byzantine force. The Byzantines' initial assaults against the Muslims' right and left flanks successively failed, but they kept up the momentum until the entire Muslim line fell back or, as contemporary Christian sources maintain, feigned retreat.
The Byzantines pursued the Muslims into their camp, where the Muslims had their camel herds hobbled to form a series of defensive perimeters from which the infantry could fight and which Byzantine cavalries could not easily penetrate. As a result, the Byzantines were left vulnerable to attack by Muslim archers, their momentum was halted and their left flank exposed. Khalid and his cavalries used the opportunity to pierce the Byzantines' left flank, taking advantage of the gap between the Byzantine infantry and cavalry. Khalid enveloped the opposing heavy cavalry on either side, but intentionally left an opening from which the Byzantines could only escape northward, far from their infantry. According to the 9th-century Byzantine historian
Theophanes, the Byzantine infantry mutinied under Vahan, possibly in light of Theodore's failure to counter the attack on the cavalry. The infantry was subsequently routed.
The Byzantine cavalry, meanwhile, had withdrawn north to the area between the Ruqqad and Allan tributaries. Khalid sent a force to pursue and prevent them from regrouping. He followed up with a nighttime operation in which he seized the Ruqqad bridge, the only viable withdrawal route for the Byzantines. The Muslims then assaulted the Byzantines' camps on 20 August and massacred most of the Byzantine troops, or induced panic in Byzantine ranks, causing thousands to die in the Yarmouk's ravines in an attempt to make a westward retreat.
Jandora credits the Muslim victory at Yarmouk to the cohesion and "superior leadership" of the Muslim army, particularly the "ingenuity" of Khalid, in comparison to the widespread discord in the Byzantine army's ranks and the conventional tactics of Theodorus, which Khalid "correctly anticipated". In Gil's view, Khalid's withdrawal before the army of Heraclius, the evacuation of Damascus and the counter-movement on the Yarmouk tributaries "are evidence of his excellent organising ability and his skill at manoeuvring on the battlefield". The Byzantine rout marked the destruction of their last effective army in Syria, immediately securing earlier Muslim gains in Palestine and
Transjordan Transjordan may refer to:
* Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River
* Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan
* Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946)
* Hashemite Kingdom of ...
and paving the way for the recapture of Damascus in December, this time by Abu Ubayda, and the conquest of the
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...
and ultimately the rest of Syria to the north. In Jandora's assessment, Yarmouk was one of "the most important battles of World History", ultimately leading to Muslim victories which expanded the
Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
between the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
mountains and Central Asia.
Demotion
Khalid was retained as supreme commander of the Muslim forces in Syria between six months and two years from the start of Umar's caliphate, depending on the source. Modern historians mostly agree that Umar's dismissal of Khalid probably occurred in the aftermath of Yarmouk. The caliph appointed Abu Ubayda to Khalid's place, reassigned his troops to the remaining Muslim commanders and subordinated Khalid under the command of one of Abu Ubayda's lieutenants; a later order deployed the bulk of Khalid's former troops to Iraq. Varied causes for Khalid's dismissal from the supreme command are cited by the early Islamic sources. Among them were his independent decision-making and minimal coordination with the leadership in Medina; older allegations of moral misconduct, including his execution of Malik ibn Nuwayra and subsequent marriage to Malik's widow; accusations of generous distribution of booty to members of the tribal nobility to the detriment of eligible early Muslim converts; personal animosity between Khalid and Umar; and Umar's uneasiness over Khalid's heroic reputation among the Muslims, which he feared could develop into a personality cult.
The modern historians De Goeje,
William Muir
Sir William Muir (27 April 1819 – 11 July 1905) was a Scottish Orientalist, and colonial administrator, Principal of the University of Edinburgh and Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Provinces of British India.
Life
He was born at Gl ...
and
Andreas Stratos
Andreas N. Stratos ( el, Ανδρέας Ν. Στράτος; 1905 – 30 August 1981) was a Greek lawyer, politician and historian. The son of Prime Minister of Greece Nikolaos Stratos, he was elected a member of the Hellenic Parliament continuously ...
viewed Umar's enmity with Khalid as a contributing cause of Khalid's dismissal. Shaban acknowledges the enmity but asserts it had no bearing on the caliph's decision. De Goeje dismisses Khalid's extravagant grants to the tribal nobility, a common practice among the early Muslim leaders including Muhammad, as a cause for his sacking. Muir, Becker, Stratos and
Philip K. Hitti have proposed that Khalid was ultimately dismissed because the Muslim gains in Syria in the aftermath of Yarmouk required the replacement of a military commander at the helm with a capable administrator such as Abu Ubayda.
Athamina doubts all the aforementioned reasons, arguing the cause "must have been vital" at a time when large parts of Syria remained under Byzantine control and Heraclius had not abandoned the province. Athamina holds that "with all his military limitations", Abu Ubayda would not have been considered "a worthy replacement for Khālid's incomparable talents". Medina's lack of a regular standing army, the need to redeploy fighters to other fronts, and the Byzantine threat to Muslim gains in Syria all required the establishment of a defense structure based on the older-established Arab tribes in Syria, which had served as confederates of Byzantium. After Medina's entreaties to the leading confederates, the Ghassanids, were rebuffed, relations were established with the Kalb,
Judham
The Judham ( ar, بنو جذام, ') was an Arab tribe that inhabited the southern Levant and northwestern Arabia during the Byzantine and early Islamic eras (5th–8th centuries). Under the Byzantines, the tribe was nominally Christian and fough ...
and
Lakhm
The Lakhmids ( ar, اللخميون, translit=al-Laḫmiyyūn) referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah (, romanized as: ) or Banu Lakhm (, romanized as: ) was an Arab kingdom in Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as their capital ...
. These tribes likely considered the large numbers of outside Arab tribesmen in Khalid's army as a threat to their political and economic power. Khalid's initial force of 500–800 men had swelled to as high as 10,000 as a result of tribesmen joining his army's ranks from the Iraqi front or Arabia and as high as 30,000–40,000 factoring in their families. Athamina concludes Umar dismissed Khalid and recalled his troops from Syria as an overture to the Kalb and their allies.
Operations in northern Syria
Abu Ubayda and Khalid proceeded from Damascus northward to
Homs
Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...
(called Emesa by the Byzantines) and besieged the city probably in the winter of 636–637. The siege held amid a number of sorties by the Byzantine defenders and the city capitulated in the spring. Per the surrender terms, taxes were imposed on the inhabitants in return for guarantees of protection for their property, churches, water mills and the city walls. A quarter of the church of St. John was reserved for Muslim use, and abandoned houses and gardens were confiscated and distributed by Abu Ubayda or Khalid among the Muslim troops and their families. Owing to its proximity to the desert steppe, Homs was viewed as a favorable place of settlement for Arab tribesmen and became the first city in Syria to acquire a large Muslim population.
Information about the subsequent conquests in northern Syria is scant and partly contradictory. Khalid was dispatched by Abu Ubayda to conquer
Qinnasrin
Qinnasrin ( ar, قنسرين; syr, ܩܢܫܪܝܢ, ''Qinnašrīn'', lit=Nest of Eagles), also known by numerous other romanizations and originally known as ( la, Chalcis ad Belum; grc-gre, Χαλκὶς, ''Khalkìs''), was a historical town in ...
(called Chalcis by the Byzantines) and nearby
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, image_map1 =
...
. Khalid
routed a Byzantine force led by a certain Minas in the outskirts of Qinnasrin. There, Khalid spared the inhabitants following their appeal and claim that they were Arabs forcibly conscripted by the Byzantines. He followed up by besieging the walled town of Qinnasrin, which capitulated in August/September 638. He and Iyad ibn Ghanm then launched the first Muslim raid into Byzantine
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
. Khalid made Qinnasrin his headquarters, settling there with his wife. Khalid was appointed Abu Ubayda's deputy governor in Qinnasrin in 638. The campaigns against Homs and Qinnasrin resulted in the conquest of northwestern Syria and prompted Heraclius to abandon his headquarters at
Edessa
Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
for
Samosata
Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.[Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...]
.
Khalid may have participated in the
siege of Jerusalem, which capitulated in 637 or 638. According to al-Tabari, he was one of the witnesses of a
letter of assurance by Umar to Patriarch
Sophronius of Jerusalem
Sophronius ( grc-gre, Σωφρόνιος; ar, صفرونيوس; c. 560 – March 11, 638), called Sophronius the Sophist, was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 until his death. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Ch ...
guaranteeing the safety of the city's people and property.
Dismissal and death
According to Sayf ibn Umar, later in 638 Khalid was rumored to have lavishly distributed war spoils from his northern Syrian campaigns, including a sum to the Kindite nobleman
al-Ash'ath ibn Qays
Abū Muḥammad Maʿdīkarib ibn Qays ibn Maʿdīkarib (), better known as al-Ashʿath (died ca. 661), was a chieftain of the Kinda tribe of Hadhramawt and founder of the one of the leading noble Arab households of Kufa, one of the two main garr ...
. Umar consequently ordered that Abu Ubayda publicly interrogate and relieve Khalid from his post regardless of the interrogation's outcome, as well as to put Qinnasrin under Abu Ubayda's direct administration. Following his interrogation in Homs, Khalid issued successive farewell speeches to the troops in Qinnasrin and Homs before being summoned by Umar to Medina. Sayf's account notes that Umar sent notice to the Muslim garrisons in Syria and Iraq that Khalid was dismissed not as a result of improprieties but because the troops had become "captivated by illusions on account of him
halid and he feared they would disproportionately place their trust in him rather than God.
Khalid's sacking did not elicit public backlash, possibly due to existing awareness in the Muslim polity of Umar's enmity toward Khalid, which prepared the public for his dismissal, or because of existing hostility toward the Makhzum in general as a result of their earlier opposition to Muhammad and the early Muslims. In the account of Ibn Asakir, Umar declared at a council of the Muslim army at Jabiya in 638 that Khalid was dismissed for lavishing war spoils on war heroes, tribal nobles and poets instead of reserving the sums for needy Muslims. No attending commanders voiced opposition, except for a Makhzumite who accused Umar of violating the military mandate given to Khalid by Muhammad. According to the Muslim jurist
al-Zuhri al-Zuhri is an Arabic name which may refer to:
*Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, 8th-century hadith scholar and jurist
*Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr al-Zuhri (767–856), 9th-century Maliki jurist
* Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Zuhri, 12th-century Andalusian geographer
See ...
(d. 742), before his death in 639, Abu Ubayda appointed Khalid and Iyad ibn Ghanm as his successors, but Umar confirmed only Iyad as governor of the
Homs–Qinnasrin–Jazira district and appointed Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan governor over the rest of Syria, namely the districts of
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
.
Khalid died in Medina or Homs in 21 AH (). Purported
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
s related about Khalid include Muhammad's urgings to Muslims not to harm Khalid and prophecies that Khalid would be dealt injustices despite his tremendous contributions to Islam. In Islamic literary narratives, Umar expresses remorse over dismissing Khalid and the women of Medina mourn his death en masse. Athamina considers these all to be "no more than latter-day expressions of sympathy on the part of subsequent generations for the heroic character of Khalid as portrayed by Islamic tradition".
Legacy
Khalid is credited by the early sources for being the most effective commander of the conquests, including after his dismissal from the supreme command. He is considered "one of the tactical geniuses of the early Islamic period" by Donner. The historian
Carole Hillenbrand
Carole Hillenbrand, (born 1943), is a British Islamic scholar who is Emerita Professor in Islamic History at the University of Edinburgh and Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews. She is the Vice-President of the British ...
calls him "the most famous of all Arab Muslim generals", and Humphreys describes him as "perhaps the most famous and brilliant Arab general of the Riddah wars and the early conquests". In Kennedy's assessment, Khalid was "a brilliant, ruthless military commander, but one with whom the more pious Muslims could never feel entirely comfortable". While recognizing his military achievements, the early Islamic sources present a mixed assessment of Khalid due to his early confrontation with Muhammad at Uhud, his reputation for brutal or disproportionate actions against Arab tribesmen during the Ridda wars and his military fame which disturbed the pious early converts.
According to the historian Richard Blackburn, despite attempts in the early sources to discredit Khalid, his reputation has developed as "Islam's most formidable warrior" during the eras of Muhammad, Abu Bakr and the conquest of Syria. Kennedy notes that "his reputation as a great general has lasted through the generations and streets are named after him all over the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
". Khalid is considered a war hero by
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
s, while many
Shia Muslim
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
s view him as a war criminal for his execution of Malik ibn Nuwayra and immediate marriage of his widow, in contravention of the traditional Islamic bereavement period.
Family and claimants of descent
Khalid's eldest son was named Sulayman, hence his ('
paedonymic
Teknonymy (from grc-gre, τέκνον, "child" and grc-gre, ὄνομα, label=none, "name"), is the practice of referring to parents by the names of their children. This practice can be found in many different cultures around the world. The te ...
') ('father of Sulayman'). Khalid was married to Asma, a daughter of Anas ibn Mudrik, a prominent chieftain and poet of the
Khath'am
Khath'am ( ar, خثعم, Khathʿam) was an ancient and medieval Arab tribe which traditionally dwelt in southwestern Arabia. They took part either in cooperation or opposition to the 6th-century expedition of the Aksumite ruler Abraha against Mecc ...
tribe. Their son
Abd al-Rahman
Abd al-Rahman ( ar, عبد الرحمن, translit=ʿAbd al-Raḥmān or occasionally ; DMG ''ʿAbd ar-Raḥman''; also Abdul Rahman) is a male Arabic Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', '' ...
became a reputable commander in the
Arab–Byzantine wars
The Arab–Byzantine wars were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun an ...
and a close aide of
Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan
Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
, the governor of Syria and later founder and first caliph of the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
, serving as the latter's deputy governor of the Homs–Qinnasrin–Jazira district. Another son of Khalid,
Muhajir
Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...
, was a supporter of Ali, who reigned as caliph in 656–661, and died fighting Mu'awiya's army at the
Battle of Siffin
The Battle of Siffin was fought in 657 CE (37 AH) between Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam, and Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the rebellious governor of Syria. The battle is named after its location S ...
in 657 during the
First Muslim Civil War
The First Fitna ( ar, فتنة مقتل عثمان, fitnat maqtal ʻUthmān, strife/sedition of the killing of Uthman) was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of t ...
. Following Abd al-Rahman's death in 666, allegedly as a result of poisoning ordered by Mu'awiya, Muhajir's son Khalid attempted to take revenge for his uncle's slaying and was arrested, but Mu'awiya later released him after Khalid paid the blood money. Abd al-Rahman's son Khalid was a commander of a naval campaign against the Byzantines in 668 or 669.
There is no further significant role played by members of Khalid's family in the historical record. His male line of descent ended toward the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate in 750 or shortly after when all forty of his male descendants died in a plague in Syria, according to the 11th-century historian
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
. As a result, his family's properties, including his residence and several other houses in Medina, were inherited by
Ayyub ibn Salama Ayyub ibn Salama ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Walid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi () was a notable of Medina in the late Umayyad and early Abbasid period. He belonged to a wealthy family of the locally prominent Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraysh. H ...
, a great-grandson of Khalid's brother
al-Walid ibn al-Walid
Al-Walid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira ( ar, الوليد بن الوليد بن المغيرة, al-Walīd b. al-Walīd b. al-Mughīra) was an early companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Al-Walid belonged to the Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraysh ...
. They remained in the possession of Ayyub's descendants until at least the late 9th century.
The family of the 12th-century Arab poet
Ibn al-Qaysarani claimed descent from Muhajir ibn Khalid, though the 13th-century historian
Ibn Khallikan
Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...
notes the claim contradicted the consensus of Arabic historians and genealogists that Khalid's line of descent terminated in the early Islamic period. A female line of descent may have survived and was claimed by the 15th-century
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
religious leader
Siraj al-Din Muhammad ibn Ali al-Makhzumi Siraj may refer to:
* Siraj region, an area of Jammu, India
* Siraj (director), Indian film director
* Siraj (name), a list of notable people with Siraj as a given name or surname
* ''Siraj'' (1948 film), a 1948 Indian film directed by Phani Sarma ...
of Homs.
Kizil Ahmed Bey
Kizil may refer to:
People
* Bahar Kizil (born 1988), German singer-songwriter
Places
* Kizil Caves, Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township
* Kızıl Kule, main tourist attraction in the Turkish city of Alanya
* Kızılırmak River, ...
, the leader of the
Isfendiyarids
The Isfendiyarids or Isfendiyarid dynasty (Modern Turkish: ''İsfendiyaroğulları'', ''İsfendiyaroğulları Beyliği''), also known as the Beylik of Sinop, Beylik of Isfendiyar (''İsfendiyar Beyliği''), Jandarids or Beylik of Jandar (''Cand ...
, who ruled a principality in Anatolia until its annexation by the Ottomans, fabricated his dynasty's descent from Khalid. The
Sur tribe under
Sher Shah, a 16th-century ruler of India, also claimed descent from Khalid.
Mausoleum in Homs
Starting in the
Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
period in Syria (1182–1260), Homs has obtained fame as the location of the purported
tomb and mosque of Khalid. The 12th-century traveler
Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr (1 September 1145 – 29 November 1217; ar, ابن جبير), also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to M ...
noted that the tomb contained the graves of Khalid and his son Abd al-Rahman. Muslim tradition since then has placed Khalid's tomb in the city. The building was altered by the first Ayyubid sultan
Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
() and again in the 13th century. The Mamluk sultan
Baybars
Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...
() attempted to link his own military achievements with those of Khalid by having an inscription honoring himself carved on Khalid's mausoleum in Homs in 1266. During his 17th-century visit to the mausoleum, the Muslim scholar
Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi
Shaykh 'Abd al-Ghani ibn Isma′il al-Nabulsi (an-Nabalusi) (19 March 1641 – 5 March 1731), was an eminent Sunni Muslim scholar, poet, and author on works about Sufism, ethnography and agriculture.
Family origins
Abd al-Ghani's family descen ...
agreed that Khalid was buried there but also noted an alternative Islamic tradition that the grave belonged to Mu'awiya's grandson
Khalid ibn Yazid
Khālid ibn Yazīd (full name ''Abū Hāshim Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān'', ), 668–704 or 709, was an Umayyad prince and purported alchemist.
As a son of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I, Khalid was supposed to become ca ...
. The current mosque dates to 1908 when the
Ottoman authorities rebuilt the structure.
See also
*
*
List of battles of Muhammad
__NOTOC__
The list of expeditions of Muhammad includes the expeditions undertaken by the Muslim community during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Some sources use the word ''ghazwa'' and a related plural ''maghazi'' in a narrow techn ...
*
List of Arab military figures
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalid Ibn Walid
642 deaths
Arab Muslims
Arab people of the Arab–Byzantine wars
Banu Makhzum
Arab generals
Generals of the Rashidun Caliphate
Companions of the Prophet
People of the Muslim conquest of the Levant
People of the Muslim conquest of Persia
People of the Ridda Wars