Battle of Babylon was fought between the forces of Sassanid Empire and Rashidun Caliphate in 636. Muslim Arabs won the encounter to maintain their pursuit of conquering Ctesiphon.

Prelude

After a Muslim victory in the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, the Caliph

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 ...

ruled that it was time to conquer the Sasanian Empire's capital of Ctesiphon. Zuhra ibn Al-Hawiyya's military body left in advance and occupied

Najaf Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...

, where he expected the rest of the troops to reach him. Then he crossed the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

and proceeded along the road to Ctesiphon. He waited in Burs, after the victorious Battle of Burs, at the right bank of the Euphrates for the bulk of the Muslim troops to reach him. The next step was Babylon, on the opposite bank of the Euphrates, a fortified city where it was known there was a large concentration of Sassanian forces. Babylon was strategically important and the access key for

Sawad Sawad was the name used in early Islamic times (7th–12th centuries) for southern Iraq. It means "black land" or "arable land" and refers to the stark contrast between the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Desert. Under the Umayyad ...

, the territory between 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 ...

and the Euphrates.

Battle

By mid-December of 636, Muslims gained the Euphrates and camped outside Babylon. The Sassanian forces in Babylon are said to have been commanded by

Piruz Khosrow Piruz Khosrow (Middle Persian: ''Pērōz Khusraw''), also known as Piruzan or Firuzan, was a powerful Persian aristocrat who was the leader of the ''Parsig'' (Persian) faction that controlled much of the affairs of the Sasanian Empire during the S ...

Hormuzan Hormuzan (Middle Persian: ''Hormazdān'', New Persian: ) was a Persian aristocrat who served as the governor of Khuzestan, and was one of the Sasanian military officers at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah. He was later taken prisoner by the Muslims a ...

Mihran Razi Mihran-i Bahram-i Razi, better simply known as Mihran Razi, was an Iranian military officer from the Mihran family. He was killed in 637 at the battle of Jalula. Biography Mihran is first mentioned during the Arab invasion of Persia, and is kno ...

and Nakhiragan. Whatever the reason, it is in fact that the Sassanids were unable to oppose a significant resistance to the Muslims. Hormuzan withdrew with his forces to his province of

Ahwaz Ahvaz ( fa, اهواز, Ahvâz ) is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province. Ahvaz's population is about 1,300,000 and its built-up area with the nearby town of Sheybani is home to 1,136,989 inhabitants. It is hom ...

, after which the other Persian generals returned their units and retreated to the north.

Aftermath

After the withdrawal of Sassanian forces, citizens of Babylon formally surrendered. They were granted protection to the unusual condition of jizya's payment. Some collaborated with the victorious Muslims against the Sassanids and provided valuable information on the disposition of Persian forces. Some Babylon engineers are said to have been employed for the construction of roads and bridges. While the bulk of the Muslims stationed at Babylon, Zuhra received from

Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās , image = File:Saad ibn Abi Waqqas Masjid an-Nabawi Calligraphy.png , alt = , caption = His name in Arabic calligraphy , birth_date = , death_date = , birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia , death_place ...

the order of chasing the Sassanids who had withdrawn from the city before they could concentrate somewhere else and oppose a new resistance.

References

{{reflist Battles involving the Sasanian Empire Battles involving the Rashidun Caliphate Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia Military history of Iraq 636