The Battle of Mu'tah (, or ') took place in September 629 (1 Jumada al-Awwal 8 AH), between the forces of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

and the army of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and their

Ghassanid The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian kingdom under the aegis of the Byzantine Empi ...

vassals. It took place in the village of

Mu'tah Mu'tah (, ') is a town in Karak Governorate in Jordan. Mutah University is located in the city. History In Islamic Hadith, tradition, it is known for the Battle of Mu'tah in 629 Common Era, CE, the first military engagement between the Arab Mus ...

Palaestina Salutaris Palaestina Salutaris or Palaestina Tertia was a Late Roman and Byzantine province, which covered the area of the Negev, Sinai (except the north-western coast) and south-west of Transjordan, south of the Dead Sea. The province, a part of the Dio ...

at the east of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

and modern-day Karak. In Islamic historical sources, the battle is usually described as the Muslims' attempt to take retribution against a Ghassanid chief for taking the life of an emissary. According to Byzantine sources, the Muslims planned to launch their attack on a feast day. The local Byzantine

Vicarius ''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "vicar". History Originally, in ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in " deputy"), used as part of th ...

learned of their plans and collected the garrisons of the fortresses. Seeing the great number of the enemy forces, the Muslims withdrew to the south where the fighting started at the village of Mu'tah and they were either routed or retired without exacting a penalty on the Ghassanid chief. According to Muslim sources, after three of their leaders were killed, the command was given to

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arabs, Arab military commander. He initially led campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career ...

and he succeeded in saving the rest of the force. Three years later the Muslims would return to defeat the Byzantine forces in the

Expedition of Usama bin Zayd The Expedition of Usama bin Zayd was a military expedition of the early Muslim Caliphate led by Usama ibn Zayd that took place in June 632, in which Muslim forces raided Byzantine Syria.Gil, A history of Palestine, 634-1099, p. 31. The expedit ...

Background

The Byzantines were reoccupying territory following the peace accord between Emperor

Heraclius Heraclius (; 11 February 641) was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular emperor Phocas. Heraclius's reign was ...

and the Sasanid general Shahrbaraz in July 629. The Byzantine ''

sakellarios A ''sakellarios'' () or ''sacellarius'' is the title of an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties (cf. ''sakellē'' or ''sakellion'', "purse, treasury") in a government or institution. The title was used in the Byzantine Empi ...

'' Theodore, was placed in command of the army, and while in the area of Balqa, Arab tribes were also employed. Meanwhile, Muhammad had sent his emissary to the ruler of Bostra. While on his way to Bostra, he was executed in the village of Mu'tah by the orders of a Ghassanid official

Shurahbil ibn Amr Shurahbil ibn Amr () was a Ghassanid governor of the vassal Ghassanid confederation under the Byzantine Empire in southern Syria region during the 7th century. When Muhammad wished to spread the message of Islam, one of his letters was addressed ...

Mobilization of the armies

Muhammad dispatched 3,000 of his troops in the month of Jumada al-Awwal 7 (AH), 629 (CE), for a quick expedition to attack and punish the tribes for the murder of his emissary by the Ghassanids. The army was led by

Zayd ibn Harithah Zayd ibn Ḥāritha al-Kalbī () (), was an early Muslim, Sahabi and the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He is commonly regarded as the fourth person to have accepted Islam, after Muhammad's wife Khadija, Muhammad's cousin Ali, a ...

; the second-in-command was

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib ( September 629), also known as ''Jaʿfar aṭ-Ṭayyār'' (), was a companion and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and an elder brother of Ali. Early life Ja'far was the third son of Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Mutt ...

and the third-in-command was Abd Allah ibn Rawahah. When the Muslim troops arrived at the area to the east of Jordan and learned of the size of the Byzantine army, they wanted to wait and send for reinforcements from

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

. 'Abdullah ibn Rawahah reminded them about their desire for martyrdom and questioned the move to wait when what they desire was awaiting them, so they continued marching towards the waiting army.

Battle

The Muslims engaged the Byzantines at their camp by the village of Musharif and then withdrew towards Mu'tah. It was here that the two armies fought. Some Muslim sources report that the battle was fought in a valley between two heights, which negated the Byzantines' numerical superiority. During the battle, all three Muslim leaders fell one after the other as they took command of the force: first, Zayd, then Ja'far, then 'Abdullah. The leader of the Arab vassal forces, Mālik ibn Zāfila, was also killed in battle. After the death of 'Abdullah, the Muslim soldiers were in danger of being routed. Thabit ibn Aqram, seeing the desperate state of the Muslim forces, took up the banner and rallied his comrades, thus saving the army from complete destruction. After the battle, ibn Aqram took the banner, before asking

to take the lead.

Muslim losses

Four of the slain Muslims were Muhajirin (early Muslim converts who emigrated from Mecca to Medina) and eight were from the Ansar (early Muslim converts native to Medina). Those slain Muslims named in the sources were

Zayd ibn Haritha Zayd ibn Ḥāritha al-Kalbī () (), was an early Muslim, Sahabi and the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He is commonly regarded as the fourth person to have accepted Islam, after Muhammad's wife Khadija, Muhammad's cousin Ali, a ...

, Abd Allah ibn Rawaha, Mas'ud ibn al-Aswad, Wahb ibn Sa'd, Abbad ibn Qays, Amr ibn Sa'd, Harith ibn Nu'man, Suraqa ibn Amr, Abu Kulayb ibn Amr, Jabir ibn Amr and Amir ibn Sa'd. Daniel C. Peterson, Professor of Islamic Studies at Brigham Young University, finds the ratio of casualties among the leaders suspiciously high compared to the losses suffered by ordinary soldiers. David Powers, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell, also mentions this curiosity concerning the minuscule casualties recorded by Muslim historians. Montgomery Watt argues that a low casualty count is possible if the nature of this encounter was a

skirmish Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to Screening (tactical), screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They may be deployed in a sk ...

or if the Muslims completely routed the enemy. He further notes that the discrepancy between leaders and ordinary soldiers is not inconceivable in view of Arab fighting methods.

Aftermath

After the Muslim forces arrived at Medina, they were reportedly berated for withdrawing and accused of fleeing. Salamah ibn Hisham, brother of Amr ibn Hishām (Abu Jahl) was reported to have prayed at home rather than going to the mosque to avoid having to explain himself. Muhammad ordered them to stop, saying that they would return to fight the Byzantines again. According to Watt, most of these accounts were intended to vilify Khalid and his decision to return to Medina, as well as to glorify the part played by members of one's family. It would not be until the third century AH that Sunni Muslim historians would state that Muhammad bestowed upon Khalid the title of 'Saifullah' meaning 'Sword of Allah'. Today, Muslims who fell at the battle are considered

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

s ('' shuhadāʾ''). A

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

was later built at Mu'tah over their graves.

Second battle of Mu'ta

In June 632

Usama ibn Zayd Usaamah ibn Zayd ibn Haritha al-Kalbi () was an early Muslim and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the son of Zayd ibn Haritha, Muhammad's adopted son, and Umm Ayman, a servant of Muhammad. Muhammad appointed Usama ibn Zayd as ...

led a military campaign against Byzantine Syria three years after the Battle of Mu'tah. Following the

Farewell Pilgrimage The Farewell Pilgrimage () refers to the one Hajj pilgrimage that Muhammad performed in the Islamic year 10 AH, following the Conquest of Mecca. Muslims believe that verse 22:27 of the Quran brought about the intent to perform Hajj in Muhammad tha ...

, Muhammad appointed Usama to lead an invasion force into Balqa, aiming to avenge those killed at Mu'tah, including Usama's father and Muhammad's adopted son, Zayd ibn Harithah. Usama's campaign was successful and his army was the first Muslim force to successfully invade and raid Byzantine territory, thus paving the way for the subsequent

Muslim conquest of the Levant The Muslim conquest of the Levant (; ), or Arab conquest of Syria, was a 634–638 CE invasion of Byzantine Syria by the Rashidun Caliphate. A part of the wider Arab–Byzantine wars, the Levant was brought under Arab Muslim rule and develope ...

and

Muslim conquest of Egypt The Arab conquest of Egypt, led by the army of Amr ibn al-As, took place between 639 and 642 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long Roman Egypt, Roman period in Egypt that had begun in 30 BC and, more broa ...

Historiography

According to

al-Waqidi Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Waqid al-Aslami () ( – 207 AH; commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ; c. 747 – 823 AD) was an early Arab Muslim historian and biographer of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, specializing in his military ...

(d. 823) and

Ibn Ishaq Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...

(d. 767), the Muslims were informed that 100,000 or 200,000 enemy troops were encamped at the Balqa'. Some modern historians state that the figure is exaggerated. According to Walter Emil Kaegi, professor of Byzantine history at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, the size of the entire Byzantine army during the 7th century might have totaled 100,000, possibly even half this number. While the Byzantine forces at Mu'tah are unlikely to have numbered more than 10,000. Montgomery Watt indicates anywhere from 3,000 to 20,000 for the Byzantine force, but that it was unlikely the Muslims fought the entire opposing army. Muslim accounts of the battle differ over the result. According to David S. Powers, the earliest Muslim sources like al-Waqidi record the battle as a humiliating defeat (''hazīma''). Powers suggests that later Muslim historians reworked the early source material to reflect the Islamic view of God's plan. Subsequent sources present the battle as a Muslim victory given that most of the Muslim soldiers returned safely.

Notes

References

Sources

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