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As soon as he arrived at
Naqra, Khalid launched his column into a violent attack on the Bani
Sulaim. Actually, he had pleasant memories of the Bani Sulaim. They
had served under him during the conquest of Makkah and the Battle
of Hunain and the advance to Taif. Except for their flight when
ambushed in the Hunain defile (when most troops would have done
the same), they had served him well. But now they had apostatised
and deserved no mercy.
Fighting against their ex-commander, the
Bani Sulaim resisted fiercely for some time and were able to kill
several Muslims, but they too found the powerful blows of Khalid
too hard to take and broke up. A large number of them were slaughtered
before the rest found safety in flight. Their commander, Abu Shajra
the soldier-poet, was taken prisoner and sent to Madinah, where
he too pleaded his case with Abu Bakr and was pardoned. He also
re-entered Islam.
In later years Abu Shajra fell upon bad
times, he was impoverished. Hoping to get some help from Madinah,
he rode thither, tied his camel outside the town and went in. Soon
he came upon Umar who stood surrounded by the poor to whom he was
distributing alms. Entering the throng, Abu Shajra, called, "I
too am in need." Umar turned and looked at him but failed
to recognise him. His appearance had changed much since the days
of his apostasy. "Who are you?" Umar enquired.
"I am Abu Shajra."
Suddenly old memories flashed across the
mind of Umar and he recalled the entire story of the wretched man.
"O Enemy of Allah!" Umar roared. "Was it
not you who recited:
My spear shall play havoc
With the regiments of Khalid.
And I trust thereafter
It shall also crush Umar. . . !"
Umar did not wait for a reply. He raised
his whip, without which he never left his house, and struck at the
man. Abu Shajra raised his arm to protect his head even as he pleaded,
"My submission to Islam has cancelled all that."
1 Then the second blow fell!
Abu Shajra realised that no amount of pleading
would stay the whip of Umar, who was clearly in a mood to strike
first and ask questions later. He turned and ran as fast as his
legs would carry him, with Umar in hot pursuit, brandishing his
whip. But he outran Umar, got to his camel, leapt onto its back
and sped away.
Abu Shajra never showed his face in Madinah
again!
While the Battle of Buzakha was being fought,
certain tribes had stood aside and watched. These were the tribe
of Bani Amir and certain clans of the Hawazin and Bani Sulaim. Though
inclined towards Tulaiha, they had wisely refrained from battle
and preferred to sit on the fence until the outcome of battle was
known.
The outcome was soon known. Peace and quiet
had hardly returned to Buzakha when these tribes came to Khalid
and submitted. "We re-enter what we came out of",
they declared. "We believe in Allah and His Messenger. We
shall submit to his orders with our lives and property." 2
Soon other sections of repentant Arabs began
to pour into Buzakha. "We submit!" was the universal
cry. But Khalid remembered the instructions of the Caliph-to kill
all those who had killed Muslims. He refused to accept their submission
(which meant that they could be attacked, killed, enslaved) until
they had handed over every murderer in the tribe. To this the tribes
agreed.
1. Balazuri: p. 107
2. Tabari: Vol. 2 pg. 486.
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