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The generals began to fight
with sword and shield. Each struck several times at his adversary,
but none of the blows made any impression. Each was surprised at
the skill of the other. Hormuz now suggested that they drop their
swords and wrestle. Khalid, unaware of the plot, dropped his sword
as Hormuz dropped his. They began to wrestle. Then, as they were
locked in a powerful embrace, Hormuz shouted to his men, who rushed
forward. Before Khalid realised what was happening he found himself
and Hormuz surrounded by several fierce looking Persians.
Now Khalid knew. He was without his sword
and shield, and Hormuz would not relax his iron grip. There seemed
to be no way out of the predicament; but then, being a stronger
man than Hormuz, Khalid began to whirl his adversary round and round,
thus making it practically impossible for the Persians to strike
at him.
A storm of sound arose over the battlefield
as the two armies shouted-one with delight, the other with dismay.
In this noise, their attention riveted on the wrestlers, the Persian
killers did not hear the galloping hooves that approached them.
They did not know what hit them. Two or three of them sprawled on
the ground as headless trunks, before the others realised that the
number of combatants in this melee had increased by just one more.
The extra man was Qaqa bin Amr-the one-man reinforcement sent by
Abu Bakr.
Qaqa had seen the Persian killers rush towards
the two generals, and in a flash understood the perfidy of the enemy
general and the peril which faced Khalid. There was no time to tell
this to anyone; no time to explain or gather comrades to support
him. He had spurred his horse into a mad gallop, and arriving in
the nick of time, had set upon the Persians with his sword. Qaqa
killed all of them! 1
Khalid, freed of the menace of the Persian
killers, turned his entire attention to Hormuz. After a minute or
two Hormuz lay motionless on the ground, and Khalid rose from his
chest with a dripping dagger in his hand.
Khalid now ordered a general attack, and
the Muslims, incensed by the treacherous plot of the enemy commander,
went into battle with a vengeance. The centre and the wings swept
across the plain to assault the Persian army. The Persians had suffered
a moral setback with the death of their commanding general; but
they were more numerous than the Muslims and, their iron discipline
held them together. They fought hard. For some time the battle hung
in the balance with the fast-moving Muslims assailing the front
and the steady, chain-linked Persian infantry repulsing all assaults.
But soon the superior skill and courage of the Muslims and the fatigue
of the Persians began to tell, and after several attempts the Muslims
succeeded in breaking the Persian front in a number of places.
Sensing defeat, the Persian generals commanding
the wings-Qubaz and Anushjan-ordered a withdrawal and began to pull
their men back. This led to a general retreat, and as the Muslims
struck still more fiercely, the retreat turned into a rout. Most
of the Persians who were not chained managed to escape, but those
who were chain-linked found their chains a death trap. Unable to
move fast, they fell an easy prey to the victorious Muslims and
were slain in thousands before darkness set in to put an end to
the slaughter. Qubaz and Anushjan managed to escape and succeeded
in extricating a large portion of the army from the battlefield.
The first battle with the power of Persia
was over. It had ended in an overwhelming victory for the Muslims.
The following day was spent in attending
to the wounded and collecting the spoils-weapons, armour, stores,
costly garments, horses, captives-of which Khalid distributed four-fifths
among his men. The share of each cavalryman came to a thousand dirhams,
while the infantryman's share was a third of that. This ratio was
a tradition of the Prophet. The cavalryman was given three shares
because he had to maintain his horse as well and was more valuable
for the mobile, fast-moving operations which the Arabs loved.
One-fifth of the spoils was sent to the
Caliph as the share of the state, and this included the 100,000
dirham cap of Hormuz. By right it belonged to Khalid, for in a duel
all the belongings of the vanquished were taken by the victor; and
for this reason Abu Bakr returned the cap to Khalid, who, preferring
cash, sold it!
1. There is no record of the actual number
of Persians who took part in this plot and were killed by Qaqa.
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