|
The two armies formed up
for battle. Qubaz and Anushjan commanded the wings of the Persian
army while Qarin kept the centre under his direct control and stood
in front of it. Detachments of Arab auxiliaries were deployed in
various parts of the army. Qarin was a brave but wise general. He
deployed with the river close behind him, and saw to it that a fleet
of boats was kept ready at the near bank ... just in case! Khalid
also deployed with a centre and wings, again appointing Asim bin
Amr and Adi bin Hatim as the commanders of the wings.
The battle began with three duels. The first
to step forward and call out a challenge was Qarin. As Khalid urged
his horse forward, another Muslim, one by the name of Maqal bin
Al Ashi, rode out of the Muslim front rank and made for Qarin. Maqal
reached Qarin before Khalid, and since he was an accomplished swordsman
and quite able to fight in the top class of champions, Khalid did
not call him back. They fought, and Maqal killed his man. Qarin
was the last of the 100,000 dirham men to face Khalid in battle.
As the Persian commander went down before
the sword of Maqal, the other two Persian generals, Qubaz and Anushjan,
came forward and gave the challenge for single combat. The challenge
was accepted by the commanders of the Muslim wings, Asim and Adi.
Asim killed Anushjan. Adi killed Qubaz. As these Persian generals
fell, Khalid gave the order for a general attack, and the Muslims
rushed forward to assault the massed Persian army.
In those days the personal performance of
the commander was a particularly important factor in battle. His
visible success in combat inspired his men, while his death or flight
led to demoralisation and disorganisation. The Persian army here
had now lost its three top generals; yet the men fought bravely
and were able to hold the Muslim attacks for a while. But because
of the absence of able generals, disorder and confusion soon became
apparent in the Persian ranks. Eventually, under the violence of
continued Muslim attacks, the Persian army lost all cohesion, turned
about and made for the river bank.
This disorganised retreat led to disaster.
The lightly armed Muslims moved faster than the heavily equipped
Persians and caught up with their fleeing adversaries. On the river
bank confusion became total as the Persians scrambled into the boats
in a blind urge to get away from the horror that pursued them. Thousands
of them were slain as other thousands rowed away to safety. Those
who survived owed their lives to the caution of Qarin, who had wisely
kept the boats ready by the river bank. But for these boats not
a single Persian would have got away. The Muslims having no means
of crossing the river, were unable to pursue the fugitives.
According to Tabari, 30,000 Persians were
killed in this battle. 1 The spoils of the
battle exceeded the booty taken at Kazima, and four-fifths of the
spoils were again promptly distributed among the men while one-fifth
was sent to Madinah.
Khalid now turned more seriously to the
administration of the districts conquered by the Muslims and placed
this administration on a more permanent footing. Submitting to Khalid,
all the local inhabitants agreed to pay the Jizya and come under
Muslim protection. They were left unmolested. Khalid organised a
team of officials to collect taxes and placed Suwaid bin Muqarrin
in command of this team with his headquarters at Hufair.
But while these administrative matters were
engaging Khalid's attention, his agents had slipped across the Euphrates
to pick up the trial of the vanquished army of Qarin. Yet other
agents were moving along the Euphrates towards Hira to discover
further movements and concentrations of the imperial army of the
Chosroes. 2
1. Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 558.
2. Tabari also calls this battle the Battle
of Mazar, which I feel is incorrect. For an explanation see Note
5 in Appendix B.
| 
