Part III: The Invasion of Iraq

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This was known to the austere and frugal Caliph, who regarded it not as generosity but as extravagance. 1

On Khalid's return from Marash the same thing happened; he gave lavishly to his soldiers. And by now a number of unscrupulous persons had arisen in the Muslim army who would approach successful generals, sing their praises and receive gifts- in true Oriental fashion. One such man was Ashath bin Qais, chief of the Kinda, who has been mentioned in Part II of this book. (He had led the apostate revolt of his tribe in the Yemen, and saved himself at the last minute by betraying his own followers!) Ash'as was a great poet. He came to Khalid at Qinassareen and recited a fine poem in praise of the great conqueror; and in return Khalid gave him a gift of 10,000 dirhams. Within a fortnight the agents of the Caliph had informed him of this episode; and Umar was furious. This, thought Umar, was the limit!

Ash'as did not know that when he recited his eloquent poetry, he was in fact digging the grave of Khalid's military career.

1. Khalid's earnings from his duels and from his share of the spoils of war were not part of his pay, the scale of which for a corps commander was between 7,000 and 9,000 dirhams a year (Abu Yusuf: p. 46).