EVENTS IN IRAC--MOTHANNA AND THE PERSIANS--NEED
OF REINFORCEMENTS.
Moharram--Jumâd, A.H. XIII.
March--August, A.D. 634.
[Sidenote: Mothanna attacked by the Persians.]
After bidding Khâlid farewell, Mothanna returned to Hîra, and made the
best disposition of his small force that he could, so as to strengthen
his defences towards the Persian capital. That the position was not
altogether secure is shown by the precaution of Khâlid, just before his
departure, in sending the sick and infirm with the women and children
home, for the time, to Arabia. A new prince, Shahrîrân, had succeeded
to the throne; and he now thought to expel the invaders by sending an
army under Hormuz, 10,000 strong, against them.[176] Mothanna, having
timely warning, immediately called in his outlying garrisons, but, with
every exertion, the force brought together was dangerously small in
comparison with the Persian host. The king, confident of victory, wrote
to Mothanna an insulting letter that ‘he was about to drive him away
with an army of fowl-men and swine-herds.’ Mothanna answered: ‘Thou
art either a braggart or a liar. If what thou sayest be true, then
blessed be the Lord that hath reduced thee to such defenders!’ Having
despatched this reply, he advanced boldly to meet Hormuz. Leaving
Hîra, the little force passed under the dreary ruin of Birs Nimrud,
and crossing the Euphrates, encamped to the north of the vast mound
which marks the site of Babylon. [Sidenote: Battle of Babylon. A.H.
XIII. Summer, A.D. 634.] There, some fifty miles from the capital,
amid a network of canals watering the country (now a wilderness or a
swamp), he chose the battle-ground; and, placing his two brothers in
charge of either wing, himself at the head of the centre, awaited the
attack of Hormuz. The Persian line was preceded by a war-elephant,
which threw the Arab ranks into confusion, and for a while paralysed
their action. Mothanna, followed by an adventurous band, surrounded the
great creature, pierced it in a mortal part, and so brought it to the
ground. Deprived of this adventitious help, the enemy gave way before
the fierce onslaught of the Arabs, who pursued the fugitives across the
plain of Dura to the very gates of Medâin. The praises of ‘the hero of
the elephant’ have been handed down in Arabian verse.[177]
[Sidenote: Mothanna asks Abu Bekr for reinforcements.]
Shahrîrân did not long survive the defeat. His son, succeeding him,
was killed in a rebellion caused by his attempt to give Azarmîdokht, a
princess of the royal blood, in marriage to a favourite minister. The
princess, saved by loyal hands from the dishonour, succeeded to the
throne. From a court weakened thus by continual change and treachery,
there was little, it might be thought, to fear. But Mothanna had to
guard a frontier of great extent, and for the task his army was far
too small. The Moslem conquests stretched from the lower Tigris to the
desert, and from the Persian Gulf all up the banks of the Euphrates to
Anbâr. The people were not with him, and the Bedouins of Mesopotamia
were distinctly against him. Victories might be won, but they could not
be followed up. The position, with so small a force, was clearly full
of risk. Accordingly, Mothanna urged upon the Caliph the pressing need
of reinforcements. He also pointed out how they might be met without
stint of number. ‘Remove the embargo,’ he wrote, ‘from the apostate but
now repentant tribes; they will flock to the war, and, in this crusade
against the Persians, none will be more brave or eager.’ Answer being
long delayed, Mothanna became anxious, and ventured to Medîna, there
to urge his suit in person.[178] He found Abu Bekr on his death-bed.
The aged Caliph knew that his end was near at hand; but his mind was
clear, and, on hearing the statement of Mothanna, he at once perceived
the urgency of the case. [Sidenote: Abu Bekr on his death-bed desires
Omar to order a levy.]‘Call Omar to me,’ he said (for he had already
declared him successor); and when Omar came, he addressed him thus in
earnest tone:--‘Command a levy for Mothanna. Tarry not. If I die, as
I think, this day, wait not till the evening; if I linger till night,
wait not till the morning. Let not sorrow for me divert you from the
service of Islam and the business of your Lord. Ye saw what I did
myself when the Prophet died (and there could be no greater sorrow for
mankind than that); truly if grief had stayed me then from girding my
loins in the cause of the Lord and of his Prophet, the Faith had fared
badly; the flame of rebellion had surely kindled in the city. And, list
thee, Omar! when the Lord shall have given thee victory in Syria, then
send back to Irâc its army; for they are the proper garrison thereof,
and fittest to administer it.’
[Sidenote: Omar accepts the charge.]
Omar was touched by the delicacy of his last words, and the allusion
they contained without expressing it. ‘For,’ said he, ‘Abu Bekr knew
that it grieved me when he gave the command to Khâlid; therefore he
bade me to send back his army to Irâc, but forbore to name the name
of Khâlid.’ He listened attentively to the dying Caliph’s words, and
promised to fulfil them.