CONQUEST OF PERSIA.
A.H. XXI., XXII. A.D. 642, 643.
[Sidenote: Persian campaign forced on Omar.]
It was not long before any doubts that might still have rested in the
mind of Omar were put an end to by the hostile attitude of the Persian
Court; and he was again forced to bid his armies take the field with
the avowed object of dealing a final blow at the empire.
[Sidenote: Yezdegird gathers a great army against the Arabs. A.H. XX.
A.D. 641.]
After Câdesîya and the loss of Medâin, Yezdegird may have buoyed
himself up with the hope that the Arabs, content with the fertile
plains of Mesopotamia and Irâc-Araby, would leave him in undisturbed
possession of the ample provinces of Persia proper beyond the mountain
range. But the capture of the ancient capital of Media, and the
threatening advance of the invaders in the direction of Ispahan and
Persepolis, put an end to any such imagination. Teeming, restless
hordes, still issuing from the Peninsula, began to press upon the
border; and their irruption into the farther plains of Persia became
clearly a mere question of time. The king, therefore, resolved once
more upon a grand effort to stem the tide of invasion. With this view
he ordered the governors of the various provinces to gather their
forces together for a final attack. These, especially in the outlying
regions, appear to have enjoyed an almost independent authority. But
their interests were now knit together by the common danger. From the
shores of the Caspian, therefore, to the Indian Ocean, and from the
Oxus to the Persian Gulf, they rallied around the royal standard, and
in vast number gathered on the plain that lies below the snow-capped
peak of Demavend.
[Sidenote: Omar sends an army under Nómân to oppose them.]
Tidings of the movement soon reached Kûfa, and Sád apprised the Caliph
of the rising storm. Each courier, as he arrived, filled the city with
fresh alarms. A hundred and fifty thousand men had assembled under
Firuzân; now they were encamped at Hamadan, and now marching on Holwân;
they would soon be close to Kûfa, and at their very doors. The crisis,
no doubt, was serious. Any reverse to the Arabs on the mountain border
would loosen their hold upon the plains below; and all the conquests in
Chaldæa, with Medâin, and the settlements even of Kûfa and Bussorah,
might be wrenched from their grasp. As on previous occasions of
imminent danger, Omar at once declared his resolve to march forth in
person. Encamped midway between the two cities of Irâc, his presence
would restore confidence; and while able from thence to direct the
movements in front, his reserve would be a defence to them in the
rear. But the old arguments against leaving Medîna again prevailed,
and Omar was persuaded to remain behind.[389] Nómân was recalled from
the campaign just described for the reduction of Khuzistan, to take
the chief command. Leaving strong garrisons behind, all available
troops were pushed forward in two columns from Bussorah and Kûfa. The
army at Sûs, besides furnishing a contingent for the main advance, was
given the important task of effecting a diversion by an attack upon
Persepolis, and so preventing the native forces in that quarter from
joining the royal standard.
[Sidenote: Battle of Nehâvend. A.H. XXI. A.D. 642.]
Arrived at Holwân, Nómân sent forward spies, who reported that the
enemy in great force was pitched at Nehâvend, on the plain of that name
bounded on the north by the lofty peaks of Elwand; but that the road
thus far was clear.[390] So they marched forward, and were soon on the
famous battle-ground, face to face with the Persians. The Moslems were
30,000 strong--one fifth part of the enemy; weak in numbers, but strong
in faith, and nerved by the presence of many veterans and heroes of
former fields. After two days’ skirmishing, the Persians retired behind
their line of fortification, from whence they were able at pleasure
to issue forth and molest their adversaries. This went on for a time,
till the Moslems, wearied by the delay, resolved on drawing them out.
At Toleiha’s instance they practised a feint for the purpose. They fell
back, and, on the Persians following, they wheeled round and cut them
off from their entrenchments. A fierce engagement followed, and in it
Nómân was slain. But the bravery of the Arabs in the end achieved its
wonted success. Of the enemy 30,000 are said to have been left dead
on the field; the rest fled to an adjoining hill, and there 80,000
more were slain. Of the great army but shreds and scattered fragments
effected their escape. The fate of the Captain-general, Firuzân, became
proverbial. Flying towards Hamadan, he was stopped in a mountain pass
choked by a caravan laden with honey. In seeking to turn the pass, he
lost his way, was overtaken and slain. Hence the saying--‘_Part of
the Lord’s host is the honey-bee._’
[Sidenote: Decisive effect of the victory.]
The importance attached to this battle is signified by the tradition
that a mounted Genius gave immediate notice of the victory and of the
death of Nómân to a traveller in the Hejâz, who at once communicated
it to Omar at Medîna. Hamadan fell into the hands of the victorious
army; and the royal treasure and jewels, deposited for safety in
the great Fire temple, were delivered up. The chiefs and people of
Irâc-Ajem, that is, the western districts of Persia proper, submitted
themselves and became tributary. The booty was immense; and amongst it
two caskets of priceless gems, which Omar placed in the treasury at
Medîna; but next morning, the courier that brought them was recalled,
and Omar told him that he had seen a vision of angels, which warned him
of punishment hereafter if he kept those jewels. ‘Take them hence,’ he
said; ‘sell them, and let the price be divided amongst the army.’ They
fetched 4,000,000 dirhems.
[Sidenote: Capture of Rei. A.H. XXII. A.D. 643.]
Omar was disconsolate at the death of Nómân; and he promoted his
brother Nóeim ibn Mocarrin (one of the three heroes of Dzul Cassa) to
high command. He had now embarked on an enterprise from which there
was no returning. The proud Yezdegird refused to yield, and Omar no
longer scrupled pursuing him to the bitter end. But a long series of
campaigns was yet needful, effectually to reduce the empire. These it
is not the object of this work to trace otherwise than in such brief
and cursory way as shall enable the reader to estimate the expanding
area and growing obligations of the Caliphate. The warlike races of the
southern shores of the Caspian gathered under Isfandiar, brother of
the ill-fated Rustem, for the defence of Rei, one of the royal cities
of Persia. Assuming the offensive, they began to harry the Mussulman
garrisons. Nóeim advanced to meet them; and another great battle
and decisive victory placed the city at his mercy.[391] [Sidenote:
Yezdegird flies to Merve, where Turks espouse his cause.]Isfandiar
retired to Azerbâijân; where, again defeated, he was taken prisoner;
and at last, without much compunction, he threw in his lot, and made
common cause with the invading army. From Rei, Yezdegird fled south to
Ispahan; finding no shelter there, he hurried on to Kermân; then he
retired to Balkh: and at last he took refuge in Merve, whence he sought
the aid of the Khâcân of the Turks, and of the Emperor of China. The
Khâcân espoused his cause; and for several years the contest was waged
with varying success in the vicinity of Merve. But in the end the Turks
retired, and with them Yezdegird, across the Oxus. [Sidenote: Death of
Yezdegird. A.H. XXXI. A.D. 651.] The conflict was subsequently renewed,
and nine or ten years afterwards, in the reign of Othman, Yezdegird,
bereft of his treasures and deserted by his followers, who in vain
besought him to tender his submission, perished miserably in the hut of
a miller, whither he had fled for refuge.
[Sidenote: Reduction of the Persian empire.]
On the fall of Rei, the Arabs lost no time in turning their arms
against all quarters at once of the Persian empire. Six considerable
armies, drawn from Kûfa and Bussorah, and continually replenished from
Arabia and the provinces by soldiers of fortune thirsting for rapine
and renown, invaded as many different regions; and these, as they were
overrun, fell each under the government of the leader who reduced it.
Thus, one after another, Fars, Kermân, Mokrân, Sejestan, Khorasan,
and Azerbâijân, were annexed to the empire of Islam. Some of these,
though subordinate in name, had been virtually independent; and so now,
even after the heart had ceased to beat, they maintained a dangerous
vitality. When tributary and reduced to an outward subjection, the
people would ever and again rise in rebellion; and it was long before
the Arabs could subside into a settled life, or feel secure away from
the protection of garrisoned entrenchments. [Sidenote: Subordinate
position of the conquered races.]But the privileges of Islam on the
mere confession of the Faith were so considerable and enticing, that
the adherents of the Zoroastrian worship were unable to resist the
attraction; by degrees the Persian race came over to the dominant
creed, and in the end opposition ceased. The notices of Zoroastrian
families, and of Fire temples destroyed in after reigns, show indeed
that in many quarters the conversion was slow and partial.[392] But
after the fall of the Court, the death of Yezdegird, and the extinction
of outlying authority, the political and social inducements to join
the faith of the conquerors were, for the most part, irresistible. The
polished Persian formed a new element in Moslem society. But however
noble and refined, he long held a place inferior to, and altogether
distinct from, that maintained by the rude but dominant races of
Arabian blood. Individuals or families belonging to the subject
peoples, on embracing Islam, attached themselves to some Arab chief or
clan, as adherents, or ‘clients’ of the same; and in this dependent
position could claim some of the privileges of the ruling faith. But
neither here nor in other lands did they intermarry with the Arabs on
equal terms; they were looked down upon as of an inferior caste. Thus,
although in theory, on becoming Mussulmans, the conquered nations
thereby entered the equal brotherhood of the Faith, they formed, not
the less, a lower estate. The race and language, ancestral dignity, and
political privileges, of the Arabs continued to be paramount throughout
the empire for many generations.
[Sidenote: Miraculous tale connected with the siege of Darâbgird.]
While passing by thus cursorily the military details of connected
outlying conquest, there is one episode which I may mention, as
containing a curious relation of miraculous interposition, such as we
rarely meet with in the tradition of events subsequent to the Prophet’s
death. The warrior Saria had long besieged with inadequate force the
stronghold Darâbgird in Kermân, when a band of Kurds came suddenly
down to its relief. The small Arab army, taken thus on both sides,
would have been cut to pieces, had not Saria, warned by a cry from
heaven, promptly sought refuge upon a hill at his rear. Omar on that
very day (so the tradition runs), as he conducted the Friday service in
the Great Mosque at Medîna, saw distinctly in a vision the impending
disaster, and trembling for his safety, cried aloud, ‘To the hill,
O Saria! to the hill!’ It was this voice which reached Saria, clear
from the sky, just in time to enable him to make good his retreat to
the hill, from whence, having rallied his troops, he turned again and
discomfited the enemy. Omar, we are told, related the whole affair of
the retreat and subsequent victory, at the moment it occurred; and with
this the courier’s report, received several weeks after, was found
exactly to tally.[393]