THE CONQUEST OF AL-HEERAH
After the battle of Ulays, the road to Al-Heerah lay open. Khalid and his army immediately took the road to Al-Heerah.
This city had been the capital of the Iraqi Arabs since the second century of the Christian era. After the battle of Ulays all the rebels took refuge there. Its Persian governor, Al- Marzabaan (Azarbeh), came to know of the advance of the Muslim force and so he set about defending the city. He sent forward a cavalry group commanded by his son to hold the advance of the Muslims. This cavalry group was commissioned to dam the Euphrates in order to hold the advance of the Muslim army.
In the advance to Al-Heerah, while the main Muslim army marched by riding on camels and horses, the heavy military loads were carried by boat on the river. The Muslim forces had traversed a short distance only, when due to the damming of the river, the water level fell, and the boats carrying the military loads were grounded. Seeing this situation, Khalid dashed off at great speed on the road to Al-Heerah at the head of a cavalry detachment. At Badqalah, some twelve miles from Al-Heerah, the son of Azarbeh and his column were surprised, and were cut down to one man. Khalid thereafter opened the dam, and as the water level rose the Muslim army resumed their advance by land as well as the river.
Khalid was expecting that he would have to fight for Al- Heerah. Therefore, instead of approaching Al-I-Ieerah from the front. Khalid made a detour and approached the city from the rear. When the Muslims reached the gates of the city, there was no Persian army to oppose them. Azarbeh came to know of the death of his son and was smitten with grief. In the meantime Ardsheer, the emperor of Persia, died and Persia experienced a succession of disputes. That unnerved Azarbeh. He abandoned Al-Heerah, and fled with the Persian forces to Madyan leaving the city to its fate.
When Khalid reached Al-Heerah, he found that Christian Arabs had locked themselves in four citadels and refused to surrender. Khalid ordered the Muslims to give them three options: to embrace Islam, to pay the Jizyah, or to fight. However, the people of Al-Heerah refused to accept Islam or to pay the Jizyah.
Refusing to accept Islam or to pay the Jizyah, the inhabitants resisted the Muslim attack, but the fortresses were stormed. Five delegates met Khalid to negotiate peace terms. According to the terms of the agreement, they had to pay the Muslims 190,000 dirhams every year in return for protection.
After signing the pact, Khalid led a mass victory prayer at Al-Heerah. When the news of the conquest of Al-Heerah reached Madeenah, along with the amount of Jizyah collected from the people of Al-Heerah, Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, led a thanksgiving prayer at Madeenah. Central Iraq was now under the complete occupation of the Muslims. After the peace treaty was concluded, similar treaties were signed between Khalid and other dignitaries; and before long all the regions between the Arabian Gulf and Al-Heerah, which extended as far as the Tigris, passed under Muslim control.
Thereafter, Khalid sent two letters to the people of Persia, one for the kings and another for the masses and their Persian leaders, to invite them to embrace Islam and warn them of showing stubbornness and resistance. The First letter read: “All praise and thanks are due to Allah, Who has overthrown your regime, weakened your power, and set your word apart. If He had not done this, there would have been tumult and oppression on earth, and great mischief. Embrace Islam, and we will leave you to live in peace on your lands, and we will set for another people to call on them (to embrace Islam). If you do not do this, you will have to accept this forcefully through a people who desire death as ardently as you desire life.” The second letter read: “In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, from Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed to the ruler of Persia: embrace Islam in order to live in peace. If you do not, you will live under my protection in return for the Jizyah. Otherwise, you are up against people who love death just as much as you love wine.”
Khalid’s letters reached Persia while the people were disputing over who would rule the country after the death of Ardsheer, but they were all unanimous that Khalid must be fought and driven away from Iraq.
(Source: Biographies of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.)
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