The Muslim Conquest of Persia

332 Pages·4.932 MB·English

by  A I Akram

THE MUSLIM CONQUEST
OF PERSIA.
Lieutenant- General A.I. Akram
Edited by
A.B. al-Mehri
MAKTABAH
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Birmingham - England
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Cover Design: H. Jundi
Front Cover Image: Sword ofUthman ibn Affan [ra]-Topkapi Museum, Istanbul
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Maktabah Booksellers and Publishers
ISBN 978-0-9548665-3-2
CONTENTS PAGE
Editor's Preface ........................................................................................................... ix
Foreword ................................................................................ xi
Chapter 1: In the Name of Allah ................................................................................ 4
Chapter 2: The Change of Command ...................................................................... 17
Chapter 3: The Victories and Defeat of Abu Ubayd ............................................. 23
Chapter 4: The Battle ofBuweib .......................................................................... ,. ... 40
Chapter 5: Umar and Sa'd .......................................................................................... 51
Chapter 6: Yazdjurd and Rustam .............................................................................. 65
Chapter 7: The Eve ofQadisiyya .............................................................................. 80
Chapter 8: The Day of Disorder ............................................................................. 104
Chapter 9: The Day of Succour ............................................................................... 115
Chapter 10: The Day of Hardship .......................................................................... 128
Chapter 11: The Night of Qadisiyya ....................................................................... 138
Chapter 12: On to Ctesiphon .................................................................................. 151
Chapter 13: The Conquest of Ctesiphon ............................................................... 163
Chapter 14: The Battle of J alaula ............................................................................ 17 6
Chapter 15: The Consolidation of Iraq .................................................................. 196
Chapter 16: The Conquest of Ahwaz ..................................................................... 207
Chapter 17: The Conquest ofTustar. ..................................................................... 220
Chapter 18: The Rest ofKhuzistan ........................................................................ 230
Chapter 19: The Persians March Again ....................... :. ........................................ 239
Chapter 20: The Battle of Nihawand ..................................................................... 250
Chapter 21: The Fall ofPersia ................................................................................. 273
Chapter 22: The Last of the Sasanis ....................................................................... 284
APPENDIX A: BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................... 298
APPENDIX B: THE HIJRI AND CHRISTIAN YEARS ... _. ........................... 301
APPENDIX C: NOTES .............................................................3 02
APPENDIX D: THE COMPA NIONS. .............................................................. 309
LIST OF MAPS
Map 1: The Early Campaigns .................................................................................... 10
Map 2: The Movements of Abu Ubayd ................................................................... 28
Map 3: The Approach to Qadisiyya .......................................................................... 61
Map 4: The Plain of Qadisiyya .................................................................................. 79
Map 5: Qadisiyya Dispositions ................................................................................ 101
Map 6: Qadisiyya lsi: Day .......................................................................................... 111
Map 7: Qadisiyya 2nd Day ....................................................................................... 122
Map 8: Qadisiyya 3rd Day ........................................................................................ 132
Map 9: Qadisiyya 4th Day ........................................................................................ 144
Map 10: The Advance to Ctesiphon. ...................................................................... 157
Map 11: The Battle ofJ a laula 1 ............................................................................... 180
Map 12: The Battle ofJ a laula 2 ·····································································:········· 186
Map 13: I<huzistan and Fars .................................................................................... 213
Map 14: The March to Nihawand ........................................................................... 247
Map 15: The Battlefield ofNihawand .................................................................... 251
Map 16: The Battle ofNihawand 1 ........................................................................ 252
Map 17: The Battle ofNihawand 2 ........................................................................ 255
Map 18: The Battle of Nihawand 3 ........................................................................ 260
Map 19: The Battle of Nihawand 4 ........................................................................ 262
P.d{tors r.Preface
'It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth
to manifest it over all religion. And sufficient is Allah as Witness.'
[Surah al-Fath 48:28]
Following the publication of Khalid bin al-Waleed: Sword of Allah, there has
been a huge revival in reader's interest for books dealing with early Islamic
history. It was decided that we complete the task of publishing the [out of
print] books by A.I. Akram on the first huridred years of Islamic military
history. They are as follows:
• Khalid bin al-Waleed: Sword of Allah
• The Muslim Conquest of Persia
• The Muslim Conquest of Egypt and North Africa
• The Muslim Conquest of Spain
• Falcon of Quraysh
• Rise of Cordoba
Hence, present before you is second in the series of books written by A.I.
Akram - The Muslim Conquest of Persia. This version of the book has been
edited with the addition of footnotes, Anglicization of certain terms and the
correction of minor spelling and grammatical errors. This edition also includes
the original maps [digitized] drawn by the author from its original print.
Whenever civilizations have reached great heights, they have achieved
inspiration from nothing but history. As the a1,1thor notes, 'Muslim history is
replete with great military achievements and glorious feats of arms ....n o battles
that sur{Jass, in brilliance and decisiveness, the battles of Islam; no commanders
who surpass, in courage and skill, the gifted generals oflslam.'
If readers find any historic inaccuracies in the text, we ask that we are informed
and we will endeavour to correct these for any future prints. Finally, I pray and
beseech Allah [swt] to accept this effort from all those who helped witht'the
publication of this book.
A.B. al-Mehri,
Ramadhan, 1430 AH [September, 2009]
Birmingham, United Kingdom
-lX-

Poreword
It is not difficult for an author to persuade himself that his writings are a
success, that his books are read, that people eagerly await more works from his
pen. I have not needed much persuasion to believe that my book, The Sword rf
Allah, has found acceptance. The first, deluxe edition was sold out in good
time; a second, paperback edition and an Urdu translation are shortly expected
to be on the market; and the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Cairo has
rendered the book into Arabic. For all this, praise be to Allah!
The success of my first major foray into serious historical wntmg has
encouraged me to continue with the programme of research in Muslim military
history, which I had first conceived in 1964, a programme which involved a
twenty-year effort culminating in what would be my last volume on the great
battles of Muslim Spain. This is the second book, dealing with the Conquest of
Persia, and upon it I have laboured with the same zeal and affection as on my
first, and it has given me the same intellectual and emotional satisfaction.
I have used the same m~thodology of study and composition. I have based my
research on Muslim historians who lived and wrote in the first four centuries of
Islam, i.e. up to the 10th Century A.D., the only exceptions being the 13th
Century geographer, Yaqut, and a modern Iraqi scholar, Muhammad Tariq Al
Katib, whose researches in the geography of the Basra region have been of
value to me. I have ignored later writers for the reason that they have based
their writings on the chronicles of the early ones, and I prefer to get my facts
first-hand from the early historians rather than second-hand from later ones.
The library of early Arabic works of history which I had built up for my first
book stood me in good stead for this one too, and my further requirements of
historical works were met by a kind gift from Colonel S.H. Raza Rizvi, until
recently our Military Attache in Baghdad.
Ther~ is a certain amount of confusion in the accounts of the early chronicles.
They have tended to record faithfully everything that came to their knowledge
about events under study, and in the process have often given conflicting
versions of the same event, leaving it to the reader to take his choice. I have not
burdened the reader with these contradictions. Minor variations in historical
versions have been ignored, the reader being presented with what appears to
me the most logical and likely version, while major variations-and these are few
have been discussed separately in an appendix.
-xi-