Chapter XII

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.