Chapter XXVI: 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]