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manner in which the most decisive and fierce battle of apostasy was conducted. In the end, Musailamah
was slain and the bodies of his men were scattered on the battlefield. Finally, the standard of the liar
imposter was buried forever.
On hearing the good news, the caliph offered the Prayer of Thanksgiving to Allah the Great and
Most High for bestowing victory on the hands of this hero.
Abu Bakr had enough discernment and insight to realize the danger of the evil powers that perched
on the borders, threatening the promising future of Islam and Muslims. These evil powers were the
Persians in Iraq and the Romans in Syria. These two dwindling empires that clung tenaciously to the
distorted remnant of their past glory were not only afflicting the people of Iraq and Syria with horrible
torment, but also manipulating them. Notwithstanding the fact that the majority populations were Arabs,
they instigated them to fight Muslim Arabs who carried the standard of the new religion which sought to
pull down the vestiges of the ancient world and eradicate the decay and corruption in which it was
steeped. The great and blessed caliph sent his orders to Khaalid to march towards Iraq, so the hero did so.
I wish that 1 were given more space to follow up in detail the proceedings of his magnificent victory.
Upon arriving in Iraq, the first thing that Khaalid did was to dispatch messages to every governor
and deputy who ruled the provinces and cities of Iraq in the name of the emperor. These messages were
as follows: In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Khaalid Ibn Al-Waliid sends
this message to the satraps of Persia. Peace will be upon him who follows the guidance. All praises and
thanks be to Allah Who dispersed your power and thwarted your deceitful plots. On the one hand, he
who performs our prayers directing his face to our Qiblah to face the Sacred Mosque in Makkah and eats
our slaughtered animals is a Muslim. He has the same rights and duties that we have. On the other hand,
if you do not want to embrace Islam, then as soon as you receive my message, send over the jizyah (tax
levied upon non-Muslim people who are under the protection of a Muslim government) and I give you
my word that I will respect and honor this covenant. But if you do not agree to either choice, then, by
Allah, I will send to you people who crave death as much as you crave life.
Khaalid`s scouts whom he planted everywhere warned him against the enormity of the armies that
were organized by the commanders of Persia in Iraq. As usual, Khaalid did not waste much time.
Therefore, he flung his soldiers against the falsehood of disbelief so as to devastate it.
Victory followed him wherever he went, from Al-Ubullah, to As-Sadiir, An-Najaf, Al-Hiirah, Al-
Anbaar then Al-Kaadhimiyah. There was one victory procession after another. The glad tidings of
Khaalid's arrival blew like a fresh breeze wherever he went to usher in Islam. The weak and oppressed
people found sanctuary in the new religion that saved them from the occupation and oppression of the
Persians.
It was impressive that Khaalid's first order to his troops was, "Do not attack or hurt the peasants.
Leave them to work at peace unless some of them attack you. Only then, I permit you to defend
yourselves".
He marched on with his victorious army, swept his enemies, and cut through their ranks like a knife
cutting through melting butter. The Aadhaan resounded everywhere. I wonder if it had reached the
Romans in Syria? Did they realize that cries of "Allah is the Greatest" signaled the end of their
deteriorating civilizations? Indeed, they must have heard. In fact, the Aadhaan cast terror into them, yet
in a desperate attempt to recapture the phantom of their empire, they decided heedlessly to fight a battle
of despair and perdition.
* * *
Abu Bakr As-siddiiq mobilized his armies and chose a group of his prominent commanders such as
Abu `Ubaidah Ibn Al-Jarraah Mar Ibn Al-'Aas Yaziid Ibn Abi Sufyaan and Mu'aawiyah Ibn Abi Sufyaan
to lead them.