to embrace Islam among the Helpers.

That same year, after a great many Qur’an reciters had been slain at al-Yamamah, Abu Bakr instructed Zayd ibn Thabit to compile the Qur’an. Zayd set about gathering it from palm stalks, thin stone slabs, and from the memories of men, until he assembled it in written sheets.

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari relates: When Khalid had finished conquering the towns of Chosroes in Iraq—some by treaty, others by force—he slipped away on the twenty-fifth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah, concealing his intention to perform the ḥajj. A small company accompanied him, cutting across trackless wastes until they reached Mecca, accomplishing on that journey what no professional guide could have done. He took a route out of al-Hirah the like of which had never been seen—more astonishing and more difficult. His absence from the army was brief, and no one knew he had performed the pilgrimage except those to whom he personally disclosed it.

When Abu Bakr learned of this covert pilgrimage, he rebuked Khalid sharply and punished him by redirecting him to Syria. A letter reached Khalid in al-Hirah on his return from the ḥajj, instructing him to proceed to Syria to join the Muslim forces massed at al-Yarmuk, and warning him: “Beware of ever doing the like again.”

I say: The order for him to march to Syria arrived only in the early part of the year 13 AH.

I also say: Khalid led his army from Iraq to Syria across the desert, and they almost perished from thirst.

Al-Waqidi said: Musa ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Taymi told us, on the authority of his father, who said: ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab advised Abu Bakr, “Write to Khalid ibn al-Walid, ordering him to march with those under his command to reinforce ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ.” When Abu Bakr’s letter reached Khalid