, and she was the daughter of al-Harith ibn Hisham al-Makhzumi; according to some reports, ʿUmar later married her.

The Battle of Fahl

Ibn Lahiʿah, transmitting from Abu al-Aswad on the authority of ʿUrwah, said: “The engagement at Fahl took place in Dhu al-Qaʿdah of the year 13 AH.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr relates: “We were present at Ajnadayn—twenty thousand strong—under the command of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. God routed the enemy, but a detachment withdrew to Fahl during the caliphate of ʿUmar. ʿAmr marched against them with the army and expelled them from Fahl.”

In that same year the Caliph of the Messenger of God ﷺ, Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, died with eight days remaining in Jumada al-Ākhirah. Before his death he entrusted authority to ʿUmar and committed this to writing.

The very first measure ʿUmar took was to remove Khalid ibn al-Walid from the supreme command in Syria and to place Abu ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah over the forces there, dispatching him the official decree. He next sent an army from Medina to Iraq under the leadership of Abu ʿUbayd ibn Masʿud al-Thaqafi—the father of the impostor al-Mukhtar—who was counted among the eminent Companions. Abu ʿUbayd engaged the people of Iraq, as will be detailed below.