thousand; the fallen blanketed the entire field, stretching before and behind the combatants, and so the engagement came to be called Jalulāʾ. Another authority places the battle in the year 17 AH. Abu Wāʾil added that it was named Jalulāʾ because of the calamity (sharr) that engulfed it, and Saʿīf likewise dated it to 17 AH.

Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ reports that Yazdegerd, son of Khosrow, fled from al-Madāʾin to Hulwān, sent letters to the mountain districts, mustered the troops, and dispatched them to Jalulāʾ. A vast host gathered under the command of Khurzād ibn Jurmahr. Saʿd wrote to ʿUmar to inform him; the caliph replied, “Stay where you are and send an army against them, for God will grant you victory and complete His promise.” Saʿd therefore appointed his nephew Hāshim ibn ʿUtbah ibn Abī Waqqāṣ to lead the force. The Muslims at first gave ground, but then God routed the idolaters. An immense number of the enemy were killed, the Muslim forces overran their camp, and vast wealth and many captives fell into their hands. The spoils totaled eighteen million. Al-Shaʿbī relates that the booty of Jalulāʾ was divided at thirty million, and Abu Wāʾil called the battle “the Conquest of Conquests.”

Ibn Jarīr adds that Hāshim ibn ʿUtbah remained at Jalulāʾ while Qaʿqāʿ ibn ʿAmr pursued the fleeing enemy as far as Khānaqīn. He slew those he overtook, killed Mihrān, and only Firzān escaped. When the news reached Yazdegerd, he withdrew to Rayy.

In the same year Saʿd dispatched a detachment that captured Tikrīt. The town was divided among the victors, a fifth was set aside for the treasury, and each cavalryman received three thousand dirhams.

That year ʿUmar also journeyed to Syria and secured the opening of Jerusalem.