The total number of those slain in the Garden and on the battlefield was close to ten thousand fighting men; another report puts it at twenty-one thousand. Of the Muslims, six hundred fell—some say five hundred. Allah knows best. Among the dead were leading Companions and distinguished figures, some of whom will be named later.
Khalid went out, with Mujāʿa ibn Murārah following behind him, shuffling along in his shackles. Khalid showed him the corpses so that he might point out Musaylima. When they passed by al-Rajjāl ibn ʿUnfuwah, Khalid asked, “Is this the man?” Mujāʿa replied, “No, by Allah, this one is better than he; this is al-Rajjāl ibn ʿUnfuwah.” Saif ibn ʿUmar said: They then came to a sallow, snub-nosed man (1), and Mujāʿa said, “That is your man.” Khalid retorted, “May Allah disgrace you for following such a person!”
Khalid next sent the cavalry around al-Yamama to gather whatever property and captives could be found near its forts. He then resolved to storm the forts themselves, although only women, children, and very old men remained inside. Mujāʿa deceived him, saying, “They are full of warriors, so come and make a treaty with me concerning them.” Khalid agreed, seeing the Muslims’ exhaustion and how weary they were from continual fighting. Mujāʿa said, “Let me go to them so they will accept the truce.” Khalid replied, “Go.”
Mujāʿa entered the forts and ordered the women to put on armor and appear on the ramparts. When Khalid looked up, he saw the battlements crowded with human heads and supposed, as Mujāʿa had said, that they were soldiers, so he waited for the treaty. Khalid then called them to Islam, and they all embraced it and returned to the truth. He restored to them part of what he had taken in captives and sent the remainder on to al-Ṣiddīq.
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib had taken as a bondwoman one of those captives; she was the mother of his son Muḥammad, known as Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah (may Allah be pleased with him).
During this campaign Ḍirār ibn al-Azwar composed the following lines:
Were the south-wind to ask about us, it would tell—
on the evening when ʿAqribāʾ and Malham overflowed,
when the stream of the valley ran on till its stones
were split apart by the people’s blood;
an evening when lances found no room,
and only the keen, unwavering sword availed.
If you look for unbelievers other than Musaylima (2),
O south-wind, know that I am a follower of the faith, a Muslim.
I strive while striving is still a prize,
and Allah knows best the one who strives.
Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ (3), Muḥammad ibn Jarīr (4), and many of the early scholars said that the battle of al-Yamama occurred in the eleventh year AH. Ibn Qāniʿ placed it at the end of that year, while al-Wāqidī and others said it was in the twelfth; and the reconciling view…