—those whom a hadith recorded in Musnad Aḥmad (1) curses—and it was Ziyād ibn Labīd al-Anṣārī who killed them.

Khalid ibn al-Walid’s Expedition to Iraq (2)

When Khalid ibn al-Walid had completed the campaign of al-Yamāmah, al-Ṣiddīq sent word to him to march to Iraq, beginning with Farj al-Hind (3)—that is, al-Ubulla—so as to enter Iraq from its lower reaches. He was to win people’s hearts and invite them to Allah—Exalted is He. If they accepted, so be it; otherwise he was to levy the jizya, and if they refused (4) even that, he was to fight them. He further instructed him not to force anyone to accompany him, nor to seek the help of anyone who had apostatized from Islam—even if he had since returned to it—and to take along every Muslim (5) he met on the way.

Abu Bakr then set about equipping detachments, expeditions, and armies as reinforcements for Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him.

Al-Wāqidī said: There is a difference of opinion (6) concerning Khalid. Some maintain that he went straight from al-Yamāmah to Iraq, while others say that he returned to Madinah first, then set out for Iraq by way of Kufah until he reached al-Ḥīrah. I say: the better-known view is the first.

Al-Madāʾinī, citing his chain of transmission, reported that Khalid headed for Iraq in Muḥarram of the twelfth year, travelling by way of Basrah and appointing Qutbah ibn Qatādah as his deputy there (7), while over Kufah he placed al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah al-Shaybānī (8).

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, related that Abu Bakr wrote to Khalid instructing him to proceed to Iraq, so Khalid set out and encamped at some villages of the Sawād called Bāniqiyā (9) and Bārūsma (10).