Account of the Battle of al-Walajah (1)

In the month of Ṣafar of that same year, Ibn Jarir (2) records, the affair of al-Walajah took place. When word reached Ardashir—who was then king of Persia—of the slaughter of Qarin and his men at al-Madhār (3), he sent out a bold commander named al-Andarzaghar (4). Al-Andarzaghar, a man of the Sawād, had been born and raised in al-Madāʾin. Ardashir reinforced him with another army under a commander called Bahman Jādhuyih.

They marched until they reached a place known as al-Walajah [which lies near Kaskar on the landward side]. Khalid heard of their advance, so he moved with the forces at his disposal, instructing the deputy he left behind to be watchful and never negligent. Khalid confronted al-Andarzaghar and those who had joined him and encamped opposite them at al-Walajah. A battle ensued fiercer than any before it. Each side thought that endurance itself had run dry, and Khalid began to wonder about the ambush he had stationed behind the enemy in two locations. Before long the two concealed detachments emerged, one from here and one from there. The Persian ranks broke and fled; Khalid closed in on them from the front while the two ambushes struck them from the rear, so that no man knew where his companion met his death (5). Al-Andarzaghar escaped the field but died of thirst, and seventy thousand of them were killed.

Khalid then addressed the troops, urging them toward the lands of the non-Arabs and making them disinclined toward the lands of the Arabs. He said, “Do you not see the abundance of provisions here? By Allah (6), were it not that jihad in the path of Allah and the summons to Islam are incumbent upon us—if livelihood alone were at issue—it would still be sound judgment to fight for this fertile land until we became its rightful owners, leaving hunger and want to whoever prefers them, those who shrink back (7) from what you have undertaken.”

He then took the one-fifth share of the spoils, divided the remaining four-fifths among the fighters, and sent the khums to al-Ṣiddīq. The families of the combatants present were taken captive, while the peasantry were left under jizyah.

Saif ibn ʿUmar (8) reports, on the authority of ʿAmr from al-Shaʿbi, who said: “On the Day of al-Walajah Khalid engaged in single combat with a Persian warrior reckoned equal to a thousand (9) men. He killed him, then leaned upon the corpse, and when his midday meal was brought he ate it while reclining on him between the two battle lines.”