The Battle of al-Firāḍ (1)

Khalid then marched with the Muslims under his command to al-Firāḍ, a frontier zone bordering al-Sham (Greater Syria), Iraq, and al-Jazīrah (Upper Mesopotamia). He remained there throughout Ramadan, exempt from fasting because he was fully engaged with the enemy. When the Byzantines learned of Khalid’s movements and of his approach to their lands, they were roused to fury. They assembled a vast host and called upon the tribes of Taghlib, Iyād, and al-Namir for support. Advancing to meet Khalid, they found the Euphrates lying between the two armies. The Byzantines called out to Khalid, “Cross over to us,” but Khalid replied, “No—cross you to us.” The Byzantines therefore crossed to the Muslim bank on the fifteenth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah in the year 12 AH. There a fierce, hard-fought battle took place. Allah routed the Byzantine ranks, the Muslims pursued them, and one hundred thousand were slain in the encounter.

Khalid stayed at al-Firāḍ for ten more days and then gave orders to return to al-Ḥīrah five days before the close of Dhu al-Qaʿdah. He appointed ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAmr to command the vanguard and Shajarah ibn al-Aʿazz to lead the rear guard—while feigning that he himself was in that rear guard. Khalid then departed with a select band of companions, setting his course toward the Sacred Mosque. He travelled to Mecca by a route that no one had ever taken before, and Allah granted him (2) in that undertaking something achieved by none other. He went on, muʿtasifan (3)​—cutting straight across country, off the beaten track—until he reached Mecca and performed the Hajj that very year. He then returned and rejoined the rear guard before they reached al-Ḥīrah. Hardly anyone knew of Khalid’s pilgrimage—only a few who had accompanied him—and Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq learned of it only after the pilgrims returned from the season.

Abū Bakr sent a letter of reproof for Khalid’s departure from the army, and as a disciplinary measure he redirected him from the Iraqi front to the campaign in al-Sham. In that letter he wrote:

“Know that the hosts have not been rent (4) without Allah’s aid, nor have your bones been broken. Congratulations, Abū Sulaymān, on your pure intention and favored standing. Complete what you have begun—may Allah complete it for you—and let no self-conceit enter your heart, lest you lose and be forsaken. Beware of relying on your own deeds; the bounty belongs to Allah alone, and He is the One who repays.”

When Khalid read the letter he said (5), “This is the doing of that left-handed man”—meaning ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb—“he envied me because the conquest of Iraq came at my hands.” Upon leaving Iraq, Khalid appointed al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah as his deputy there, together with the Companions and others who had remained behind. Al-Muthannā withdrew with them toward the desert along the rivers, fearing for them from the Persians until reinforcements should arrive.