I hung the saddlebag on it and lay down to sleep. When dawn broke, I rose, performed wuduʾ (ritual ablution), and prayed Fajr. Suddenly the city gate began to rattle (1). When it was opened, I charged the gate-keeper, drove my spear through him, and killed him. I then withdrew with pursuers at my heels. When we reached the man I had left on the road—one of my companions—they supposed it was an ambush and turned back from me. We continued on until we rejoined [our other companion], after which I went to Abū ʿUbaydah and informed him of what I had seen. Abū ʿUbaydah remained where he was, awaiting a letter from ʿUmar telling him what course to take regarding Damascus. The letter arrived (2) ordering him to march against it, so they advanced until they had completely surrounded the city. Abū ʿUbaydah left Bushayr ibn Kaʿb in command of the cavalry that stayed behind at Yarmouk.
[A Battle That Took Place in Iraq After Khālid’s Departure for Syria]
After their king and his son had been killed, the Persians gathered and agreed to enthrone Shahriyar (3) ibn Azdashir ibn Shahriyar. Taking advantage of Khālid’s absence, they sent a large force—about ten thousand men—under Hormuz ibn Jādhawayh against his deputy, al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah. Shahriyar also wrote to al-Muthannā: “I have sent against you troops drawn from the rabble (4) of Persia—shepherds of chickens and swine—and I will fight you only with them.”
Al-Muthannā replied:
“From al-Muthannā to Shahriyar. You are one of two men: either an aggressor—and that (5) is worse for you and better for us—or a liar, and the kings are the worst of liars in punishment and disgrace before Allah and among the people. As for what sound judgment tells us, it is that you have been forced to rely on them; so praise be to Allah who has turned your stratagem back upon you until you must depend on keepers of chickens and swine.”
He said: The Persians were dismayed (6) by this letter; they blamed Shahriyar for writing it and denounced his judgment. Al-Muthannā marched from al-Ḥīrah (7) to Babylon. When al-Muthannā and their army met at a place on the first bank of the Ṣirāṭ (8), they fought a very fierce battle. The Persians sent an elephant between the cavalry ranks to scatter the Muslims’ horses, but the commander of the Muslims, al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah, charged and slew it. He then ordered the Muslims to advance, and the result was nothing but the rout of the Persians: they were cut down mercilessly, vast spoils were taken, and the Persians fled until they reached al-Madāʾin in a wretched state. There they found that the king had died, so they placed on the throne Khosrow’s daughter, “Būrān (9) bint Abrawayz.” She established justice, governed well for one year and seven months, and then died.