—any prospect of defeating the Persians. Their power ebbed, their courage failed, and they turned their backs in flight. The Persian cavalry swept in behind them, cutting down great numbers, and the ranks of the Muslims broke apart; it was a terrible calamity. They reached the bridge, and some men managed to cross, but then the bridge collapsed. The Persians seized those stranded on the near bank, killing many, while roughly four thousand Muslims drowned in the Euphrates. Truly, to Allah we belong and to Him we return.
Al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah moved to the bridge by which they had come. In the panic some men were hurling themselves into the river and perishing. Al-Muthannā called out, “People, take your time! I am standing at the mouth of the bridge and will not leave it until none of you remains on this side.” When he had seen the people safely across, he marched with them to their first encampment and, together with the bravest of the Muslims, kept watch over them. Most were wounded and exhausted; some had vanished into the wilderness, their whereabouts unknown, while others hastened back to the Prophet’s City in fear.
ʿAbd Allah ibn Zayd ibn ʿĀṣim al-Māzinī carried the news to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and found him on the pulpit. ʿUmar asked, “What tidings do you bring, ʿAbd Allah ibn Zayd?” He replied, “Commander of the Faithful, I bring you certain news,” and then mounted the pulpit and related the matter to him privately.
It is also said that the first to arrive with the news was ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazīd (1) ibn al-Ḥuṣayn al-Khaṭmī (2)—Allah knows best.
Saif ibn ʿUmar said: “This engagement took place in Shaʿbān of the year 13 AH, forty days after the Battle of Yarmūk—Allah knows best.”
The Muslims gradually regrouped, and although some had fled to Madinah, ʿUmar did not censure them; instead he said, “I am your share of the spoils.”
Allah then preoccupied the Magians with the affairs of their king. (3) The people of al-Madāʾin rose against Rustam, deposed him, reinstated him, and added Fayruzān as co-ruler. They split into two factions, and the Persians marched toward al-Madāʾin. Al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah, accompanied by a handful of Muslims, pursued them. Two commanders from their army confronted him; he captured them along with many of their men and had their heads struck off.
Al-Muthannā then wrote to the Muslim governors in Iraq seeking reinforcements. They sent him support, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb dispatched a large force, among them Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bajalī with the whole of his tribe, Bajīlah, along with other leading Muslims, until al-Muthannā’s army became numerous.