—events whose details would take too long to recount. This engagement in Iraq was the counterpart of the Battle of al-Yarmuk in Syria. Al-Aʿwar al-Shannī al-ʿAbdī (1)(2) composed the following lines about it:
[basīṭ metre]
The tribe’s old home stirred sorrows in al-Aʿwar,
And after ʿAbd al-Qays it exchanged them for Hassān (3).
We saw there, while our ranks were still united,
At al-Nukhaylah the slain of Mihrān’s army.
For al-Muthannā had ridden against them with his cavalry,
Hewing down the serried columns of Persians and Jīlān (4).
He rose against Mihrān and the forces that marched with him
Until Muthannā destroyed them—by twos and singly.
Section
The Commander of the Believers, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, then dispatched Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ al-Zuhrī—one of the ten promised Paradise—with six thousand men, appointing him commander over Iraq. He wrote to Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah and to al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah, ordering them to follow him and to listen and obey. When Saʿd reached Iraq they joined him, but the two had already disputed over the command.
Al-Muthannā would say to Jarīr, “The Commander of the Believers has only sent you as reinforcements for me,” while Jarīr (5) would reply, “No, he has sent me as commander over you.” When Saʿd arrived and assumed the governorship (6) of Iraq, their quarrel came to an end.
Ibn Isḥāq said: “Al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah died in this very year.” (7) That is what Ibn Isḥāq maintained, but the correct view is that ʿUmar did not dispatch Saʿd until the beginning of the year 14 AH, as will be explained below.
Account of the Persians’ Rallying around Yazdegerd after Their Divisions
Shīrīn had gathered the house of Kisrā in the White Palace and ordered that all its males be killed. Yazdegerd’s mother was among them, with her young son. She arranged a rendezvous with the boy’s maternal uncles; they came, took him from her, and carried him off to their land.
When the events of the Day of al-Buwayb unfolded and their slain fell, as we have described, the Muslims pressed upon them, routing them and seizing their cities, settlements, and provinces. Then, on learning of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ’s approach at ʿUmar’s command, the Persians assembled, summoned their two senior commanders—Rustam and al-Fīrzān—and, exhorting one another (8), they said to them: