they said to them: ‘If the two of you do not prosecute the war as it ought to be prosecuted, we shall kill you both and take our revenge upon you.’

They then agreed among themselves to summon the womenfolk of Kisrā from every direction and every region; whenever they found a woman who had borne a child from the house of Kisrā, they would set that child over them as king. Each time a woman was brought before them they would punish her (1) to discover whether she had a son, while she denied it out of fear for her child, if indeed she had one. They persisted until they were guided to the mother of Yazdegerd; they brought her together with her son, enthroned him over them, and he was twenty-one years old. He was a descendant (2) of Shahriyar son of Kisrā. They deposed Buran, the realms rallied to him, they gathered round him and rejoiced at his accession. They served him with the fullest resolve for victory; his standing among them became formidable and their power was strengthened through him. They then sent word to the provinces and rural districts, renouncing obedience to the Companions and breaking the treaties and covenants they had given.

The Companions sent news of this to ʿUmar, and ʿUmar ordered them to withdraw from among those people, to station themselves on the fringes of the land near the water-sources, and for every tribe to keep the others in sight so that, should anything (3) befall one tribe, its neighbours would know at once. The situation grew extremely grave; this was in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the year 13 AH.

During that same year ʿUmar led the people in the Pilgrimage. Others say that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf (4) led them and that ʿUmar did not perform the Pilgrimage that year—Allah knows best.

Record of what took place in this year—that is, the year 13 AH—of agreed-upon events and of the deaths of notable persons

That year witnessed the battles already detailed in the land of Iraq at the hands of Khālid ibn al-Walīd, in which al-Ḥīrah, al-Anbār, and other towns were conquered.

In the same year, according to the well-known report, Khālid ibn al-Walīd marched from Iraq to Syria.

In that year also, according to Sayf ibn ʿUmar and the preference of Ibn Jarīr, the Battle of al-Yarmūk took place; many leading figures fell there—may Allah be pleased with them all—too numerous to list and recount individually.

In that year Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq passed away; we have devoted a separate volume to his biography—praise be to Allah.

Likewise in that year, on Tuesday, eight days before the end of Jumādā al-Ākhirah, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb assumed the caliphate—may Allah be pleased with him.

He appointed ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah be pleased with him—as judge of Medina,

and he deputised Abū ʿUbaydah ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Jarāḥ al-Fahrī over Syria.