ʿUrfaṭah; he appointed Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bajalī over the right wing and Qays ibn Makshūḥ over the left. Qays, together with al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, had arrived with reinforcements sent by Abū ʿUbaydah from Syria after they had fought at Yarmūk.

Ibn Isḥāq states that the Muslims numbered between seven and eight thousand, whereas Rustam (1) commanded sixty thousand. Saʿd therefore led the people in the ẓuhr prayer, then addressed them, exhorting and encouraging them. He recited the Almighty’s words:

“Indeed, We have written in the Psalms, after the Reminder, that My righteous servants shall inherit the earth.”
(Qur’an 21:105)

The reciters then chanted the verses and sūrahs dealing with jihad. Saʿd pronounced the takbīr four times; after the fourth, the army charged. They fought until nightfall, when the two sides drew apart, and many men from both armies were killed.

At dawn they returned to their positions and fought throughout that day and most of the night. The next morning they were once again (as before) at (2) their stations and fought until evening, and on the third day they battled in the same way; that night came to be called the Night of the Clamor (laylat al-harīr).

When the fourth day broke, they engaged in fierce combat. The Muslims had suffered greatly because the Arab horses panicked at the elephants. The Companions destroyed the elephants and their riders, gouging out the beasts’ eyes. Many warriors excelled during those days—among them Tulayḥah al-Asadī, ʿAmr ibn Maʿdīkarib, al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn ʿAmr, Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bajalī, Ḍirār ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Khālid ibn ʿUrfaṭah, and others of their ilk.

When the sun had passed its zenith on that day—later known as the Day of al-Qādisiyyah, which according to Sayf ibn ʿUmar al-Tamīmī fell on a Monday in Muḥarram of the year 14 AH—a violent wind arose and lifted (3) the Persians’ tents from their places, hurling aside the throne Rustam had set up for himself. He hastily mounted his mule and fled, but the Muslims overtook and killed him, as well as al-Jālīnūs, the commander of the vanguard at al-Qādisiyyah. The Persians broke and ran—praise and grace belong to Allah—and the Muslims pursued them. All thirty thousand of the chained troops were killed that day; a further ten thousand perished in the main battle, and about the same number had fallen earlier. From the Muslims, two thousand five hundred—may Allah be pleased with them—were martyred during that day and the preceding days.

The Muslims chased the fugitives until they entered after them the royal city (4) of al-Madāʾin, where the Chosroes’ Īwān stood. Those previously mentioned were given permission, and events unfolded as we have already described.

From the battle of al-Qādisiyyah the Muslims captured an incalculable amount of wealth and weaponry. After the individual booty had been set aside, the remainder was gathered, a fifth was set apart, and that fifth—together with the glad tidings—was dispatched to the Commander of the Believers, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him).

ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) would question every traveller he met about the situation at al-Qādisiyyah, and he would walk out of Madinah toward the road to Iraq, eager for any news. One day (5) he saw a rider appearing in the distance, so he went to meet him and enquired. The man said, “Allah has granted the Muslims victory at al-Qādisiyyah, and they have taken abundant spoils…”