karābīs (10) cloth that was worn-thin (1) and even split open at the side. He said, “Bring me the leader of the people,” so they summoned al-Jalūmus. He said, “Wash my shirt, mend it, and lend me a garment or another shirt.” They brought him a linen shirt. He asked, “What is this?” They said, “Linen.” He said, “And what is linen?” When they explained it, he took off his own shirt; it was washed and patched, then returned to him. He removed their shirt and put his own back on.
Al-Jalūmus said to him, “You are the king of the Arabs, and this is a land where camels do not suit the terrain. If you were to wear something finer and ride a charger, it would carry far more weight in the sight of the Romans.” He replied, “We are a people whom Allah has honored through Islam; we will never seek any substitute for what Allah has granted.”
A charger was then brought; they threw a blanket over it with neither saddle nor pad, and he mounted. He said, “Hold on, hold on! I never knew people rode the devil before this.” So they brought his camel, and he mounted that instead.
Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣaffār (2) reported: Saʿdān ibn Naṣr narrated to us, Sufyān narrated to us, from Ayyūb al-Ṭāʾī, from Qays ibn Muslim, from Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, who said:
When ʿUmar reached Syria, a ford lay before him. He dismounted from his camel, removed his muqiyyah (3) and held them in one hand (4); then he waded through the water, leading his camel. Abū ʿUbaydah said to him, “Today you have done something tremendous in the eyes of the people of the world—you did such-and-such.” ʿUmar struck him on the chest and said, “Would anyone other than you have said that, O Abū ʿUbaydah? You were the most abject, the most insignificant, and the fewest of people; then Allah honored you with Islam. Whenever you seek honor through anything else, Allah will abase you.”
Ibn Jarīr (5) said: In this very year—meaning 15 AH—there were, according to Sayf ibn ʿUmar, several engagements between the Muslims and the Persians. Ibn Isḥāq and al-Wāqidī maintained that this occurred in 16 AH. Ibn Jarīr then listed many battles between them. It was in that period that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb sent Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, ordering him to march on al-Madāʾin while leaving the women and children in al-ʿAtīq (6) with a large and formidable cavalry.
When Saʿd had completed the campaign of al-Qādisiyyah, he placed Zuhrah ibn Ḥawiyyah at the head of the vanguard, then dispatched the commanders after him one by one, and finally set out with the main army. He appointed Hāshim ibn ʿUtbah ibn Abī Waqqāṣ as his deputy in place of Khālid ibn ʿUrfaṭah, and put this Khālid in charge of the rearguard. They advanced with great numbers of horses and abundant weaponry during the last days of Shawwāl of that year. They camped at Kūfah, while Zuhrah pressed on ahead toward al-Madāʾin. There he encountered Busbuhra with a Persian force, and Zuhrah routed them, the Persians fleeing in disarray.