Saʿd b. Abī Waqqās placed in charge of the aqbāḍ, the collected spoils (1), ʿAmr b. ʿAmr (2) b. Muqarrin. The first items to be recorded were everything found in the White Palace, in Chosroes’ quarters, in the other residences of al-Madāʾin, and in the Īwān as already described, together with whatever arrived from the detachments that accompanied Zuhrah b. Ḥawiyah.
Among the things Zuhrah returned was a mule he had overtaken and wrested from the Persians, who had surrounded it with drawn swords; he rescued it from them and said, “This beast is surely carrying something important.” He therefore sent it back to the aqbāḍ, and on its back were two caskets containing Chosroes’ garments, ornaments, and the attire he wore upon the throne, as we have related. Another mule bearing the crown we mentioned was likewise returned (3) in two caskets, having been seized on the road by men from the detachments.
The units brought back immense wealth: most of Chosroes’ furnishings, personal effects, and costly treasures that the Persians had tried to carry off, but the Muslims overtook them and stripped them of it. The Persians had been unable to move the carpet because of its weight, nor the money because of its sheer bulk. When the Muslims entered some of those houses, they found rooms filled (4) to the very ceiling with vessels of gold and silver. They also came upon large quantities of camphor, thinking it was salt; some even kneaded it into dough, only to find it bitter until they realized (5) what it actually was.
Thus an enormous amount of wealth accrued to the fayʾ, the public treasury. Saʿd set aside the statutory one-fifth and ordered Salmān al-Fārisī to distribute the remaining four-fifths (6) among the combatants. Each horseman received twelve thousand, for they were all mounted fighters, some with spare mounts. Saʿd then asked the Muslims to present him with the four-fifths share of the carpet and Chosroes’ attire so that he could send them to ʿUmar and the Muslims in Madinah for their inspection and amazement. They gladly agreed, so Saʿd dispatched the items along with the one-fifth due to the Treasury, entrusted to Bashīr b. al-Khaṣāṣiyyah. The man who had first brought news of the victory had been Khunays b. So-and-so al-Asadī (7).
It is related that when ʿUmar beheld those goods he said, “A people who deliver up such valuables are truly trustworthy.” ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib responded, “You have kept yourself pure, and so your subjects have remained pure; had you indulged, they would have indulged.” ʿUmar then divided the items among the Muslims, and ʿAlī (8) received a piece of the carpet which he sold for twenty thousand.
Sayf b. ʿUmar (9) reports that ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb dressed a wooden figure in Chosroes’ robes and set it before the people so they could witness the astonishing finery and the fading splendor of this worldly life. It is also narrated that ʿUmar clothed Suraqah b. Mālik b. Juʿshum, the chieftain of Banū Mudlij—may Allah be pleased with him—in Chosroes’ garments.