ten parasangs, until he reached Nihāwand. There he slipped in among the Persians and gathered whatever intelligence he desired; then he returned to al-Nuʿmān and informed him of all this, adding that ⦗1⦘ nothing lay between him and Nihāwand that should cause concern.

Al-Nuʿmān thereupon advanced with his forces in full array. The vanguard was under Nuʿaym ibn Muqarrin; the two wings under Ḥudhayfah and Suwayd ibn Muqarrin; the mobile cavalry detachment under al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn ʿAmr; and the rear guard under Mujāshiʿ ibn Masʿūd. They pressed on until they confronted the Persians, whose commander was al-Fīruzān. With him were all the troops who had been absent from al-Qādisiyyah in former days—one hundred and fifty thousand men. When the two hosts came into view, al-Nuʿmān proclaimed the takbīr, and the Muslims followed with three cries of “Allāhu akbar”; the foreigners trembled, seized by intense fear.

Al-Nuʿmān then ordered the baggage set down while he himself remained mounted. The men unloaded their packs, left their mounts, and pitched their tents and pavilions. A lofty pavilion was erected for al-Nuʿmān, raised by fourteen of the army’s nobles: Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān, ʿUtbah ibn ʿAmr, al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, Bashīr ibn al-Khaṣāṣiyyah, Ḥanẓalah the scribe, Ibn al-Hawbar, Ribʿī ibn ʿĀmir, ʿĀmir ibn Maṭar, Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Himyari, ⦗2⦘ Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bajalī, al-Aqraʿ ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Himyari, al-Ashʿath ibn Qays al-Kindī, Saʿīd ibn Qays al-Hamdanī, and Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr. No pavilion so magnificent had ever been seen in Iraq.

Once the loads were down, al-Nuʿmān gave the order to fight; it was Wednesday. They fought that day and the next, the battle swaying back and forth. On Friday the enemy retired into their fortress, and the Muslims laid siege to them, remaining as long as Allah willed, while the Persians would sally out whenever they wished and withdraw to their stronghold whenever they wished.

The Persian commander sent asking that a Muslim come and speak with him, so al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah went. He later described the splendour ⦗3⦘ of the man’s apparel and throne, and the disdainful words with which the Persian addressed him—belittling the Arabs, saying they had always been the hungriest of people and the poorest in dwelling and rank.

The Persian said, “Nothing prevents these armoured men around me from skewering you with their arrows save their revulsion ⦗4⦘ at the stench of your corpses. If you depart, we shall leave you alone; but if you refuse, we shall mete out ⦗5⦘ to you the fate you deserve.”

I replied—after declaring the testimony of faith and praising Allah—“We were in a far worse state than the one you have described ⦗6⦘ until Allah sent His Messenger, who promised us victory in this world and goodness in the Hereafter. From the moment Allah sent His Messenger to us, we have continually experienced our Lord’s help. We have now come to you in your own land, and by Allah we shall never return to that former misery: either we conquer you and your territory and whatever you possess, or we are killed upon your soil.”

The Persian answered, “By Allah, that one-eyed man has indeed spoken to you what lies within his heart.”