in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran. And who fulfils His covenant better than Allah? Rejoice, then, in the bargain you have made with Him—that is the supreme triumph. (Qur’an 9:111)

Then the year twenty-two (1) AH began.

During that year many conquests took place, among them (2) the second capture of Hamadhan, followed by al-Rayy and the regions beyond it, and then Adharbayjan.

Al-Waqidi and Abu Maʿshar state that these events occurred in 22 AH, whereas Sayf dates them to 18 AH, after the fall of Hamadhan, al-Rayy, and Jurjan. Abu Maʿshar further maintains that Adharbayjan was taken after those towns, yet that all of them were subdued in that same year (3). According to al-Waqidi, however, Hamadhan and al-Rayy were conquered in 23 AH: Hamadhan, he says, was opened by al-Mughira six months after ʿUmar’s assassination, while others report that al-Rayy had been taken two years before ʿUmar died. Nonetheless, both al-Waqidi and Abu Maʿshar agree that Adharbayjan fell in this year, and Ibn Jarir (4) and others followed their view.

The sequence of events was as follows: after the Muslims had completed the campaign of Nihawand and the earlier battles, they went on to seize (5) Hulwan and, thereafter, Hamadhan. The people of Hamadhan then violated the treaty (6) that al-Qaʿqaʿ ibn ʿAmr had concluded with them. ʿUmar therefore wrote to Nuʿaym ibn Muqarrin, ordering him to march against Hamadhan, to place his brother Suwayd ibn Muqarrin at the head of the vanguard, and to assign the two flanks to Ribʿi ibn ʿAmir al-Taʾi and Muhalhil ibn Zayd al-Tamimi.

Nuʿaym advanced until he encamped at Thaniyyat al-ʿAsal; from there he descended upon Hamadhan, took control of its territory, and laid it under siege. They sought terms, so he granted them a settlement and entered the city. While he was there with twelve (7) thousand Muslims, the Byzantines, the Daylamites, the people of al-Rayy, and the people of Adharbayjan corresponded with one another, assembled a vast host, and determined to fight Nuʿaym ibn Muqarrin. The Daylamites were led by their king, Muta (9); al-Rayy by Abu al-Farrukhan; and Adharbayjan by Isfandiyadh, the brother of Rustam. Nuʿaym marched out with the Muslims at his side, and the two forces met at a place called Waj.