Waj Rudh, where they fought a fierce battle. It was a mighty engagement, the equal of Nihawand and in no way inferior to it. They killed great numbers of the idolaters—an enormous host beyond reckoning—and the Daylamite king Muta was slain; their lines were torn apart and the whole force fled, leaving their dead on the field. Nuʿaym ibn Muqarrin was thus the first Muslim ever to engage the Daylamites in combat.

Nuʿaym had already written to ʿUmar to inform him of the enemy’s concentration, and the news had weighed heavily on the Caliph. Suddenly a courier arrived with tidings of victory. ʿUmar praised Allah and extolled Him, ordered that the letter be read aloud to the people, and they rejoiced and lauded Allah—exalted is He.

Shortly thereafter, three commanders arrived with the khums (the one-fifth share of the spoils): Simak ibn Kharasha—better known as Abu Dujana—Simak ibn ʿUbayd, and Simak ibn Makhrama. When ʿUmar noticed that they all shared the same name, he said (1), “O Allah, let Islam bear Your Name through them, and strengthen Islam by means of them.” He then wrote to Nuʿaym ibn Muqarrin, instructing him to appoint a deputy over Hamadhan and march on al-Rayy, and Nuʿaym complied.

Nuʿaym later composed the following verses (2) about that encounter:

[long metre]

1. When word reached me that Muta and his clan—
   the sons of Basil—had mustered the armies of the foreigners,
2. I rose against them with my troops, matching their ranks,
   to shield my covenant from them with shattering blows. (3)
3. We advanced on them in iron, as though we were
   mountains looming from the highest crags.
4. When we met them there, their ranks overflowing,
   they began to move about like men casting lots.
5. We struck them at Waj Rudh with our assembled host
   on a morning when we unleashed one of the great calamities upon them.
6. They could not stand for an hour in the very whirl of death
   before the points of spears and the keen-edged swords. (4)
7. At the scattering of their ranks they were like a wall
   whose bricks are shattered by the battering rams. (5)
8. There we slew Muta (6) and all who had joined his force,
   and the booty we seized that day was shared without dispute. (7)
9. We pursued them until they sought refuge in their mountain passes,
   and we slaughtered them like ravenous hunting dogs. (8)(9)