are the very people your envoy has described to me: were they to set upon mountains they would tear them down, and were I to march to your aid they would drive me away so long as they remain as your envoy portrayed them. Seek a truce with them and be content with peace.

Kisrā and the House of Kisrā therefore lived on in certain lands as subjects. That remained his condition until he was killed two years into the caliphate of ʿUthmān, as we shall recount in its proper place.

When al-Aḥnaf sent the dispatch announcing the conquest, detailing the spoils Allah had bestowed upon them from the Turks and their allies, the great number they had slain, and how Allah had turned the enemy back in fury empty-handed, ʿUmar rose to the pulpit and the letter was read aloud before him. ʿUmar then said:

“Allah sent Muḥammad with guidance and promised those who follow him both immediate reward and the later good of this world and the Hereafter.” He then recited:
“It is He Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religion, even though the polytheists detest it.” (Qur’an 9:33)

“Praise be to Allah Who has fulfilled His promise and granted victory to His army! Behold, Allah has destroyed the sovereignty of the Magians and scattered them; they do not possess so much as an inch of land that can harm a Muslim. Behold, Allah has made over to you their land, their dwellings, their wealth, and their children so that He may see how you act. Therefore stand in awe of Him; He will fulfill His covenant to you and grant you His promise. But if you change, He will replace you with another people. By Allah, I fear no danger to this community save what may arise from your own selves.”

Our shaykh, the ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Dhahabī (1) said in his history for this year—namely, year twenty-two (2) AH: “During it Adharbayjan was conquered at the hands of al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba.” Ibn Isḥāq reported likewise, and it is said that he concluded a treaty with them for eight hundred thousand dirhams.

Abū ʿUbayda said: “It was taken by force by Ḥabīb ibn Maslama (3) al-Fihrī with the troops of Syria, accompanied by the men of Kūfa, among whom was Ḥudhayfa. After fierce fighting he captured it, and Allah knows best. In that same year Ḥudhayfa stormed Dīnawar by force—after Saʿd had previously opened it but they had broken (4) their pact.

“Also in that year Ḥudhayfa captured Māh-Sandān by storm—the people there had likewise violated Saʿd’s covenant—while with Ḥudhayfa were the men of Basra (5) (the Kūfans later caught up with them). They then disputed over the booty, whereupon ʿUmar wrote: ‘The spoils belong to those who were present at the engagement.’

“Ḥudhayfa next campaigned against Hamadhān and captured it by force; it had not been conquered before that, and there the conquests of Ḥudhayfa ended.” He added: “Some say that Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh took it on the orders of al-Mughīra; others say that al-Mughīra himself captured it in the year twenty-four.

“During that same year Jurjān was also conquered.”