the Persians gathered. Abū Mūsā met them at a place in the district of Bayrūdh, close to the River Tīrā; he then moved on toward Isfahān, having left al-Rabīʿ ibn Ziyād in charge of the campaign after the death of his brother al-Muhājir ibn Ziyād. Al-Rabīʿ took over the fighting and, burning with anger (1), pressed the attack. Allah routed the enemy—praise and favor belong to Him—as is His constant, unfailing practice with His believing servants, the victorious party who follow the Master of the Messengers. The booty was then subjected to the khums, and the news of victory together with the one-fifth were dispatched to ʿUmar.
In the meantime Ḍabbah ibn Miḥṣan al-ʿAnazī travelled to Medina and lodged complaints against Abū Mūsā with ʿUmar, mentioning matters for which no real blame attached to him. ʿUmar summoned Abū Mūsā and questioned him; he offered acceptable explanations which ʿUmar heard and approved. The caliph reinstated him in his post and excused Ḍabbah for the construction he had placed upon events. ʿUmar died while Abū Mūsā was still leading the prayers in Basra.
Account of Salamah ibn Qays al-Ashjaʿī and the Kurds
ʿUmar sent Salamah at the head of a detachment, giving him many instructions in line with the ḥadīth of Buraydah recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2): “Go forth in the name of Allah; fight those who disbelieve in Allah …”—and so on to the end of the report. They set out, encountered a force of idolaters, and invited them to choose one of three options; they rejected them all. The Muslims therefore fought them, killed their fighting men, took their women and children captive, and seized their property.
Salamah ibn Qays then sent a messenger to ʿUmar with news of the victory and the spoils. They relate how the envoy found ʿUmar while he was feeding the people and accompanied him to his house—much like the earlier incident involving Umm Kulthūm bint ʿAlī and her request for clothing such as Ṭalḥah and others provided for their wives. ʿUmar said, “Is it not enough for you that people say: ‘The daughter of ʿAlī and the wife of the Commander of the Believers’?” He then spoke of his coarse fare and of drinking sult (3). He began to question the envoy about the Emigrants—their food, their verses of poetry, and whether they were eating meat, which he called their “tree,” for the Arabs cannot survive without their tree. He also mentioned that Salamah had offered him a casket of jewels, but he refused it, swore an oath to that effect, and ordered that it be returned so it could be distributed among the rightful recipients. Ibn Jarīr (4) has recorded the episode at great length.
Ibn Jarīr (5) also said: In this year ʿUmar performed the pilgrimage with the wives of the Prophet ﷺ; it was the last pilgrimage he ever performed.
He further stated: And in this very year (6) he died. He then described the manner of his assassination in detail as well (7), and I have set that out fully at the end of ʿUmar’s biography; it should be copied from there to this point.