The Muslim campaign to conquer the kingdom of Sam was completely successful and the Roman Empire fell in a very tragic way. The Muslims achieved an absolute victory in this war. In this battle, 50,000 Roman soldiers were defeated by Muslim forces. Even the Roman commander-in-chief was killed in this battle, and when this news reached the Roman king Heraclius, he was devastated. He understood that the Muslims had sounded the farewell bell for the kingdom of Sham. However, the Roman Empire’s kings are responsible for this fate because the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had written to him a letter long ago asking him to convert to Islam. Then, after receiving the letter from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), Heraclius, asked Abu Sufyan about various things about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and was convinced that he was a true prophet. But he did not convert to Islam solely for fear of losing his kingdom. But in the end he had to lose that kingdom. This is true because when someone tries to survive by abandoning Islam, they suffer both before and after death. After the Roman Empire, further campaigns were conducted in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and in the Byzantine Empire. Their capital was besieged and the companions participated in that battle as well. That is, events were changing very quickly. Awaiya Ansar (may Allah be pleased with him) participated in all these battles. He was present at the conquest of the capital of the Roman Empire, which is now known as Istanbul. Allah preserved the kingdoms of those who accepted Islam at the call of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). For example, the King of Bahrain accepted Islam at the call of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and as a result, Allah preserved the kingdom of Bahrain. That is, by accepting Islam, Allah Almighty has honored the honored people and humiliated those who did not accept Islam. The Roman emperors were dismayed to see their empire quickly fall to the Muslims, but they were not willing to hand over power to the Muslims so easily. Rather, their greatest and most tragic defeat or ultimate defeat occurred mainly in Yarmouk war.
This time we are going to discuss the War of the Yarmouk. However, there is disagreement among historians regarding the timing of this battle. Some have mentioned that this battle took place in the 13th year of the Hijri, while others say that this battle took place in the 15th year of the Hijri. However, in this discussion, we have focused on 15 Hijri.
This battle took place two years after the death of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), i.e. during the reign of Hazrat Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him). However, in this war, Abu Ubaydah Jarrah was made the commander in place of Khalid bin Walid and this decision was given by the ruler Hazrat Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him).
If Abu Ubaydah Jarrah was the commander of this war, Abu Ubaydah Jarrah would have requested Khalid bin Walid to take over the responsibility of the commander of this war, but Khalid bin Walid asked him to take this responsibility. This shows how good the understanding was between the commanders at that time. At the same time, there was no rivalry or conflict between them over leadership. This kind of rivalry arises when people are greedy for power for their own interests, but the generals did not vie for power, rather they wanted to gain the pleasure of Allah. At the same time, they had a fear of accountability before Allah. The most important thing for a war is to choose the place where the battle will take place, that is, to choose the battlefield. In this case, the Muslims chose the place that is now known as Jordan.
Heraclius’ brother Theodore was the commander of the Roman army. Heraclius had written to him to choose a place for the battle that was wide in front but narrow in the rear, so that the Roman soldiers would not be able to flee the battlefield.
The Roman emperor ordered to choose a place where the front would be wide because their army in that battle was about 250,000. The Roman emperor ordered a place to be chosen for battle with a narrow back so that the troops could not escape. This proves that the Roman emperor forced the soldiers into battle.
When the Muslim commander Abu Ubaydah Jarrah saw the Roman army in this condition, he told the Muslims to prepare to celebrate because the Roman army had cornered itself. They have put themselves in a position where they can’t escape.
The Roman army arrived there with 250,000 soldiers. The Muslim army numbered only forty to forty-five thousand. Although the Roman army was large in numbers and had a lot of weapons, they were fundamentally weak in terms of mentality. In this battle, the Roman army adopted another strategy, which was a very old Persian war strategy, which was to keep all the soldiers bound in a chain, meaning they would all be tied together in a chain, which would create a barricade like a dedicatory barricade.
On the other hand, let us find out what the condition of the Muslim army was like. Many people from Medina wanted to join the Muslim army, meaning they were very enthusiastic about the war, and Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) tried to prevent them from participating in the war. But in the end, a group of Muslims came and joined the war.
And among this army were 1000 people who fought with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and among them were three people who were given the good news of Paradise.
People from various ethnic groups participated in this war in the Roman army. Another special aspect of this war is that before the war started, various discussions were being held, a war of words was being fought.
The Roman emperor ordered his generals to try to defeat the Muslim forces through diplomatic efforts before the battle. It was most profitable to send back the Muslim forces through negotiations.
Many thought this war would last a long time, but by the will of Allah, the war ended in six days and the Muslims were victorious. Before the main battle began, several small battles took place, including one in which Khalid bin Walid led a battle against the Romans with 60 warriors. In this war, the Christian forces were at the forefront, who were mainly Arabs, because the Roman emperor had ordered that Christian Arabs fight against Muslim Arabs just as iron sharpens iron.
To strike fear into the hearts of those Arab Christians, Khalid bin Walid led an attack with a small force. Although this expedition was successful, five companions were ultimately captured by the Roman army. Then the Roman commander devised a cunning plan with these five Muslim prisoners of war.
He called Khalid bin Walid to discuss the matter of these prisoners and his main intention was to kill Khalid bin Walid when he came to them and for that purpose a representative was sent to Khalid bin Walid. Khalid bin Walid, on their proposal, set out towards them with 100 companions. Each of these 100 men were companions who had fought with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and they set out on horseback, swords drawn. And when Khalid bin Walid reached their tent, a fierce battle of words broke out between them, and by the will of Allah, the Muslim army emerged victorious in that battle.
When the Muslim army reached the tent of the Roman emperor’s general, they were shocked to see the splendor of the tent. They saw that expensive seats were arranged all around. Even though it was a battlefield, it was customary to show respect to arriving guests, so the Roman commander gave expensive seats to the Muslim troops to sit on. But the Muslim army or members did not take those expensive seats but sat directly on the carpet and seeing this situation, the Roman commander smiled contemptuously at them. Then he said to them that we gave you expensive seats to show you courtesy, but you sat on dusty carpets, then Khalid bin Walid replied that it is better to show Allah a relative than to show you courtesy, because this expensive carpet, this soil is a gift from Allah.
In this regard, there is a hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in which he said: “This earth has been made a mosque for me and the ground a place of prostration.”
In this regard, Allah says in the Quran:
From the earth We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it we will extract you another time.
(Quran 20:55)
Then there was an argument between the Roman commander and Khalid bin Walid over various issues. Finally, when Khalid bin Walid asked him to pay the Jizya tax, he said that we will never give up our wealth and obey you and pay you taxes.
At this point, Khaliq bin Walid clearly told him that if you do not accept our proposal, it will be decided through war. Finally, the Roman army was ready to fight the Muslim army and they did not agree to accept Khalid bin Walid’s offer.
In reply, Khalid bin Walid said, “I see clearly that you will be defeated and you will be brought before Caliph Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) with a rope tied around your neck and he will behead you.”
Then the Roman commander said that I will kill five of your prisoners right in front of you. Then Khalid bin Walid stood up and drew his sword and said that you can do this, it is in your nature, but if you do this, I will kill at least one of you. Immediately, the Muslim soldiers with Khalid bin Walid drew their swords and prepared for battle. Seeing this situation, the Roman commander became angry and said, “It is okay that these five prisoners are being released, but tomorrow you will be defeated in battle with us.”
Finally, Khalid bin Walid freed five prisoners of war and returned to the Muslim army as a hero. In this war, Khaliq appointed different people to different responsibilities, such as appointing someone to resolve any problems during the war, and appointing someone to keep the accounts.
Again, it was the responsibility of a person to go to the Muslim army and recite various verses of the Quran to encourage them, and we see this kind of thing during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). When various verses of the Quran were recited in front of the Muslim army, he would get excited, and Khalee bin Waleed did the same thing.
Just before the battle began, a man approached Khalid bin Walid and asked him, “We have learned that Allah has given you a sword with which you fight and which gives you victory.” If Khalid bin Walid wanted to use this opportunity to boast about himself, he said that this was not true, but Allah has shown us the true path through the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and that although I fought against Islam in the past, I am now fighting for Islam because Allah has shown me the right path. And I was not forced into accepting Islam.
Upon hearing the words of Khalid bin Walid, he converted to Islam and fought for the Muslims until he was killed on the battlefield.
On the second day, the Roman commander Baha planned, as on the first day, to isolate the Muslim army by attacking from the right and left flanks, and then to attack directly at the center. And when he attacked, he decided to attack at the time of the Fajr prayer because then the Muslim army would be busy praying, so if they attacked, they would not have enough time to prepare, and also because the dawn light had not yet broken, they would not be able to see anything. The Roman army attacked the Muslim army’s right flank suddenly and continued to drive them back with continuous attacks. At the very rear of the Muslim army were women whose duty was to tend to the wounded in battle, and Khalid bin Wali had ordered them to throw stones at and insult the Muslim army if it tried to flee from the rear, and this was done. Muslim women began to taunt the fleeing Muslim soldiers and began to join the fighting themselves. The Muslim army was ashamed to see women participating in the war and they began to bravely counterattack the Roman army. The Muslim army was ashamed to see women participating in the war and they began to bravely counterattack the Roman army.
The fourth day of this battle Yarmouk was very fierce, with both sides suffering heavy losses. On the third day, the left flank of the Muslim army attacked the Roman army, and the Roman archers fired so many arrows that it seemed as if the sun had been obscured from the sky. Many Muslim soldiers were struck by this arrow and many were blinded.
Before the sixth day of battle, Khalid bin Walid had assigned Muslim troops to guard the two bridges in the rear of the Roman army during the night. When the battle began at dawn the next day, the Roman army began attacking the right flank of the Muslim army as it had done the day before, deliberately giving them the opportunity to attack. And at this opportunity, Khalid bin Walid attacked the left flanks of the Roman army and surrounded them from all sides.
The condition of the Roman soldiers in the Battle of Yarmouk was very pitiful. Behind them were steep mountains and in front was the Yarmouk Valley. Every ten soldiers were chained tightly to each other on the battlefield so that they could not escape.
This was not the first time that soldiers were forcibly chained on the battlefield. Amr ibn al-As had also seen this tactic during the war with the Iraqis. When he saw this scene in the Battle of Yarmouk, he said to the Muslims,
‘Rejoice! The army whose soldiers are chained on the battlefield is certain to be defeated.’
On the other hand, when the Roman army leaders began to flee, leaving their troops behind, the army became disoriented and most of them fell into the trenches and died.
After losing this battle, Heracles realized that he would never be able to return to the place called Syria, so he said goodbye, goodbye to Syria. After being defeated in a terrible battle, they moved the capital back to its original location.
