KHALID IBN AL-WALID

PART II

Shortly thereafter, the Quraish violated their treaty with the Prophet SAW and the Muslims marched under Khalid's command to conquer Mecca. The Prophet assigned the command of the right flank of the army to Khalid Ibn Al-Walid.

Khalid entered Mecca as one of the commanders of the Muslim army and the Muslim nation. Khalid stood there recollecting his childhood days playing on its wonderful pastures and his youthful memories of its wild entertainment. These memories of the past weighed down on him, and he was filled with remorse for his wasted life in which he worshipped inanimate and helpless idols. But before he bit the tips of his fingers in remorse, he was overpowered by the magnificence and spell of this scene of the glorious light that approached Mecca and swept away all that came before it. The astounding scene of the weak and oppressed people, on whose bodies the marks of torture and horror still showed, was magnificent as they returned to the land they had been unjustly driven out of. Only this time, they returned on horseback under the fluttering standard of Islam. Their whispers at Daar Al-Arqam's house yesterday turned today into loud and glorious shouts of 'Allahu Akbar', that shook Mecca and the victorious cry 'There is no god but Allah', with which the entire universe seemed to be celebrating a feast day.

How did this miracle come about? What is the explanation of what had happened? Simply, there was no logical or rational explanation whatsoever, but the power of the verse that the victorious marching soldiers repeated with their 'There is no god but Allah' and 'Allahu Akbar' as they looked with joy at one another and said, '(It is) a Promise of Allah, and Allah fails not in His Promise' (Qur'an 30:6).

Then Khalid raised his head and watched in reverence, joy and satisfaction as the standard of Islam fluttered on the horizon. He said to himself, 'Indeed, it is a promise of Allah and Allah fails not in His promise.' Then he bent his head in gratitude and thanks for Allah's blessing that had guided him to Islam and made him one of those who would usher Islam into Mecca rather than one of those who would be spurred by this conquest to submit themselves to Islam.

Khalid was always near the Prophet SAW. He devoted his excellent abilities to the service of the religion he firmly believed in and devoted his life to. After the glorious Prophet had died and Abu Bakr RA became the caliph, the sly and treacherous cyclone of those who apostatized from Islam shrouded the new religion with its deafening roar and devastating outbreak. Abu Bakr quickly chose the hero of the battlefields and man of the hour, namely Abu Sulaiman, The Sword of Allah, Khalid Ibn Al-Walid. It is true that Abu Bakr himself was at the head of the first army that fought against the apostates; nevertheless, he saved Khalid for the decisive day and Khalid was truly the mastermind and inspired hero of the last crucial battle that was considered the most dangerous of all the apostasy battles.

When the apostate armies were taking measures to perfect their large conspiracy, the great Caliph Abu Bakr insisted on taking the lead of the Muslim army. The leaders of the Companions tried desperately to persuade him not to, yet his decision was final. Perhaps he meant to give the cause for which he mobilized and rallied this army a special importance, tinged with sanctity. He could not achieve his aim except by his actual participation in the deadly battle and his direct command of some or all of the Muslim troops. It was a battle between the power of belief against the power of apostasy and darkness.

The outbreak of apostasy posed serious threats, in spite of the fact that it started as an accidental insubordination. Soon, the opportunists and the malicious enemies of Islam, whether from the Arab tribes or from across the borders, where the power of Romans and Persians perched, seized their last opportunity to hinder the sweeping tide of Islam. Therefore, they instigated mutiny and chaos from behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, mutiny flowed like an electric current through the Arab tribes, like Asad, Ghatfaan, Abs, Tii, Dhubyaan, then Bani Aamar, Hawaazin, Sulaim and Bani Tamim. Hardly had the skirmishes started with limited numbers of soldiers than they were reinforced with enormous armies, often of thousands of warriors. The people of Bahrain, Oman and Al-Mahrah responded to this horrible plot.

Abu Bakr mobilised the Muslim armies and marched to where the armies of Bani 'Abs, Bani Murah and Bani Dhubyaan gathered.

The battle started and went on for a long time before the Muslims achieved a great victory. No sooner had the victorious Muslim army reached Medina than the caliph sent it on another expedition. News spread that the armies of the apostates were increasing in number and weapons by the hour.

Abu Bakr split the army into eleven divisions and assigned a certain role for each one. Khalid Ibn Al-Walid would be the commander over a large division. When the caliph gave every commander his standard, he addressed Khalid saying, 'I heard the Prophet SAW say, 'Khalid is truly an excellent slave of Allah and a brother of the same tribe. He is a sword of Allah unsheathed against disbelievers and hypocrites.'

Khalid and his army fought one battle after another and achieved one victory after another until they reached the crucial battle.

It was in the Battle of Al-Yamaamah that Bani Hanijfah and their allies from the Arab tribes organized one of the most dangerous armies of the apostasy, led by Musailamah the Liar. A number of Muslim forces tried to defeat Musailamah's army but failed. Finally the caliph ordered Khalid to march to where Bani Hanifah was camped.

No sooner had Musailamah heard that Khalid was on his way to fight him than he reorganized his army, turning it into a devastating and horrible enemy machine. Both armies met in fierce combat.

Every now and then, Khalid was careful to cry out, 'Allahu Akbar' and 'There is no god but Allah.' He ordered his army in such a way that he turned the swords of his men into an inevitable victory that no one could escape. It was striking that, in a few minutes, the Muslim army turned the tables on Musailamah's army. Musailamah's soldiers fell in tens of hundreds and thousands like flies that were suffocated by the deadly spray of a pesticide. Khalid ordered his soldiers with a kind of enthusiasm that flowed into them like an electric current. This was a manifestation of his striking genius. This was the manner in which the most decisive and fierce battle of apostasy was conducted. In the end, Musailamah was slain and the bodies of his men were scattered on the battlefield. Finally, the standard of the liar imposter was buried forever.

On hearing the good news, the caliph offered the Prayer of Thanksgiving to Allah the Great and Most High for bestowing victory on the hands of this hero.

Abu Bakr had enough discernment and insight to realize the danger of the evil powers that perched on the borders, threatening the promising future of Islam and Muslims. These evil powers were the Persians in Iraq and the Romans in Syria. These two dwindling empires that clung tenaciously to the distorted remnant of their past glory were not only afflicting the people of Iraq and Syria with horrible torment, but also manipulating them. Notwithstanding the fact that the majority populations were Arabs, they instigated them to fight Muslim Arabs who carried the standard of the new religion which sought to pull down the vestiges of the ancient world and eradicate the decay and corruption in which it was steeped. The great and blessed caliph sent his orders to Khalid to march towards Iraq, so the hero did so.

Upon arriving in Iraq, the first thing that Khalid did was to dispatch messages to every governor and deputy who ruled the provinces and cities of Iraq in the name of the emperor. These messages were as follows:

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Khalid Ibn Al-Walid sends this message to the satraps of Persia. Peace will be upon him who follows the guidance. All praises and thanks be to Allah who dispersed your power and thwarted your deceitful plots. On the one hand, he who performs our prayers directing his face to our Qiblah to face the Sacred Mosque in Mecca and eats our slaughtered animals is a Muslim. He has the same rights and duties that we have. On the other hand, if you do not want to embrace Islam, then as soon as you receive my message, send over the jizyah (tax levied upon non-Muslim people who are under the protection of a Muslim government) and I give you my word that I will respect and honour this covenant. But if you do not agree to either choice, then, by Allah, I will send to you people who crave death as much as you crave life.

Khalid's scouts whom he planted everywhere warned him against the enormity of the armies that were organized by the commanders of Persia in Iraq. As usual, Khalid did not waste much time. Therefore, he flung his soldiers against the falsehood of disbelief so as to devastate it.