The Path of the Prophet

Thabit ibn Aqram came forward, lifted the standard, and cried out to his fellow Muslims: “Agree on one leader!” “We have agreed on you,” they shouted back. Thabit, however, declined to accept the command and asked for it to be conferred instead on Khalid ibn al-Walid. The Muslims shouted their agreement. Hearing this, Khalid ibn al-Walid came forward, held the standard aloft, and advanced on the Roman lines. The Byzantine forces were then forced to retreat. The outcome of this battle was indecisive, however, and there always remained the possibility that the Arabs of Petraea, with Roman help, would advance on Madinah and seek to stamp out the nascent power of Islam. That threat had been felt as early as A.H. 5, when ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, on being asked by another companion if he had heard any news, replied: “What? Have the Ghasasina arrived?” The Prophet was fully aware of this threat and made sure in his last days that full preparation had been made for a force to combat the Petraean wing of the Roman army. The recruited force included leading companions such as Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, but the Prophet did not put them in command. Instead, he wisely appointed Usamah ibn Zayd, who, besides being a courageous young warrior, was also spurred on by the fact that his father, Zayd ibn Harithah, had been killed by the Romans in the Battle of Muta. This army, however, was unable to advance during the lifetime of the Prophet. With his death in A.H. 10, Abu Bakr was