APPEARANCE AND REALITY

O NE of the fiercest battles in Islamic history was waged against the Iranians in AD 636, during the Caliphate of Umar Faruq. The Iranian emperor’s greatness had so impressed itself upon the peoples of the neighbouring countries that the Caliph Umar himself had been ready to lead this military campaign. He was advised against this, however, by his companions, and another Companion of the Prophet, Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas, was appointed instead as the commander of the Muslim forces. It was an extremely difficult undertaking and the final encounter took place in a field near Qadisiyya. There was an ancient royal building near the battlefield, Saad climbed up to an upper storey and sat there, reclining against a wall. He showed no signs of personally taking part in the battle. Instead, he appointed Khalid ibn Arfata to lead his men into the fray. Saad then kept watching the battle from high up on the building and sent instructions whenever necessary to his proxy. The Arabs were baffled at first by the enormous array of elephants which the Iranians had brought, for they had no experience of fighting against such huge beasts. At one point, the Muslims were forced to retreat by this horde of animals to avoid being crushed to death. Saad became anguished at the spectacle of their defeat and began to toss himself from side to side. Saad’s wife Salma who had accompanied him cried out, “If only Musanna (a certain warrior) were here!” Saad was angry at this and exclaimed hotly, “What could Musanna have done? Salma retorted, “What a fine thing that your cowardice should be accompanied by anger and not shame!” She spoke sarcastically because her husband was not participating in the battle. The Muslims nevertheless won the battle finally, and the details of how they did so are recorded in history. The Muslim army took strong exception to Saad’s not having physically participated in the hostilities. After the fall of the Iranians, a Muslim soldier composed a short poem which translated is: APPEARANCE AND REALITY Superficial Knowledge is Misleading Whenever something malevolent is said about other, it should not necessarily be believed without further investigation.