One morning, when the sovereign of the day, namely, the world-illuminating sun, had, after removing the hosts of the night, risen on the horizon of the east and was ascending to the azure sky, Mâhân appeared before the army and ordered it to be drawn out in twenty corps, each consisting of twenty thousand cavalry. He appointed to the command of each corps a Battryq to direct and to encourage it in the conflict. Having assigned the right flank to Qanâtterah and to Jarjis [Georgios], and the rest to O’lqamah B. Mundher, he himself took up his position in front, having put a diadem on his head, donned a cuirass with gold brocade under it, handled a sabre, the scarf of which was encrusted with precious jewels, and mounted on a black charger, the saddle and reins whereof bore ornaments of pearls and rubies. The Musalmâns were astonished at the handsome appearance of the Byzantines, and Abu O’baydah, having cast a ray of consideration upon the victory-boding army, appointed A’mru B. Ala´ass with Zaid B. Abu Sofiân to the right flank, and gave the command of the left to Moa´adh B. Jabal with Sowyd B. Ssâmet Anssâri. The wing of the right flank he gave to Shorahbil B. Hasnah, and the wing of the left to Sa’d B. A´amer. He ordered O’maru-l-thaqfy to remain in ambush with four thousand cavalry, and, having himself in his noble person taken up a position in the centre, ordered the cavalry of the army not to transgress the advice of Khâled B. Alwolyd, and the infantry to obey the behests of Hâshem B. Otbah and of Abu Woqqâss. The lines of the adherents of Islâm having been arranged, they despaired of their lives, and, ready to sacrifice them, advanced slowly towards their antagonists. They had progressed but a short distance, whereon they considered it proper to halt. Khâled then said to the cavalry: ‘Having taken silence for your motto, speak not to each other, nor attack the enemy before you receive my orders.’ The Byzantine infantry, having raised their standards and taken up their crucifixes, began to move from their position, while their U’lamâ and monks were reciting the Evangel [Enjil] and encouraging the people to fight so that their voices were loud like thunder. Meanwhile an Arab who had made profession of the Christian religion sallied out into the open space between the two armies, and having, as he stood there, uttered some nonsense, asked for a champion. Although several Musalmâns desired to fight him in single combat, Khâled B. Alwolyd kept them off till at last he permitted Qays B. Hobayrah Almarari to attack him, whereon Qays, having drawn his sword and struck his head, prostrated him from his horse to the ground. He then cut off the head of that apostate and erected it on a spear. This event, which took place at the beginning of the contest, disheartened the Byzantines and pleased the Musalmâns so that their minds were comforted. At this time a detachment of brave warriors rushed at a signal from Khâled upon the lines of the Byzantines and broke them, prostrating nearly a thousand men to the ground. After this onslaught a great multitude of the opponents pledged themselves to each other to court death, and began to move like an iron mountain, leaping from their position and hastening towards the centre of the victory-boding army. Then Khâled B. Alwolyd rushed at them, at a signal from Abu O’baydah, with ten thousand celebrated horsemen, who might have stolen the pimple from the face of the moon with the points of their lances, or might have stitched together the two stars near the pole with their arrows, and sent after a hot combat the whole of those accursed caitiffs to hell so that not one of them issued alive from the fight. This dreadful spectacle made a great impression upon the Byzantines, and they became dismayed, but as they were under the necessity of fighting, they put down the foot of permanency, grasped their bows, and poured a rain of arrows upon the army of Islâm. Mâlek B. Hâreth was wounded by an arrow which tore his eyelid—whereon he was surnamed Ashtar* —and became so incensed that he drew the sword of vengeance from his scabbard, donned the buckler of contention, hastened to the lines of the enemy, and prostrated several champions who had no equals in bravery on the ground of abasement and disgrace. Yazid B. Abu Sofiân and A’mru B. Ala´ass likewise repeatedly assailed the foes, bent on repelling them, and at that time also E’kramah B. Abu Jahl, who was noted for his bravery, alighted from his charger and hastened on foot towards the enemy. Khâled B. Alwolyd said to him: ‘Do not fight on foot! Do not throw thyself into the vortex of perdition, because the loss of thee will become an occasion of distress to the champions of the religion.’ He replied: ‘In the time of ignorance I have committed unworthy acts, and have many a time caused grief to his holy and prophetic lordship. To-day I may perchance accomplish an exploit which will expiate some of my transgressions.’ Having uttered these words, he entered the lines of the enemies, many of whom he sent to Jahannum [Gehenna—hell], but attained at last himself the honour of martyrdom. After E’kramah had fallen, the champions of the religion, those endowed with foresight and those who had the certainty [of salvation], fought so valiantly that they drove the enemies from their position to the banks of the Yarmûk, which is a river of considerable size, so that many of them, hoping to escape the sword, threw themselves into the water, which thus became the vehicle conveying them to the infernal regions.
When the Christian army had fallen into the utmost confusion, Mâhân requested one of the Battâryqah to order a sudden assault to enable him to escape from the whirlpool of annihilation into the open plain. Accordingly, three detachments of valiant men, desirous to renew the fight, turned towards the adherents of Islâm, and succeeded, with the greatest efforts, in making them recoil a few paces. Khâled, however, and all the officers of the army reproved their men, incited them to fight, and said: ‘Most of the heroes and brave men of the period who aided Mâhân have been slain or drowned, and those who have escaped from the sword are trembling like animals about to be slaughtered. Consider this, and unanimously fall upon the caitiffs, that this affair may be fully and satisfactorily terminated.’ The army whose motto is victory, having been encouraged by these words, immediately rushed upon the enemies and routed them, pursuing them with the scimitar of vengeance, so that the grasper of souls [i.e., angel of death] was from morning till evening engaged in the duty to which he had been appointed, and by the time the night had set in countless numbers of the fugitive Bani-l-assfar [i.e., Byzantines, so called from their yellow complexion], who had fallen into watercourses and marshes, surrendered their lives to him:
The yellow-eared ones died in corners*
Ducking their heads in the black waters.
It is recorded that in this battle seventy thousand notable and celebrated Byzantines perished. The corpse of Mâhân was found among the slain, but, despite all efforts, no wound could be discovered on his unhallowed carcase. Great booty and untold wealth also fell into the power of the army; the red cupola, however, which Mâhân had taken from Khâled could not be found, neither could it be ascertained into whose possession it had gone. Abu O’baydah despatched one-fifth of the spoils of this victory, which excelled all previous ones, with an account thereof, to Madinah. When the courier had reached that pleasant region, he gave the letter of Abu O’baydah to O’mar, who perused it and, rejoicing over the great victory, raised, with all present in the assembly, a great shout of the Takbyr, which ascended to the sky. Thanks were thereon offered for the boundless Divine mercy vouchsafed.