It is recorded in some histories that when the capture of Jâbân and his subsequent profession of Islâm had been brought to the notice of Rastam, who was the Amir of Amirs and supreme governor of the kingdom of Persia, he despatched Jâlynûs with a great multitude to wage war against the Musalmâns, while he himself, having collected a numerous army from Fârs, Khozestân and Khorâsân, remained in Madâin, waiting from what direction the bride of victory and conquest might arrive to display her charms upon the throne. When Abu O’baydah heard of the approach of Jâlynûs, he made haste to meet him. When the two armies encountered each other and had been drawn up in battle array, a sanguinary conflict took place wherein Jâlynûs was routed and returned to Madâin. Some have alleged that after the flight of Jâlynûs, Neshrân, the Governor of Adharbâyjan, whilst others assert that Mardânshâh, the chamberlain, who possessed a strong white elephant, marched with Rastam against the Musalmâns. It is recorded in the ‘Ghoniah’ that when Jâlynûs had after his defeat, abased and disappointed, left the battlefield, he went to Rastam, who then inquired for a man capable of resisting the Arabs, and having been told that Bahman Jâdû was worthy to undertake the task, he issued orders that Bahman should march against the Arabs with a number of grandees and Persian officers; he also commanded Jâlynûs to take charge of the vanguard of the army, and in case he should this time again be put to flight and come to Bahman, the latter was to wreak vengeance upon him for his treachery with the gory scimitar. When the Bani Sâsân [i.e., the Persians] had arrived near the Euphrates and had encamped opposite to the Musalmâns, Abu O’baydah, who was the Amir of the army of Islâm, ordered Ebnu-ssalat [sic], the companion of Qaysu-n-nâttef [sic], to construct a bridge across which the victory-boding army might pass and attack the opponents. Although Salytt B. Qays dissuaded Abu O’baydah from this undertaking, and adduced cogent arguments why the army should not cross the river, he was not listened to, so that at last the bridge was built and the army of Islâm passed over it. When the Persians witnessed the eagerness and temerity of the Arabs, they were astonished, commenced to arrange their centre, right and left flank, and erected the standard of Gâvah, which became known as the standard of Gawyân,* and is described in the ‘Ghoniah’ as having been the Kesri [Chosroes] banner made of tiger-skins, measuring eight cubits in breadth and twelve in length. When both armies had terminated arranging their lines, the first man who stepped into the lists of conflict was Salytt B. Qays, the Anssâri, who, reciting verses in the rajaz measure, rushed against the lines of the enemy, prostrated the champion whom he had attacked, but received himself many wounds which so enfeebled him that he returned to his friends. On this occasion a detachment of the enemy advanced further with an extremely white elephant, who had a howdah made of brocade on his back. A Persian officer, Shehryâr by name, was with several friends seated upon the elephant, who, having killed some men with his trunk and trampled others under foot, rushed about roaring and trumpeting in every direction. This spectacle having dismayed the army of Islâm, Abu O’baydah, having been apprised of the fact, asked what was the lethal portion of this animal’s body. Some people replied: ‘Its long waist is the mortal spot.’ Salytt B. Qays, who had divined the intention of Abu O’baydah, advised him not to have anything to do with this beast of evil omen. Abu O’baydah, however, unwilling to pay attention to his words, exclaimed: ‘I salute the tomb of Muhammad, and I salute his companions.’ Then he alighted from his horse, assailed the elephant, and cut the girth, so that the people sitting on the animal all fell to the ground. The elephant then aimed with his trunk at Abu O’baydah, which he, however, cut in two, but stumbled when intending to retreat to his friends, and the elephant, falling on his breast, crushed him, so that he forthwith bade adieu to life. ‘To Allah we belong, and unto Him we shall surely return.’* It is on record that in the night before the battle the wife of Abu O’baydah had dreamt that she saw a man descending from heaven holding a vessel full of some beverage in his hands, and Abu O’baydah with a number of professors of Islâm, whom that pious woman knew, drinking from that vessel. When she awoke she recounted this vision to her husband, and Abu O’baydah replied: ‘The interpretation of this dream is that I and those who have drunk with me shall quaff the beverage of martyrdom.’ Then he said to the chief officers of the army: ‘If I am slain in the battle, let such and such a one take the command after me, and if he fall, such and such a one.’ Thus he enumerated all who had been destined to attain martyrdom, and added: ‘Should all these be killed, then Mothanna B. Hârethah is to take command of the army.’ When Abu O’baydah, and those who had after him grasped the standard of command, had, fighting, departed to the gardens of paradise, the Musalmâns had no longer any strength to offer resistance, and retreated. Then Mothanna B. Hârethah, upon whom the commandership devolved, sent O’rwah B. Zaid Hanttal to post himself at the head of the bridge for the purpose of hindering the fugitives to crowd on it, Mothanna himself taking up his position with a small detachment between them and the Persians, and fighting valiantly till they had crossed the bridge.
According to some traditions, a certain Musalmân, seeing that the army was routed, and thinking that if it were impeded from crossing the Euphrates it would be under the necessity to cease fleeing, and continue to fight the infidels, destroyed the bridge. When the fugitives reached the bank and saw no bridge, they threw themselves into the river, so that those who had escaped from the sword lost their lives in the water. Some narrate that when Mothanna B. Hârethah had assumed the command of the army, the remnant of the victory-boding forces again attacked the Persians, and fought with such effect that they scattered them all over the plains. According to one tradition, four thousand of the adherents of Islâm, having been killed or drowned, departed to the next world. After this defeat Mothanna B. Hârethah Shaybâny crossed the river with all his troops, encamped in a place called Tha’lebah, and despatched a letter by O’rwah B. Zaid to O’mar to inform him of the state of affairs. Fârûq wept aloud, and said to O’rwah: ‘Return quickly and tell Mothanna to take rest in the place where he is, until my reinforcements reach him.’ O’rwah accordingly went back, and O’mar summoned the Arab tribes, and in a short time Mukhanaf B. Salym Azdi arrived at the seat of the Khalifate with eight hundred men of his own tribe, Hassyn B. Moa’bd B. Zarârah with one thousand men of the Bani Tamym, and A’dy B. Hatim Ttây with a great multitude of his tribe, and Mundhar B. Hussyn with a considerable crowd of the Bani Monyah, and Ans B. Hallâl with numbers of the Bani Mohr B. Qâsett. When all these forces had arrived in Madinah, O’mar appointed Jaryr B. A’bdullah Bakhly, who was decorated with the ornaments of shrewdness and bravery, to command them, whereon they marched to E’râq. In due course of time Jaryr arrived in Tha’lebah and encamped with Mothanna B. Hârethah. They then marched together to Hirah, whence they sent out detachments to plunder and to lay waste the surrounding country. The news of these proceedings having reached Madâin, Tûrândukht sent with the approbation of Farrahzâd [the general] Mohrân B. Mahruyah and twelve thousand brave men to attack Jaryr B. A’bdullah. When the notables of the Musalmâns obtained cognizance of this expedition, they collected their scattered forces and waited to see what the future would reveal. When Mohrân B. Mahruyah arrived in those regions, Jaryr B. A’bdullah proceeded to encounter him with his troops ready for combat. When the two armies had approached each other, Mothanna B. Hârethah, who was on the right flank, attacked the left of the enemy, and the fire of battle having been kindled, the army of the Persians having drawn out the hand of conflict from the sleeve of bravery, commenced the fray with such effect that the position of the army of Islâm became untenable and it retreated; whereon Mothanna became impatient, and shouted: ‘O Musalmâns, do not reap the shame of flight, but join me, for I am Mothanna B. Hârethah!’ The warriors being thus incited, assembled in the shadow of his banner, while A’dy B. Hâtim impelled the men of the left wing to fight, and Jaryr B. A’bdullah displayed the utmost bravery in steadying the centre of the army, so that at last all the troops, hoping for victory, had recourse to their scimitars. Mohrân B. Mahruyah, who was celebrated for his dexterity in shooting arrows and wielding the sword, had personally engaged in the fight, but was, according to the tradition of the author of the ‘Ghoniah,’ thrown to the ground from his horse by a lance-thrust from Mundhar, whereon his head was severed from his body by Jaryr; according to the statement, however, of Abu Hanifah Dinwari, Mothanna B. Hârethah had slain that obstinate fellow. When the Persian warriors beheld Mohrân prostrate and dead on the battle-ground, they despaired of gaining the victory, and ultimately became so demoralized that they fled. Hereon A’bdullah B. Salym Allazdy and O’rwah B. Zaid Alttây went in pursuit of the fugitives, slaying and capturing numbers of them, whilst some succeeded in reaching Madâin in the worst plight. When Mohrân had with the Persian grandees departed to the abode of perdition, the Musalmâns plundered and devastated the Arabian E’râq, not ceasing for a moment to accumulate wealth and to make prisoners. At that time Mothanna was informed by some inhabitants of the country that there was at no great distance a locality called Baghdâd, where one day every month great crowds assembled from the surrounding districts, and merchants arrived for the purpose of transacting business, selling and purchasing goods, so that if the army of Islâm were to plunder the mart of Baghdâd they could accumulate wealth enough to spend the rest of their lives in affluence and comfort. After obtaining this information the army marched into the district of Anbâr, where the people took refuge in a fort, after besieging which Mothanna granted quarter to the commander of it. The Governor of Anbâr then waited on Mothanna and was made happy by being allowed to kiss the hand of Mothanna, who then privately spoke to him as follows: ‘My intention is to plunder the bazâr of Baghdâd, and I expect thee to send guides with the army of Islâm to show the way, so that we may on the market-day spoil the business of buying and selling. I, moreover, desire thee to construct a bridge across the Euphrates, that I may pass over it with the army and ravage the place by its aid.’ The Governor of Anbâr acted as he had been bidden, so that the army whose war-cry was victory suddenly made its appearance on the appointed day in the market. Then all the merchants of Fârs, of Ahwâz, of Khozistân, and of the surrounding districts, who had left their homes for the sake of gain, took to their heels, so that much ready cash and property, which the swiftly running courier of the imagination would despair to enumerate, fell into the hands of the army. The plundered merchants betook themselves to Madâin, and, assembling at the court of the daughter of Kesra, complained of the injustice done to them. Meanwhile the news arrived from other quarters that Muyd B. Quttbah Ala’jly and O’ttbah B. Ghazwân had, at the instigation of O’mar, obtained possession of the land-tax of several places in Persia, and were disposing thereof. The prevalence of the Arabs having dismayed the minds of the grandees of Persia, the daughter of Kesra, who was at that time reigning, and whose power had been impaired by the presence of the Arabs, now ordered Rastam Farrahzâd, whom Abu Hanifah calls Rastam Hormuz in his chronicle, to gird the loins of vengeance against the Arab army, and to draw the sword of valour from its scabbard. Rastam being displeased with this injunction, privately expressed himself as follows to some notables and great men of Persia: ‘All this confusion and distress has befallen our country because all our power and authority are in the hands of a woman:
‘No dignity remains in a household
In which hens are crowing like cocks.’
The above words having taken effect, the grandees of Persia determined to find one of the progeny of Parviz, and to seat him on the throne of dominion. After a great deal of search and inquiry, the [surviving] concubines and maids of Kesra pointed out to them Yazdejerd B. Shehryâr, who was leading a despondent life in the province of Essttakhar Fârs. This having been ascertained to be really the case, the notables of the kingdom of Persia and the chiefs of the people rejoiced, and despatched couriers in search of Yazdejerd, who thereon started on the wings of celerity, arrived in due time at Madâin, and, having been installed on the couch of dominion, took his seat on the throne of Naushirwân the Just.