When Asâmah had returned from the boundaries of Syria with success and joy, and the legal alms had been recovered from certain tribes who had first demurred to pay them, Abu Bakr occupied himself, in the beginning of the twelfth year of the Hegira,* in fitting out and preparing the victory-boding army, and started from Madinah with the intention of marching against Ttolhah B. Khowylad. When he had reached Dhy-l-Khalifah, which is one stage from the city, A’li the Commander of the Faithful took hold of the bridle of his camel, and requested him, in conformity with the circumstances of the time, to abandon this expedition and to send another man to attack Ttolhah. Accordingly he appointed Khâled and returned. At that time Ttolhah had stopped at Buzahah, which is a locality near the wells of the Bani Asad, and was there encamped with his army. This same Ttolhah had, during the lifetime of his holy and prophetic lordship, made profession of the Faith and attained the honour of companionship. It is said that Ttolhah returned in the time of the Apostle of Allah from Madinah to his own tribe, where he made apostasy his motto, set himself up as a prophet, excused the people from prayers and fasting, considering also the wearing of a belt [of Judaism] allowable. On account of these facilities and Satanic inspirations, numbers of the Bani Asad believed in his apostleship; he was joined also by Ghotyah B. Hussin, by the Bani Qorârah, and by A’mru B. Ma’dy Kareb. His affairs prospered after the demise of his lordship the asylum of the apostolate—u. w. bl.—and when Khâled B. Alwolyd had approached the army of Ttolhah he sent forth O’Kashah B. Mohassin and Thâbet B. Arqam, who were great companions [of the prophet], to reconnoitre the position of the opponents. These two honoured men departed by order of Khâled to the camp of Ttolhah, and it so happened that while they were on the way, Ttolhah had with his brother Salmah left their camp in order to learn something about Khâled, and they met O’Kâshah with Thâbet. Salmah assaulted Thâbet, killing him outright whilst O’Kâshah and Ttolhah were fighting with each other; but the latter being unable to cope with his antagonist, called out to Salmah, who immediately came to the aid of his brother, and they, having caused also O’Kâshah to taste the beverage of martyrdom, again returned to their camp. When the army of Islâm arrived at the spot of the contest, they found O’Kâshah and Thâbet slain, and felt that they could have recourse to nothing but resignation and submission [to fate]. As both parties were approaching each other, Khâled repeatedly sent messengers to Ttolhah advising him to desist from his antagonism and to abandon this useless strife, but they made no more impression upon him than raindrops on flint-stones. When Khâled despaired of coming to an agreement with Ttolhah, he drew out his forces in lines, appointing A’dy B. Hatim Ttây over the right, and the son of Zaydu-l-hayl to the left flank, he himself taking command of the centre of the army. Ttolhah displayed the forces of the Bani Asad, Ghuttafân, and Qorârah opposite to the army of Islâm, but himself sat down on a spot with a garment over his head, telling the combatants that he was waiting for the descent of Jebrâil [Gabriel]. Then both armies roared like a stormy sea, the dust raised by the cavalry obscured the sun, and Ghotyah B. Hussin approached the army of Khâled with some of the Bani Qorârah, striving to repel it, but ineffectually. When he perceived the firm resistance of the army of Islâm, he was so dismayed that he gave up the attack, went to Ttolhah, and asked him whether Jebrâil had descended, but received a negative answer. Ghotyah then again, willingly or unwillingly, returned to the attack, and after one hour again went to Ttolhah to ask him the same question, and got the same reply. After that Ghotyah returned to the combat, and, fighting till he despaired and was exhausted, again accosted Ttolhah, asking him whether Jebrâil had come. This time he received an affirmative reply, and therefore asked what he had said. Ttolhah answered: ‘Jebrâil spoke the following words to me: Laka rajâ lâ karajâhu, wa hadithâ lâ yunsa.’ The translator of the Târikh Aa’thum Kufy has interpreted the above words as follows: ‘Thy hope will not be illuminated by the hope of Khâled, and between you there is an affair which will not be forgotten.’ Ghotyah said, after listening to the above words: ‘I swear by God that I believe such an affair will befall thee that thou wilt never forget it.’ Then he turned towards his own people, and continued: ‘O Bani Qorârah, place your feet into the desert of flight, because this unfortunate liar is uttering falsehoods.’ Having said these words, Ghotyah departed with the Bani Qorârah from the battlefield.
It is recorded in some chronicles that when Ghotyah perceived that the army of Islâm would be victorious, he desisted from fighting, and prepared to retreat. On that occasion Ttolhah asked him where he was going, and he replied: ‘Our turn to fight has now come to an end; tell Jebrâil to draw out his hand for war and strife, because it is now his turn.’ When the Bani Qorârah had fled, Khâled B. Wolyd broke the lines of the Bani Asad and Ghuttafân by a single onslaught, so that they likewise preferred flight to permanency. When Ttolhah saw that the breeze of victory was blowing in favour of the army of Khâled, he likewise mounted a fleet camel with his wife, left the battle-field, and departed on the road to Syria. Hereon Khâled drew the sword of alacrity from its scabbard and proceeded to slay a number of Arabs, who had, after apostatizing, caused Musalmâns to drink the beverage of martyrdom. After he had wreaked vengeance upon them he ordered the booty to be collected, and when he had finished this business he marched in pursuit of the fugitives, and reached the adherents of Satan in a place called Wâdy-l-ahzâb, where he attacked them, and when they became aware of their inability to resist him, they turned their backs upon his army and fled. Ghotyah Qorâry, who has already been several times mentioned, was captured with Qorrah B. Moslamah, who was likewise one of the leaders of the apostates; but Ttolhah, having saved his life by celerity, reached Syria, and took refuge with the Ghasân chiefs, attaining, however, at last the grace of Faith, and being received into the ranks of the professors of it. When Khâled B. Wolyd’s mind had been freed from all apprehensions with reference to Ttolhah, he despatched Ghotyah and the other Qorârah prisoners in bonds and shackles to Madinah, where they were brought before Ssiddiq in the worst condition, and as soon as his eyes alighted upon them he addressed them in terms full of reproach. They, however, apologized and excused themselves, whereon Ssiddiq accepted their repentance and pardoned their transgressions. It is narrated and recorded in certain histories that, by order of Ssiddiq Akbar, Khâled B. Wolyd first attacked Fujah, who was one of the impure, celebrated, and shameless apostates, and that, when he had punished him, he occupied himself with Ttolhah and his adherents. It is related that after Ttolhah, Salmy, a daughter of Mâlek B. Hudhyqah B. Badr, entertained aspirations to power in her impure mind, and these having engrossed it, she apostatized; she had, however, during the lifetime of his holy and prophetic lordship, been captured in some fight by the army of Islâm, and having been allowed the honour of waiting upon that prince, was ennobled by making profession of the Faith. His lordship, however, had on that occasion predicted to her that she would become an opponent, and when he departed to the proximity of the Most High, Salmy became an apostate, aspired to authority, and many of the tribes of Ghuttafân, Howâzen, Salym, Asad, and Ttay became her adherents. When this information reached the luminous mind of Khâled B. Alwolyd, he marched with a valiant army and his victory-boding standards against Salmy, who, having been apprised of his approach, prepared herself for war. When the two parties met, a sanguinary battle ensued, after which the adherents of Islâm put their opponents to flight, and a number of champions having surrounded the camel which Salmy was riding, slew it, and sent her also to the abode of perdition, and this victory was greater than some others had been.