Battle of Ullais
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Ullais was fought between the forces of the Rashidun Caliphate
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate , comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632, Year 10 A.H.. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia...

 and the Sassanid Persian Empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...

 in the middle of May 633 A.D in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, and is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Blood River since, as a result of the battle, there were enormous amounts of Sassanian and Arab Christian casualties. It was the last of four consecutive battles that were fought between invading Muslims and the Persian army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

. These battles resulted in the retreat of the Sassanid Persian army from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 and its capture by Muslims under the Rashidun Caliphate.

Background

After defeat at the Battle of Walaja
Battle of Walaja
The Battle of Walaja was a battle fought in Mesopotamia in May 633 between the Rashidun Caliphate army under Khalid ibn al-Walid and al muthanna ibn haarithah against the Persian Empire and its Arab allies...

 Christian Arab survivors of the battle fled from the battlefield, crossed the River Khaseef (a tributary of the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

) and moved between it and the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

. Their flight ended at Ullais, about 10 miles from the location of the Battle of Walaja
Battle of Walaja
The Battle of Walaja was a battle fought in Mesopotamia in May 633 between the Rashidun Caliphate army under Khalid ibn al-Walid and al muthanna ibn haarithah against the Persian Empire and its Arab allies...

. The Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s were aware of the presence of hostile Arabs at Ullais but, as they were less numerous and were survivors of Walaja, they never considered them a military threat until they started to regroup and the Muslim commander Khalid ibn Walid was informed about the arrival of more Arab hordes, mainly from the Christian Arab tribe of Bani Bakr. More reinforcements were raised from the Christian Arab tribes in the region between Al-Hirah
Al-Hirah
Al Hīra was an ancient city located south of al-Kufah in south-central Iraq.- Middle Ages:Al Hīra was a significant city in pre-Islamic Arab history. Originally a military encampment, in the 5th and 6th centuries CE it became the capital of the Lakhmids.The Arabs were migrating into the Near East...

 and Ullais. The Rashidun Caliphate army under Khalid crossed the river Khaseef and approached Ullais frontally. Emperor Ardsheer meanwhile sent orders to Bahman
Bahman
Bahman may refer to:* Bahman, the Zoroastrian Amesha Spenta* Bahman, the 11th month of the year in Zoroastrian & Iranian calendars, named after the Zoroastrian concept* Kai Bahman, a mythological king of Iran...

 to proceed to Ullais and take command of Arab contingents there and stop the Muslims advance at Ullais. Bahman sent his senior general Jaban with the imperial army to Ullais with orders to avoid battle until Bahman
Bahman
Bahman may refer to:* Bahman, the Zoroastrian Amesha Spenta* Bahman, the 11th month of the year in Zoroastrian & Iranian calendars, named after the Zoroastrian concept* Kai Bahman, a mythological king of Iran...

 himself arrived. As Jaban set off with the army, Bahman returned to Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...

 to discuss certain matters with the Emperor. He arrived at Ctesiphon to find Emperor Ardsheer very ill and remained in attendance on him. By now the Persians and Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

s had realised that the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s' objective was Al-Hirah
Al-Hirah
Al Hīra was an ancient city located south of al-Kufah in south-central Iraq.- Middle Ages:Al Hīra was a significant city in pre-Islamic Arab history. Originally a military encampment, in the 5th and 6th centuries CE it became the capital of the Lakhmids.The Arabs were migrating into the Near East...

. They decided to fight and defeat the Muslims army . The Christian Arab contingents were under the command of a tribal chief called Abdul-Aswad, who had lost his two sons in the Battle of Walaja
Battle of Walaja
The Battle of Walaja was a battle fought in Mesopotamia in May 633 between the Rashidun Caliphate army under Khalid ibn al-Walid and al muthanna ibn haarithah against the Persian Empire and its Arab allies...

 against the Muslims.

The battle

One of the Muslim commanders, Misna bin Haris, advanced with the light cavalry
Light cavalry
Light cavalry refers to lightly armed and lightly armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...

 scouts to the Ullais and informed the Muslim commander in chief Khalid ibn Walid of the location of the hostile Arabs. Khalid tried to reach Ullais before the Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

 could reinforce them, in order to avoid a battle with an army that would heavily outnumbered his own; however he failed to do so. In order to deny the Persians time to organize and to coordinate their plans, Khalid decided to fight the battle that very same day.

According to modern geography the battlefield lies 25 miles south-east of the Iraqi city of Najaf
Najaf
Najaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...

, and about 4 miles south-west of modern Ash Sinafiyah.

The Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

 and Christian Arabs contingents were camped side by side with the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 to their left, the Khaseef to their right and the river junction behind them. Muslim commander in chief Khalid ibn Walid arrayed his army in battle formation, appointing Adi ibn Hatim (who was a the son of a the Famous Arab Christian Leader Hatim At Tai and a former Christian) as commander of the right wing and Asim ibn umar
Asim ibn Umar
Asim ibn Umar is the son of Umm Kulthum bint Asim and Umar, the second Sunni Caliph.This article is not about Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatada ibn al-Nu`man al-Ansari's Asim ibn Umar (Born 7 AH, Died 70 AH.) is the son of Umm Kulthum bint Asim and Umar, the second Sunni Caliph.This article is not about...

 commander of the left wing. Information of the Rashidun Caliphate army's advance reached Jaban a little before midday. It was mealtime and the Persian soldiers were to take their meal, but the Sassanian troops abstained from food so as to "display their toughness" to the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s.

Jaban arranged the Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

 in great haste before the Muslims could arrive, appointing the Christian Arabs to form the wings of his army, with the tribal chief Abdul-Aswad commanding the right wing and the tribal chief Abjar commanding the left wing. The center was formed by the Imperial army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

. The battlefield ran south-east of Ullais between the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 and Khaseef. The Persian army was deployed with its back to Ullais, while in front of it was arrayed the Rashidun Caliphate army. The northern flank of both armies rested on the Euphrates and their southern flank on the river Khaseef, a distance of about 2 miles.
Details of the manoeuvres used by Khalid are not recorded by history. Muslim commander in chief Khalid ibn Walid killed the Christian Arab tribal chief Abdul-Aswad in a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...

. The fighting was heaviest on the bank of the Khaseef. It is mentioned in Muslim chronicles that If ever an army meant to fight it out to the last, it was the imperial army of Ullais. The fierce battle continued for hours; no signs of weakness were shown on either side. It is said in the Muslim chronicles that, seeing no opening, no weakening of the Persian and Arab resistance, the Muslim commander in chief Khalid ibn Walid, tired, angry, and frustrated prayed to Allah:.

Early in the afternoon the Sassanid Persian army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

 and Arab allies, unable to withstand the veteran Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 army, retreated finally to the north-west in the direction of Al-Hirah
Al-Hirah
Al Hīra was an ancient city located south of al-Kufah in south-central Iraq.- Middle Ages:Al Hīra was a significant city in pre-Islamic Arab history. Originally a military encampment, in the 5th and 6th centuries CE it became the capital of the Lakhmids.The Arabs were migrating into the Near East...

. Khalid ibn Walid launched his cavalry after it, with orders to capture them. Muslim cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 broke the desperate Persians and Arabs into several isolated groups and surrounded, overpowered, and disarmed them. Then they drove them back to the battlefield, where every man was beheaded in the river bed or on the bank and his blood ran into the river. The pursuit by the Muslim cavalry, the capture and return of the Persian and Arab warriors, and their killing in the river went on for the rest of that day and the whole of that night and the whole of the next day and part of the next. In the river Khaseef the blood was still not flowing, as Khalid had pledged, until on the advice of Qa'qa ibn Amr, one of the commanders of the Muslim army, Khalid ordered the dam on the river to be opened. The river then flowed with blood, and it became known as the River of Blood.

Aftermath

On the following day Khalid entered into a pact with the local inhabitants of the district. They would pay the Jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...

 and come under Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 subjugation. After the battle, a fine tribute was given by Khalid to the Sassanid Persian army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

. He said:
The capital city of Hira was captured
Battle of Hira
Al-Hirah city, widely known for its size and wealth, was a Sassanian dukedom as it was the capital of the Persian province of Iraq. Many of its Lakhmid Christian Arab inhabitants patrolled the desert on behalf of the Sassanians...

. This was quickly followed by the conquest of Al-Anbar
Battle of Al-Anbar
the Muslim Arab army was under the command of Khalid ibn al-Walid and the battle took place at Anbar which is located approximately 80 miles from the ancient city of Babylon. Khalid besieged the Sassanian Persians in the city fortress, which had strong walls. Scores of Muslim archers were used in...

 and the successful siege of Ein-al-Tamr
Battle of ein-ul-tamr
When the Muslim army conquered the town of Ayn al-Tamr they found a number of Arab Christian priests in a monastery. One of them was called Nusair another called Serine. They both embraced Islam. Nusair is the father of Mosa Ben Nusair, the supreme commander of the forces which later conquered...

. With the fall of the main cities the whole of southern and central Iraq came under Muslim control. In 634 A.D Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...

 ordered Khalid ibn Walid to proceed to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 with half of his army to command the invasion of the Byzantine Empire
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria...

. Misna bin Haris was left as the successor of Khalid. The Persians, under their new emperor Yazdgerd III
Yazdgerd III
Yazdegerd III or Yazdgerd III was the twenty-ninth and last king of the Sassanid dynasty of Iran and a grandson of Khosrau II . His father was Shahryar, whose mother was Miriam, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice...

, concentrated new armies and defeated the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s in the Battle of the Bridge
Battle of the Bridge
The Battle of the Bridge was fought between Arab Muslims led by Abu Ubaid, and the Persian Sasanian Empire forces led by Bahman. It is traditionally dated to the year 634, and was the only major Persian victory over the invading Muslim armies....

, and recaptured Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

. The second invasion of Iraq was undertaken under Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās
Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas
Saad ibn Abī Waqqās was an early convert to Islam in 610-11 and one of the important companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Sa'd was the seventeenth person to embrace Islam at the age of seventeen...

 who, after defeating the Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...

 at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah
Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah was fought in 636; it was the decisive engagement between the Arab muslim army and the Sassanid Persian army during the first period of Muslim expansion. It resulted in the Islamic conquest of Persia, and was key to the conquest of Iraq...

 in 636 AD, captured Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...

. This was followed by the whole scale invasion of the Sassanid Persian Empire.

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