Futuhusham_-_The_Islamic_Conquest_of_Syria_-_Al_Waqidi

Part 3: A/- Yarmuk
with the loss of the son of the aunt of Rasulullah fl., az-Zubayr bin al-'Awwam.,
nor with the son of the uncle of Rasfilullah fl., al-Fadl bin al-tAbbas •. 0 Muslims,
who will go after the enemy to find out about the missing Sahiibah? His reward will
be from Allah."
The first to respond was Khalid • to whom AbU 'Ubaydah • replied, "Do not do
this, AbU Sulayman. You are exhausted from the battle."
Khdlid. :By Allah! None except me shall go in search of them.
He then exchanged his horse for that of Hiizim bin Jubayr bin 'Adi of Bam1 an-
Najjar. He went in search of the missing Muslims. A troop of Muslim horsemen
followed him. They had not gone far when cries of, "La ilaha illallah wallahu
Akbar!" were heard. When Khalid. responded in a like manner the missing ones
emerged with az-Zubayr es, al-Fadl, Hashim and al-Mirqal taking the lead.
When Khalid • saw them he was overjoyed and welcomed them. After making
salam to them he asked al-Fadl, "0 cousin of Rasulullah fl., what happened to you
people?"
Al-Fadl • ; 0 AbU Sulayman, Allah defeated the Christians and turned them away
in defeat. We were following them when some of our men were captured. We tried
to free them but found no trace of them. Doubtlessly they have been killed.
Khalid es : No, they are certainly being held prisoner.
Az-Zubayr ss : And how would you know that, AbU Sulayman?
Khalid • : We only found ten bodies lying in the battlefield. We are twenty and you
are twenty-five which means that five are being held prisoner.
The five prisoners were Rafi' bin 'Umayrah, Rabi'ah bin 'A.mir, .Qiriir., A.~im bin
'Amr and Yazid bin Abi Sufyan •. This was difficult for the Muslims to bear. The
search parties returned to AbU 'Ubaydah es who upon seeing az-Zubayr ss, al-Fadl,
al-Mirqal and Hashim safe and joyous at the victory, prostrated on his saddle-bow
out of gratitude to Allah.
Khalid • : 0 Muslims, I offered my life but was not blessed with martyrdom.
Whichever Muslim was killed had reached his appointed time. If Allah wills I will
free the prisoners.
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