The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

83 'OMAR [chap. XII.
A. II. 13-14. when the Persian myrmidons bore down; and the nearest
column broke before them. Al-Muthanna pulled his beard
in trouble. Calling an officer, he bade him hasten with this
message to the wavering corps "
: The Amir sendeth greeting,
and saith, Ve will not this day sJimne the Muslims ! " They
gave answer, " Yea, we will not "
! And, as the broken ranks
closed again in serried line, Al-Muthanna smiled approvingly.
The battle raged long and equally. At last, Al-Muthanna,
seeing that a desperate onset must be made, rode up to the
Christian chief, and said "
: Ye are one blood with us ; come
now, and as I charge, charge ye with me." The Persian
centre quivered before the fierce onslaught, and as the dust
cleared off it was seen to be giving way. The Muslim wings
hitherto outflanked, now took heart, and charged. Then the
Persian army fell back, and made for the bridge. Al-
Muthanna, however, swept before, and cut them off. In
despair, they turned on their pursuers. But the fiery zeal
of the Arabs, though a handful in comparison, beat back the
forlorn charge. "The enemy," says an eye-witness, "driven
before us, were brought up by the river and finding no
escape, re-formed and charged again. One cried to our
Leader to hold his banner back; My nwrk, he answered,
is to move the banner on. So forward we drove, and cut
them up, not one reaching even to the river bank." Al-
Muthanna reproached himself afterwards with having closed
the bridge, and caused useless loss of his men. " I made a
grievous error," he confessed ;
" follow not my example
herein ;
if behoveth us not to close the way against such
Enemy as maybe driven to turn upon us in despair." The carnage
routed with ^y^g almost unparalleled even in the annals of Islam, and
carn:ige. it went on into the night. A hundred warriors boasted that
they slew each ten men to his lance ;
hence the battle has
been called The field of Tens. No engagement left marks
wider or more lasting. For ages bones of the slain bleached
the plain ; and the men of Al-Kufa had here, at their very
door, lasting proof at once of the prowess and the mercilessness
of the first invaders.
Victory The victory is remarkable as gained in part by the
helped by
valour of a Christian tribe. And yet further, the most
Arabs. gallant feat of the day was achieved by one of another
Christian clan ; for a party of Bedawi merchants with a