The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.H. 15-16.
Medain,
capital of
Persia.
Queenmother
discomfited.
Siege laid
to western
quarter.
Summer
15 A.H.
636 A.D.
—
"
close before them on the farther shore. " Good heavens !
114 '(J.MAl'i [chap. XV.
The i'u)'al ("it)' was built on both banks of the Tigris,
at a sliarp double bend of the river, fifteen miles below the
modern l^aghdad. Seleucia, on the right bank, was the seat
of the Alexandrian conquerors. On the opposite shore Jiad
grown up Ctesiphon, residence of the Persian monarchs.
The combined City had for ages superseded Rab}'lon as the
capital of Chald.xa. Repeatedly taken by the Romans, it
was now great and prosperous, but helplessly torn by intrigue
and enervated by luxury. The main City, with its Royal
palaces, was on the eastern side, where the noble arch, the
Tdk i Kcsra, still arrests the traveller's eye as he sails down
the Tigris. Sa'd now directed his march to the quarter
which lay upon the nearer side. On the way he was attacked
by the Queen-mother. Animated by the ancient spirit of
her race, and with a great oath that so long as the Dynasty
survived the empire was invincible, she took the field with
an army commanded by a veteran General, " the lion of
Chosroes." She was utterly discomfited, and her champion
slain by the hand of Hashim.
Sa'd then marched forward ; and, drawing a lesson from
the vainglorious boast of the vanquished Princess, publicly
recited before the assembled troops this passage from the
:
sacred text
"Did ye not swear aforetime that ye -would never pass away.'' Yet
ye inhabited the dwellings of a people that had dealt unjustly by their
own souls ; and ye saw how We dealt with them. We made them a
warning and,example unto you." — (Sura xiv. 46 f.)
In this spirit they came upon the river; and lo ! the
famous Iwan, with its great hall of white marble, stood
exclaimed Sa'd, dazzled at the sight;
'' AlldJiu Akbar! What
is this but the White Pavilion of Chosroes ! Now hath
the Lord fulfilled the promise which He made unto His
Prophet." And each company s\\o\x\.&^ AlldJiu Akbar! Great
is the Lord! as they came up and gazed at the Palace,
almost within their grasp. But the City was too strong to
storm, and Sa'd sat down before it. W^arlike engines were
brought up, but they made no impression on ramparts of
sunburnt brick. The besieged issued forth in frequent sallies
;
it was the last occasion on which the warriors of Persia