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History of Islam Vol 3 of 3 by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi

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458 The <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Islam</strong><br />

came face to face with the enemy. As the spies <strong>of</strong> Ismail Safwi had<br />

informed him, the Ottoman force was to appear from the front he had<br />

drawn his battle line accordingly and was determined not to give any<br />

respite to the exhausted Ottoman army. He had also come to know <strong>of</strong><br />

the artillery with Sultan Salim besides the number <strong>of</strong> troops he had.<br />

As a war strategy, he divided his eighty thousand cavalry into two<br />

parts, each consisting <strong>of</strong> forty thousands and kept one part under his<br />

direct command while another part he entrusted to his Commander,<br />

Abu Ali. He then issued instructions that in case <strong>of</strong> an Ottoman attack,<br />

the front line soldiers should face the assault and the two cavalry<br />

corps should come around from the right and the left side to reach<br />

behind and fall upon the enemy troops. When Sultan Salim noticed<br />

the firmness <strong>of</strong> the Iranian force, he placed his troops drawn from<br />

Asia Minor under Ms Commander Sanan Pasha and those from<br />

Europe to Hussein Pasha and put Sanan Pasha on the right wing and<br />

Hussein Pasha on the left. He took his 'devout' soldiers with him and<br />

kept to the center. He then mobilized the feudatories and volunteers<br />

as the vanguard; the artillery was set up at a suitable spot. Since Ismail<br />

Safwi knew about the artillery <strong>of</strong> Sultan Salim, he had utilized the<br />

services <strong>of</strong> eighty thousand cavalrymen to<br />

was, in fact,<br />

neutralize its effect. This<br />

a commendable and wise strategy on the part <strong>of</strong> Ismail.<br />

Thus, as both the armies came closer and the confrontation started<br />

Ismail Safwi went around the Ottoman force and targeted its right<br />

wing with his forty thousand cavalrymen and Abu Ali did the same<br />

from the left side. As the battle broke out, calls <strong>of</strong> takbir (Allahu-<strong>Akbar</strong>)<br />

rose from the Ottoman side while the Iranian troops cried "<strong>Shah</strong>,<br />

<strong>Shah</strong>." Thus, while the war cry <strong>of</strong> the Ottoman force meant, "Allah is<br />

Great", the Iranian army was chanting the name <strong>of</strong> its king and both<br />

die forces could be identified <strong>by</strong> their distinctive chants. However,<br />

Ismail Safwi, evading the artillery fire, launched a fierce attack on the<br />

Husain Pasha's right wing from behind and took a heavy toll on the<br />

European corps.<br />

Ismail s Commander Abu Ali also attempted to give<br />

the same performance on the left side but did not achieve much<br />

success. A part <strong>of</strong> his cavalry came within the range <strong>of</strong> the Ottoman<br />

artillery and they lost their existence along with their commander,<br />

Abu Aii Sanan Pasha put Commander Ali's troops to rout rather

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