# The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall/Chapter 24

CHAPTER XXIV
CONQUEST OF PERSIA
21–22 A.H. 642–643 A.D.
Persian campaign forced on ʿOmar.It was not long before any lingering doubts of ʿOmar were put an end to, He was compelled at last by the warlike attitude of the Persian court to bid his armies take the field with the avowed object of dealing the Empire a final blow.
Yezdejird gathers a great army, 20 A.H. 641 A.D.Though forced to fly, Yezdejird may have buoyed himself up with the hope that the Arabs, content with the fertile plain of Mesopotamia, would leave his possessions undisturbed beyond the mountain range. But the capture of Sūs, the ancient capital of Media, and the advance on Ispahān put an end to any such imagination. Arabian hordes still pressed upon the border; and their irruption into farther Persia was inevitable. The King, having resolved once more to stem the hostile tide, ordered the Governors of provinces to gather their forces together for a vigorous attack. Many of these enjoyed a virtually independent rule; but now their interests were knit together by a common danger. From the shores of the Caspian to the Indian Ocean, from the Oxus to the Persian Gulf, they rallied in vast numbers around the Royal standard on the plain below the snow-capped peak of Demavend, on the south of the Caspian Sea.
Force under Noʿmān opposes them.Tidings of the rising storm as they reached Saʿd were passed on directly to the Caliph. Each courier brought a fresh alarm. A host of 150,000 was assembled under a general named Fīruzān; now encamped at Hamadān, now marching on Ḥolwān, they would soon be close to Al-Kūfa, at their very doors. The crisis, no doubt, was serious. Any reverse on the mountain border would loosen hold upon the ​plains below; and Chaldæa, even Al-Kūfa and Al-Baṣra, might be wrested from them. As on previous occasions of imminent danger, ʿOmar declared his resolve to march in person. Encamped midway between these two Cities, his presence would restore confidence; and while able from thence to direct the movements in front, his reserve would be a defence to them in the rear. But the old arguments again prevailed, and ʿOmar was persuaded to remain behind. An-Noʿmān was summoned from the campaign in Khūzistān to take the chief command. Leaving strong garrisons behind, troops were pushed forward in two columns from Al-Baṣra and Al-Kūfa. The army at Sūs, besides furnishing a contingent for the main advance, renewed its attack upon Iṣṭakhr (Persepolis), and so prevented the forces in that quarter from joining the royal standard.
Battle of Nihāvend, 21 A.H. 642 A.D.Arrived at Ḥolwān, An-Noʿmān sent forward spies, who reported the enemy pitched in great force on the plain bounded by the lofty peaks of Elvand, or Arvand, to the south-west of Hamadān, but the road thus far clear. So they marched forward, and were soon face to face with the Persians on the memorable field of Nihāvend. The Muslims were 30,000 strong, one-fifth only of the enemy; weak in numbers, but strong in faith, and nerved by the presence of veterans and heroes of former fields. After two days' skirmishing, the Persians retired behind their line of fortification, from whence they were able at pleasure to issue and molest their adversaries. The Muslims at last, wearied by delay, resolved by artifice to draw them out. At Ṭoleiḥa's instance. they fell back, and on the. Persians following, wheeled round and cut them off from their return. A fierce engagement followed, and in it An-Noʿmān was slain. But the Arabs achieved at last their wonted success. Of the enemy 30,000 were left on the field; the rest fled to an adjoining hill, and there 80,000 more were slain. Of the great army but shreds effected their escape. The fate of Fīruzān gave rise to a pious proverb. He fled towards Hamadān, but finding the mountain pass choked by a caravan of honey, and losing his way, was overtaken thus and slain. Hence the saying—"Part of the Lord’s host is the honey-bee." Hamadān fell into the hands of the victorious army; and the royal treasure and jewels, deposited for safety ​in the great fire-temple there, were delivered up. The chiefs and people of all western Persia submitted and became tributary.Decisive effect of Muslim victory. The booty was immense; and amongst it two caskets of rare gems, which ʿOmar at first placed in the treasury at Medīna. Next morning, the courier was recalled, ʿOmar having seen a vision of angels who warned him of punishment hereafter if he kept the jewels. "Take them hence," he said; "sell them, and let the price be divided amongst the army." They fetched 4,000,000 dirhems.
Reiy and other conquests, 22 A.H. 643 A.D.ʿOmar had now embarked on an enterprise from which there was no returning. The proud Yezdejird refused to yield, and the Caliph no longer scrupled pursuing him to the bitter end. The warlike races south of the Caspian again gathered under Isfandiyār, brother of the ill-fated Rustem, for the defence of Ar-Reiy. The Muslims advanced to meet them; and another great victory placed the City at their mercy. Isfandiyār retired to Azerbījān; again defeated, he was taken prisoner; then, despairing of success, he changed sides, and made common cause with the invading army. From Ar-Reiy, Yezdejird fled to Ispahān; finding no shelter there, he hurried to Kirmān, and thence retired to Balkh. At. last he took refuge in Merv, whence he sought aid from the Turks, and even from the Emperor of China. The former espoused his cause; and for several years the contest was waged with varying success in the vicinity of Merv. But in the end the Turkish hordes retired, and with them Yezdejird, across the Oxus. The conflict was subsequently renewed, but Yezdejird never recovered his authority; bereft of his treasures and deserted by his followers, who in vain besought him to tender submission, he survived till the reign of ʿOthmān, when, as we shall see, he met with an ignoble death.
Persian empire reduced.On the fall of Ar-Reiy, the Arabs turned their arms against the various Persian provinces. Some of these, though subordinate in name, had been, in point of fact, their own masters; and now, even when the heart had ceased to beat, maintained a dangerous vitality. Six columns, drawn from Al-Kūfa and Al-Baṣra, and continually replenished by new Arabian levies thirsting for rapine and renown, invaded as many different regions, each falling under the government ​of the leader who reduced it. Thus, one after another, Fars, Kirmān, Makrān, Sijistān, Khorāsān, and Azerbījān, were overrun. But the people would ever and anon rise again in rebellion; and it was long before the invaders could subside into a settled life, or feel secure away from the protection of garrisoned entrenchments. The privileges enjoyed by professors of the faith were so great that the adherents of Zoroastrian worship were not long able to resist the attraction; by degrees the Persian race came over, in name at least, to the dominant creed, and in the end all opposition ceased. The notices of Zoroastrian families, and of fire-temples destroyed in after reigns, show indeed that in many quarters the conversion was slow and partial.Persians long held a subordinate race. But after the fall of the Court, the political and social inducements to bow before Islām were, for the most part, irresistible. The polished Persian formed a new element in Muslim society. Yet, however noble and refined, he held for long a place apart and altogether inferior to that enjoyed by the rude but dominant class of Arabian blood. Individuals or families belonging to the subject peoples could only gain a recognised position by attaching themselves to some Arab chief or clan, as mawāli (plural of maula), "clients" or adherents; and, though thus dependent, might claim some of the privileges of the ruling faith. But neither here nor elsewhere did they intermarry with the Arabs on equal terms, nor were they, in point of fact, looked upon otherwise than as of inferior caste. Thus though in theory, on becoming Muslims, conquered nations might enter the "equal brotherhood" of Islām, they formed not the less an altogether lower estate. The race and language, ancestral dignity, and political privileges of the Arab line continued for many generations to be paramount.