page_title: Hormuzan
section_title: The Arab invasion of western Iran
hierarchical_section_title: Hormuzan / The Arab invasion of western Iran
caption_attribution_description: Shushtar, Iran
context_page_description: Hormuzan was an Iranian aristocrat who served as the governor of Khuzestan, and was one of the Sasanian military officers at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah. He was later taken prisoner by the Muslims after the fall of Shushtar in 642. Two years later, he was accused of the assassination of the Rashidun caliph Umar, and was killed by 'Ubaid-Allah, the deceased caliph's son.
context_section_description: In 633, the Muslim Arabs invaded Persia, and by 636, they were camping at al-Qadisiyyah, a city close to Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sasanian Empire. The Sasanian army chief (spahbed), Rostam Farrokhzad, prepared to make a counter-attack, raising an army which included the Parsig faction under Piruz Khosrow, Bahman Jadhuyih and Hormuzan; the Pahlav (Parthian) faction under Rostam himself and Mihran Razi; and an Armenian contingent under Jalinus and Musel III Mamikonian. The army also included the military officer Kanadbak and his son, known in Arabic sources as Shahriyar bin Kanara. During the battle, the Sasanian army was defeated, and Shahriyar, along with Musel, Bahman, Jalinus and Rostam, were killed. The Arabs then besieged Ctesiphon.
  Hormuzan managed to survive, and along with Nakhiragan, Mihran Razi and Piruz Khosrow, including the rest of the survivors, regrouped at Bavel (Babylon), where they tried to repel the Arab army, but were once again defeated. Hormuzan then fled to Hormizd-Ardashir in Khuzestan, which he used as his base in his raids in Meshan against the Arabs. Yazdegerd III supported him in these raids, and believed that it was possible to regain the territories which had been taken by the Arabs. Hormuzan, along with the rest of the survivors of al-Qadisiyyah, later regrouped again and fought the Arabs at the battle of Jalula in 637. The Sasanian army was once again defeated and Mihran Razi was killed. Hormuzan then withdrew once again to Hormizd-Ardashir, where he chose to stay in case the Arabs should invade his domains.
  Hormuzan continued his raids into Meshan and also began raiding Iraq. He repelled the Kurds (a term then used to describe Iranian nomads) who had been making incursions into Pars and Khuzestan. Hormuzan shortly clashed with an Arab army to the west of Hormizd-Ardashir, but was easily defeated and thus retreated back to the city, where he sued for peace. The Arabs asked for tribute in exchange for peace, which he agreed to. However, he soon stopped paying tribute, and raised an army which included the Kurds he previously had fought. The caliph (ruler) of the Rashidun Arabs, responded by sending an army under a certain Hurqus ibn Zuhayr al-Sa'di, who defeated Hormuzan in 638 at Hormizd-Ardashir, and forced the city to pay jizya (poll-tax). Hormuzan fled to Ram-Hormizd, and once again sought a peace treaty, which he was granted in return for tribute.
  However, he later stopped paying tribute, and a result clashed with the Arabs again, who inflicted a defeat on him. The cities of Khuzestan were slowly one by one seized. Sometime later in 641, after a defeat at Ram-Hormizd, Hormuzan fled to Shushtar, and was defeated near the city, which cost him the lives of 900 of his men, while 600 were captured and would later be executed. Nevertheless, he managed to reach the city. The Arabs then laid siege to the city.
  Fortunately for Hormuzan, Shushtar was well fortified due to the rivers and canals that surrounded it on almost all sides. There are several versions of the how the city was captured; according to al-Tabari, during the siege, an Iranian defector named Sina (or Sinah) went to al-Nu'man and pleaded for his life to be spared in return for showing him a way into the city. Al-Nu'man agreed, and Sina told him to: "attack via the outlet of the water, and then you will conquer the city."
  Al-Nu'man did as he told him, and with a small portion of his army, charged into Shushtar. Hormuzan then retreated to the citadel and continued his resistance. The surviving men of Hormuzan who were in citadel along with him, killed their own family members and threw their property into the river rather than let the Arabs take them. In the end, Hormuzan was eventually forced to surrender.
  According to another version written in the Khuzestan Chronicle, similar to the version by al-Tabari, a defector from Qatar, along with another person, asked the Arabs for some of their plunder in exchange for how to enter the city. The Arabs agreed, and after some time, they managed to enter the city. According to al-Balad
caption: Remains of Sasanian architecture in Shushtar.
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