We Are "Blood Drinkers" Humans

The glorious history of Islam is inseparable from the practice of jihad which was persecuted by the predecessors of this people. Jihad has a noble position in Islam. Of course, above the provisions outlined by Allah and His Messenger. Not an act of terror that arises from passion without knowledge. The following article describes the picture of jihad fii sabilillaah in the time of the Caliph Abu Bakr Ash-Siddiq.

After restoring the Arabian peninsula, by fighting apostates and those who refused to pay zakat, Abu Bakr tried hard to mobilize Islamic forces in an attempt to conquer the land of Syria which included the territorial territory of the Roman Empire.

Roman state before war

When Islamic forces moved towards Sham, the Roman army was shocked and very scared. They immediately sent a letter informing him of this to Heraclius, the Roman king who was in Himsh (now known as Homs-ed). He also sent a reply saying, "Woe to you! In fact they are adherents of a new religion. No one can defeat them. Obey me, and make peace by giving up half of Sham's earthly income! Don't you still have Roman mountains ?! If you do not obey my orders, surely they will seize the land of Sham and will corner you to get caught in the Roman mountains. "

When they received a reply letter like this, they (Roman soldiers) did not accept the suggestion. Finally, inevitably King Heraclius sent large numbers of troops. Roman troops began to move, and stopped in the Al-Waqusah valley, next to the low-lying Yarmuk river and had many ravines.

Arrival of Khalid bin Al-Walid from ‘Iraq

Islamic forces in Sham immediately asked for help. So Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq ordered Khalid bin Al-Walid to withdraw from Iraq to then head to Sham with his army. Khalid immediately pointed to Al-Mutsanna bin Haritsah v as his successor in 'Iraq. Then he moved quickly by bringing 9,500 troops to Sham. They go through roads that no one has ever passed before, by crossing the desert, climbing mountains, and through very arid valleys.

Preparation of Islamic Forces

Abu Sufyan proposed, like a war strategist, that the troops be divided into three formations. A third prepared themselves in front of Roman troops, the other third consisting of parts of supplies and women to walk, and the remaining third was led by Khalid in the back position. If the enemy had reached the women's camp and provisions, Khalid would move in front of the women, so they could save themselves behind the forces of Khalid bin Al-Walid.

So they immediately realized the proposal. Islamic forces began to gather and face the enemy at the beginning of the month of Jumadil End of year 13 H.

Strategy of the Islamic Forces

Islamic forces at that time ranged from 36 thousand to 40 thousand army personnel. Inside there are a thousand friends of the Prophet. One hundred of them were Badr war veterans. Abu 'Ubaidah ibnul Jarrah (his name is Hanzholah bin Ath-Thufail) leads the middle position of the army. 'Amru bin Al-ʻAsh and Syarahbil bin Hasanah led the right wing of the army. While the leader of the left wing of the army was Yazid bin Abi Sufyan (he was known as Yazid Al-Khoir).



Khalid took his horse towards Abu ’Ubaidah and said," I will give a suggestion. "Abu’ Ubaidah replied, "Say, I will listen and obey." Khalid said again, "The enemy must have prepared a large force to break into our troops' defenses. I'm afraid the left and right wing defenses will concede. In my opinion, the cavalry must be divided into two groups. One troop was placed behind the right wing, and the other was placed behind the left wing. If the enemy manages to penetrate the left or right wing defenses, the cavalry plays a role in helping them. Then we came storming from behind. "Abu 'Ubaidah commented," How accurate is your proposal! "

Khalid bin Al-Walid also ordered that Abu 'Ubaidah ibn Jarrah move to the rear position. This is so that if there is an Islamic army running back, he will be embarrassed when he sees it then returns to the battlefield. Then Khalid instructed the women to get ready with swords, daggers and sticks. Khalid said, "Whoever you meet escaped from the battlefield, kill him!"

Strategy of the Roman Forces

After receiving the help of personnel from the center, the Roman troops advanced with pride carrying 240 thousand personnel. 80 thousand pedestrian troops, 80 thousand horsemen, and 80 thousand troops who were tied up with iron chains (every ten soldiers were tied together so as not to run away from war).

They moved to cover the entire place as if they were black clouds. They shouted, raised their voices aloft, while the priests, bishops, and the church surrounded the troops to read the Gospel while motivating them to be persistent in fighting.

Front-line forces led by Jarajah (George), left and right wing led by Mahan and Ad-Daraqus. The invading force was led by Al-Qolqolan, son-in-law of Heraclius. The highest leader of this army was Heraclius' sibling named Tadzariq.

Negotiations before the Battle erupted

Abu 'Ubaidah and Yazid bin Abi Sufyan advanced towards the Roman army by bringing Dhirar bin Al-Azur, Al-Harith bin Hisham and Abu Jandal bin Suhail to meet with Tadzariq who was sitting in a tent made of silk.

The friends said, "We are not permitted to enter this tent." So silk carpets were laid out and they were welcome to sit on them. The friends said, "We are not allowed to sit on it." Finally Tadzariq sat where they wanted. The companions preached to him to convert to Islam, but these negotiations ended without success. Finally they returned to the line of troops. The Roman leftist leader Mahan wanted to meet Khalid bin Al-Walid among the two troops facing each other. Mahan said, "We know that poverty and hunger are what bring you out of your country. Will you if I give ten dinars for each soldier with food and clothes, then you go back to your country? And next year I will give a similar allotment? "

Khalid bin Al-Walid replied, "Indeed, it is not the one who issued us from our country what you mentioned earlier. But actually we are a group of people who drink blood. And the news has come to us that there is no blood fresher than your blood, the Romans. For this reason, we came here! "Hearing the answer, Mahan's friends said," For God's sake, this is the first time we have heard from an 'Arab' nation. "

The Way of the Battle

Roman troops in this war came out in large numbers that had never happened before. Khalid also carried a large army that had never happened before in Arab history. When the preparation was ripe, Khalid ordered to start a match war. Beginning with the Islamic heroes in each army advancing to make the atmosphere heat up. While Khalid stood watching the match.



Amid the already heated atmosphere, the leader of the Roman front line troops named Jarajah wanted to meet Khalid in the middle of two troops. He asked about the religion of Islam, so Khalid informed of the preaching of Islam carried by the Prophet Muhammad. Finally, the Jarajah converted to Islam, turned the shield aside and entered the ranks of the Islamic forces.

Seeing the defection of Jarajah, Roman troops invaded the ranks of the Muslims. Mahan ordered the right-wing attacking forces to break through the right-wing defenses of the Islamic forces. The Muslims continued to fight under their banner, until they succeeded in stemming the enemy attack.

After that, a large Roman army came again like a big mountain that managed to ravage right-wing forces, until the Islamic forces turned to the center. Shortly thereafter, they called each other back to the battlefield until they succeeded in repelling back. As for the women, when they saw an Islamic soldier who fled backwards, they immediately beat him with wood, or threw stones at him so that the army returned to the battlefield.

Then Khalid and his troops who were on the left wing broke into the right wing which was conceded attacked by the enemy, and managed to kill six thousand Roman soldiers. Then Khalid brought a hundred cavalrymen to face a hundred thousand Roman soldiers to successfully destroy enemy forces.

On that day, it was seen the persistence, patience, and heroism of the Islamic soldiers until the Roman army swirled like a grain pounder. They did not see, in that war, but the heads that were flying, hands and fingers cut off, and bursts of blood soaking the battlefield.

At that time, all Islamic forces invaded simultaneously, to then freely eliminate the enemy without any resistance. Jarajah was finally seriously injured and died. Even though he had never prayed even though, except for two raka'at which were done (taught) by Khalid when the new / early entry to Islam.

This war began from noon to night, until victory was won by Islam and the Muslims. That night, Roman troops ran in the dark. As for the Roman troops bound by iron chains, if one of them fell, it fell entirely. That night, Khalid spent the night in Tadzariq's tent, the supreme leader of the Roman army.

Riding troops gathered around Khalid's tent waiting for the passing Roman soldiers to be killed until morning arrived. Tadzariq was killed. Having been killed that day 120,000 more Roman troops. The Islamic army who died on the battlefield as many as three thousand troops. The Muslims got so much compensation for this war.

Thus, the glory achieved by Muslims when they are strong above the purity of worship to Allah and cling to the sunnah (teachings) of His Messenger. As the word of God (which means):

"And God has promised the believers among you and done the works of prayer that He will truly make them powerful on the face of the earth, just as He made people before them in power, and indeed He will confirm for they are religions that He has loved for them, and He will truly change them, after they are in fear of being safe and secure. They still worship Me without associating anything with Me. And whoever (remains) disbelievers after (the promise), then they are the ones who are wicked. "(An-Nur: 55)

Allah knows best to show.