Battle of Firaz

The Battle of Firaz (Arabic: ‫ )َمْعَر َكة اْلِفَر اض‬took

Battle of Firaz
place in late 633 or January 634 AD between the
Rashidun Caliphate and the combined forces of the Part of the Arab–Byzantine Wars and
Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire.[2] The Islamic conquest of Persia
battle resulted in a victory for the Arabs and concluded
the First Arab Invasion of Mesopotamia.

Background
By the end of 633, the Muslims were the masters of the
Euphrates valley. In this valley, Firaz at the outermost
edge of the Persian Empire still had a Persian garrison.
Khalid decided to drive away the Persians from this
outpost as well fearing that the Persians would execute
a well planned re-invasion of lost territory. He marched
to Firaz with a Muslim force and arrived there in the
Date January 634
first week of December 633. Firaz was the frontier
between the empires of Persia and Byzantium, and the Location Firaz, Mesopotamia (Iraq)
garrisons of the Persians as well as the Byzantines were Result Rashidun victory[1]
cantoned there. In the face of the Muslims, the
Byzantine garrison decided to come to the aid of the Belligerents
Persian garrison. Rashidun Byzantine Empire
Caliphate Sasanian Persian
The battle Empire
Commanders and leaders
Khalid gave the enemy the option to cross the
Khalid ibn al-Walid Hormozd Jadhuyih[2]
Euphrates. As soon as the enemy had crossed the
Euphrates, Khalid commanded the Muslim force to go Strength
into action. The united forces of the Persians and the 15,000[3][4] 150,000-300,000 [4]
Byzantines had the river at their back. At Firaz, Khalid
adopted the same tactics as he had adopted at Mazar. Casualties and losses
As the front ranks of both the forces committed Minimal[4] 100,000[4]
themselves in the fighting, Khalid fixed his enemy on
either flank with the help of his rear wings. Making a swift movement, the Muslims dashed for the bridge
on the river, and succeeded in occupying it. The enemy was thus held in a pincer movement.

Aftermath
Sir William Muir, noted that the casualties of the coalition army "must be a great number, since the
traditional accounts placed their casualties at fabulous number of 100.000 death" as the remaining fleeting
soldiers were pursued and cut down by the cavalry of Rashidun.[5] However, the reliability of the account
of this battle has been questioned as the only sources appear to be those derived from accounts of Khalid
centuries later. According to Peter Crawford, Heraclius could not have provided a garrison along the
Euphrates of such a scale so that the opposition against Khalid in Firaz numbered tenfold against the Arab
force and it is possible the Byzantines at that point would have still seen the Arab incursion as a mere raid
against Persian land.[6]

Khalid's oath
There is an Islamic legend, which runs as follows:

At the beginning of the battle of Firaz when the odds appeared to be against the Muslims, Khalid undertook
an oath that if he was victorious, he would undertake pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca, the House of God. After
the victory of Firaz, Khalid stayed at Firaz for some days and made the necessary arrangements for the
administration of the territory. In January 634, while a garrison was kept at Firaz, orders were issued to the
main Muslim army to return to Al-Hirah. Khalid stayed behind with the rear of the army. As the army
moved forward on the road to Al Hirah, Khalid separated himself from the army and took an unfrequented
route to Mecca with a small escort. Khalid reached Mecca in time to perform the Hajj. After performing the
pilgrimage secretly and fulfilling his vow, Khalid and his party rode back to Al Hirah. Before the last
contingent of the main army from Firaz had entered Hirah, Khalid was also there, as if he had been all the
time with the rear guard.

References
1. Michael G. Morony, Iraq After the Muslim Conquest, (Gorgias Press, 2005), 225.[1] (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=WeQtvgAACAAJ)
2. Parvaneh Pourshariati, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire:The Sasanian-Parthian
Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran, (I.B.Tauris, 2008), 201-202. [2] (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=I-xtAAAAMAAJ)
3. Battle of firaz by Fredric p.miller
4. Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk (History of the
Prophets and Kings), Vol. I, p. 2027
5. Muir 1891, p. 62.
6. Crawford, Peter. The War of The Three Gods: Romans, Persian and The Rise of Islam. New
York: Skyhorse. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-62914-512-9.

Sources
Kaegi, Walter E. (1995). Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=IvPVEb17uzkC). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-
41172-6.
Muir, William (1891). The Caliphate Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=s_syAQAAMAAJ) (Digitized May 19, 2012 ed.). Religious Tract Society. p. 62.
Retrieved 18 October 2021.
Tabari, Abu Jaafar, Mohammed bin Jarir, Tarikh ar Rusul wal Mulk, Volume II

Further reading
A.I. Akram, The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns Lahore,
1969 (https://web.archive.org/web/20041210000537/http://www.swordofallah.com/html/book
home.htm)
 Takirtakoglou, Konstantinos (2021). "The Battle of Firāḍ: The Day on Which Khālid b. al-
Walīd Did [Not] Defeat Both Byzantines and Persians" (https://books.google.com/books?id=
XkI3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1). Journal of Medieval Military History. 19: 1–20.
ISBN 9781783275915.

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