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Remember thy Lord inspired
The angels (with the message);
"I am with you; give
Firmness to the Believers;
I will instill terror
Into the hearts of the unbelievers;
Smite ye above their necks
And smite all their
Finger tips off them."
(Sura Al-Anfal, Para 8. Ayat 12)
Introduction
It was a classic defensive offer sive battle in which the Arab commander (KHALID BIN WALEED) inflicted crushing defeat on the over three times, well armed, superior Roman Army. The victory was achieved by employing superior strategy and tactics. The Arab commander had forced the enemy to fight on the ground of his choice and left difficult ground for the enemy. The other contributing factors were leadership, high morale and unblemished faith in ALLAH.
After the defeat in the battle of AJNADIN in 634 AD, the Arab forces had occupied DAMASCUS, HOMS and many other towns of SYRIA and JORDAN. The Roman Emperor was highly upset and decided to recover the lost territories by raising a large army.
Relative Strength
According to various historians the Roman army was one hundred and fifty thousand strong. About thirty thousand Roman soldiers on oath had tied themselves in chains for fighting till the end. The Roman army had 30000 infantry, 30000 horsemen and a few thousand archers. They were armed with the imperial weapons, wore steel helmets and carried shields to ward off sword and lance attacks. About 60000 BENI GHASSAN Arabs (Christians) were also present in the Roman army. JABALA had embraced ISLAM but during TAWAF around the KAABA, a Bedouin Arab had unintentionally stepped on his silken ahram which got untied. JABALA was haughty and got furious and contemptuously and vigorously slapped him. The Bedouin arab reported the incident to Hazrat OMAR who ordered that the Bedouin arab would slap JABALA to avenge his insult. JABALA renounced ISLAM and secretly left, once again accepted Christianity and joined the Romans.
The strength of the Arab army was about 40000 (15000 camel riders, 20000 horsemen and about 5000 archers) mostly armed with their personal weapons and carried little reserve weapons or rations.
THRODORUS was the C-in-C of the Roman army whereas QANATIR (a Russian prince), JREER and JABLA were his other senior commanders who commanded their respective forces. The...