The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
After he became Muslim, he immediately became perhaps the greatest factor in the spread of Islam throughout the world. Learn about his military genius, his legacy and contributions, and his unexpected death.
The Firsts is a weekly video series that chronicles the lives of the Sahaba (the companions of the Prophet ﷺ) during and after the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa la'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman kathira. SubhanAllah, three months later, we're back to the first Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen for part two of Khalid al-Mureed radiallahu ta'ala anhu and to continue with this series. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give them victory and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that as we speak about the righteous of the past who had the blessing and support from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not because of superior military strength, but because of their superior trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he grants this ummah victory. Allahumma ameen. So inshallah ta'ala, as I said, we are in part two of Khalid al-Mureed radiallahu ta'ala anhu and when I gave the first part back in early October, I definitely did not anticipate that we'd have this long of a wait. But in the first part of the life of Khalid radiallahu ta'ala anhu, we spoke about the way that Khalid ibn al-Mureed radiallahu anhu is shaped by his prior experiences to embracing Islam and how when he eventually embraces Islam, there is a process here. There is a process of gaining the trust of the Muslims. There is a process of his own purification and subhanallah, everything about his Islam is miraculous and beautiful. The dreams that he sees before he embraces Islam. The way that he embraces Islam before Fatah Makkah. And so he has the status with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
as does Amr ibn Aas radiallahu ta'ala anhu, who we'll speak about next week bismillah ta'ala. And the way that he sort of rises in the ranks of the Battle of Mu'tah. If you remember, in the Battle of Mu'tah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is watching from afar as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shows him by divine means. Zayd radiallahu ta'ala anhu falling in battle. Ja'far radiallahu anhu falling in battle. Abdullah ibn Rawaha radiallahu anhu falling in battle. And Khalid ibn al-Mureed radiallahu ta'ala anhu being chosen amongst the Muslims to take the leadership of the army and then guiding them to victory and out of a very difficult situation in Mu'tah. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, أَخَذَ خَالِدُ الرَّائِعُ وَهُوَ سَيْفٌ مِنْ سِيُوفِ اللَّهِ that Khalid radiallahu anhu has taken the banner and he is a sword from the swords of Allah. The very first time the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam calls him by that treasured name, the sword of Allah. And how subhanAllah his life immediately becomes about preparing himself for battle. Just as he was a sword against the Muslims, now he seeks to be the greatest general that the Muslims have ever had and he rises to that occasion. So I want to pick up really in this halaqa inshaAllah ta'ala with the legacy of Khalid in battle all the way until the time of his death and how he becomes this legend that he becomes one of the greatest military commanders of all time. And I want to go to the point of Fath Makkah, the conquest of Makkah. Here you have Khalid radiallahu ta'ala anhu coming back to Makkah on the side of the Muslims. That in and of itself is an incredible conquest, the conquest of the hearts. That Khalid radiallahu anhu, how many times had he left from Makkah to go to Medina to cause harm to the Muslims? How many times did he plot to kill the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam?
And now he is marching back towards Makkah in the ranks of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as a commander with a banner in his hands and starts to make his approach. Now when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam comes into Makkah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has Makkah surrounded from four different directions. So he doesn't actually proceed alayhi salatu wa salam with one army. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam utilizes a multi-pronged approach where he breaks it up into four alayhi salatu wa salam and they come into Makkah from different directions to ensure that they're going to be able to carry out what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam intends fully without anything going wrong. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam appoints one battalion under Ali radiallahu ta'ala anhu, one under Az-Zubayr radiallahu ta'ala anhu, one under Khalid radiallahu ta'ala anhu, and one under Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah radiallahu anhu, and that is the one that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was in himself, that flank of Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah radiallahu ta'ala anhu. So Khalid ibn Walid radiallahu anhu is moving forward, and one of the things that was feared about Khalid, and this is actually an essential part of his story, was how quick he was to his sword. When you talk about the growth of his character over the next few years, there has to be a learning process with how quickly he resorts to battle, how quickly he resorts to his sword. Khalid speaks one language, that's the language of battle. The whole negotiation part, the diplomacy, that's not in Khalid radiallahu anhu's vocabulary. And so there is a learning curve. And subhanallah, the fear was that if anything was going to turn into a battle, it was going to be from the side of Khalid. But the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was growing Khalid in this position radiallahu ta'ala anhu. However, subhanallah, as they were entering into Mecca, Khalid radiallahu anhu's battalion happened to be the one that was ambushed
by Safwan ibn Umayyah, who is actually his brother-in-law. He was married to his sister. Okay, so this is deeply surprising. Safwan ibn Umayyah and Ikramah ibn Abi Jahl, who was Khalid's best friends before Islam. Right, so these two men, Safwan and Ikramah, may Allah be pleased with them because they will become Muslim later on, ambushed Khalid radiallahu ta'ala anhu. But Khalid radiallahu anhu defeated that army handedly. He killed 12 and he caused Safwan and Ikramah to go fleeing. So they actually went running away from the entire area of Mecca at that point. And when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam found out, initially the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was upset. Because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not want any of that to happen. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had a particular vision for Fatah Mecca, for the conquest of Mecca and coming back to Mecca. But then once the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was informed that Khalid radiallahu ta'ala anhu, his battalion was in fact attacked, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, قضاء الله خير that the judgment of Allah is better. At that point the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had no objection. So if this was not initiated by Khalid radiallahu ta'ala anhu, then there is no blame on Khalid ibn al-Warid radiallahu ta'ala anhu. So you have the entrance into Mecca. And Fatah Mecca sort of represents one of the greatest turning points in Islam. Because so many of those who marched against the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam are now marching with him. But those who used to mutilate the Muslims are now refusing, as they are alongside the Muslims who were oppressed, and in their ranks and amongst the Muslims, are refusing to do anything that would violate the sanctity of the Haram. And they are following the example of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who is changing the entire culture, changing the entire ethics, by refusing to carry out revenge on the same people that did to him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and to his family
what we all know that they did. Now we know that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam walks into the Ka'bah then, with who? Just kind of refresh our history. Who goes into the Ka'bah with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? Bilal radiyaAllahu anhu. I was about to look at you and be like, remember the book, right? Beyond Bilal. Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu walks in with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam destroys the idols inside the Ka'bah and around the Ka'bah. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Ja'al haqq zaqal batil. Right? The truth has come and falsehood has perished. And Mecca returns, the Ka'bah returns, to a place in which only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be worshipped. Now were all of the primary idols of Jahiliyyah situated in the Ka'bah or around the Ka'bah? You guys remember, questions mean answers. I need answers. Were they all in the Ka'bah or around the Ka'bah, the famous idols? No, some of them were in valleys, Ta'if, close to Medina. They had these different sanctuaries, right? Where they used to worship some of these big idols, right? Some of the idols that people would go to with their very particular sacrifices. And literally a bigger idol meant a bigger place in Mecca, right? Like that's how they actually used to judge them in many different ways. Which shows you, subhanAllah, the level, the degree by which they were taken by their dalalah, right? By their going astray. So the Prophet ﷺ also wants to destroy the idols in the surrounding towns of Mecca, right? This is not just about the Ka'bah, this is about removing the idols around Mecca as well. Now tell me some of the most famous idols that you remember from the seerah, their names. Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, very good, and Hubal, right? So the Prophet ﷺ entrusts his commanders to then go and to take out some of the idols, to remove some of the main idols.
Now it just so happens that the Prophet ﷺ tells Khalid to go and to destroy Al-Uzza. And you know what I couldn't help but think about, subhanAllah, and it hit me in Uhud. Because I actually went to Umrah between Khalid part 1 and part 2 and I was thinking about this. SubhanAllah, it hit me in Uhud when I was remembering the story of Abu Sufyan. When Abu Sufyan called out to the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr and Umar and started to praise his own idols. One of the things that he said as Khalid is standing next to him, right? Khalid was the one who routed the Muslims and sent them into that position. As Khalid is standing, is next to him on his horse, victorious in a worldly sense. That we have Al-Uzza wa la Uzza lakum. We have Al-Uzza and you have no Uzza. And what did the Prophet ﷺ tell Umar ﷺ to respond with? Allahu mawlana wa la mawla lakum. Allah is our protector, you have no protector. So Khalid was standing next to Abu Sufyan on that day, we have Al-Uzza, lana Al-Uzza wa la Uzza lakum. And now the Prophet ﷺ tells Khalid ﷺ go and do away with Al-Uzza, right? SubhanAllah, look at the way that history is coming back in such a poetic way. Now the Prophet ﷺ sends Khalid ﷺ to destroy Al-Uzza so he gets there and it seems too easy. So he destroys Al-Uzza and then he comes back and the Prophet ﷺ asks him what he did. He said, I destroyed Al-Uzza. The Prophet ﷺ said, did anything happen to you? He said, no. The Prophet ﷺ said, you didn't destroy Al-Uzza, that was a fake one. So the worshippers of Al-Uzza or the tribe actually had a prop. They had a fake Al-Uzza and then they had a real Al-Uzza which they guarded in a particular type of temple.
So Khalid ﷺ goes back and subhanAllah it's actually a very interesting narration because when he enters upon it, he's actually approached by a Shaytan, by a devil, right? I mean very strange things start to happen. He's attacked in very strange ways and then he slices that devil. He goes towards Al-Uzza and he says to Al-Uzza, يَعُزُّ كُفْرَانَكِ لَا سُبْحَانَكِ إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَهَانَكِ Oh Al-Uzza, we have disbelieved in you. We do not glorify you. I see that Allah ﷻ has humiliated you and Khalid ﷺ breaks the real Al-Uzza. So he comes back to the Prophet ﷺ having carried out that command and then the Prophet ﷺ takes Khalid ﷺ with him to the next phase of Tabuk and the rest of that is history. So Khalid ﷺ now is in the rank of the Muslims. Now it's important to mention here as well because the scholars will mention that Khalid ﷺ did in fact make a few mistakes in the very beginning and they were mistakes because he was quick to his sword and the most consequential one which has a very famous du'a behind it is that the Prophet ﷺ sent Khalid ﷺ to Banu Jadima and when he went there, Khalid ﷺ was quick. He invited them to Islam. They didn't say Aslamna, they said Sada'na which means we changed our religion which can mean that they apostated or that they became Muslim. They had their weapons. He said, why do you have your weapons? They said, this is for the other Arab tribes. He ordered them to put them down. They refused to put them down. Why? Because one of the things that plays into this in a very unique way is that Khalid ﷺ had a previous rivalry with that tribe in particular. Remember he used to duel with everybody, right? Also, what complicates it is that in Jahliyyah,
this was the tribe that killed an uncle of Khalid ﷺ and they killed Al-Auf, the father of Abd al-Rahman ibn Auf, right? Which becomes relevant in the story. So in any case, Khalid ﷺ was quick to attack that tribe not realizing that indeed some of them had become Muslim, right? Or all of them, part of them or some of them had become Muslim. And when this came back to the Prophet ﷺ, Abdullah ibn Umar ﷺ came to the Prophet ﷺ and he complained to the Prophet ﷺ about what Khalid had done because this is a huge mistake in the early days of Islam. In the early days of his being Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ looked towards the Kaaba and he said, اللهم إني أبرأ إليك مما صنع خالد Oh Allah, I disavow myself of what Khalid has done. This is not what I taught him. Oh Allah, I disavow myself of what Khalid has done. So it's a significant mistake. And the Prophet ﷺ sends Ali ﷺ to Banu Jadima to make up for, to compensate in whatever ways that he possibly can for the mistake that Khalid ﷺ made. And some of the ulama say this is not a part of history you should rush over. In fact, it's something to say that this was complicated. You had to unlearn some of the practices of Jahiliyyah. You know when we talk about the very famous story of Abu Dharr ﷺ saying يابن السوداء, oh child of a black woman. And the Prophet ﷺ said, you have in you part of Jahiliyyah, you still have in you some Jahiliyyah. You had to unlearn some of that ignorance. And in the case of Khalid ﷺ, you have to rein in that sword as well. It's not just, you know, take advantage of it and just go. You have to rein in that sword. And it's important as well, subhanAllah, to show that the Prophet ﷺ reined him in, he rectified the situation, he disavowed himself from what Khalid ﷺ did, but the Prophet ﷺ moved Khalid ﷺ to a place of growth.
It became a learning experience, not an experience in which the Prophet ﷺ took Khalid ﷺ as a result of his mistake and basically broke him. It's a powerful example from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And by the way, the reason why I mention subhanAllah, Abdurrahman ibn A'uf ﷺ, his father having been killed by this tribe, that, you know, Abdurrahman ibn A'uf actually came to Khalid ﷺ, because he suspected that one of the reasons, you're still human, one of the reasons why you were quick to attack them was because you remember them killing your uncle. Right? So he's suspecting that maybe there's some jahiliyyah that's still within you, that you need to purify this. We don't do this anymore. Keep in mind, what did the Arabs used to do? If you killed my camel, 40 years later, my son will come and attack your entire tribe. That actually happens. So Abdurrahman ibn A'uf is saying, you still have some jahiliyyah inside of you. And Khalid ﷺ argues back and Khalid says, and they killed your father too. Right? And this is actually where the Prophet ﷺ has the very famous hadith. It's interesting. لَا تَسُبُّ أَحَدًا مِنْ أَصْحَابِي فَإِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ لَوْ أَنْفَقَ مِثْلَ أُحُدٍ أُحُدٍ ذَهَبَ مَا أَدْرَكَ مُدَّ أَحَدِهِمْ وَلَا نَصِيفَ Prophet ﷺ said, do not curse my companions, because if one of you were to spend a mountain of Uhud in gold, you would not be able to reach their rank, not even a handful. So the Prophet ﷺ actually humbled Khalid ﷺ and said, look, you're not to the rank of Ibn A'uf ﷺ yet. لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنْكُمْ مَنْ أَنْفَقَ مِنْ قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلْ أُولَٰئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِنَ الَّذِينَ أَنْفَقُوا مِنْ بَعْدُ وَقَاتِلُوا وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ حِسْنًا The scholars actually mentioned this verse applies, subhanAllah, to many of these Sahaba that embraced Islam in the later years. That those of you that came early on are not equal to those who came later on. Right, that's the paraphrasing
So respect Abdurrahman ibn A'uf radiAllahu anhu. You need to show your respect to him. And this was the way that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam maintains, right, the fadl, the blessings of the muhajireen and the ansar while also making space for some of these great companions that are embracing Islam, but they're embracing Islam very late. So there is a learning curve here. But subhanAllah, one of the things that you'll notice about Khalid radiAllahu anhu is that his mistakes came only in the early days. Only in the early days. And this is important because you see that he grew out of these mistakes and he instead lifted the bar, raised the bar in terms of noble ethics. And the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam kept finding ways to integrate these new companions while not diminishing the rank of the older companions. One of the famous narrations, Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Bakr, he narrates, بَعْثَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلِيهِ وَسَلَمَ خَارِدًا إِلَى الْحَارَةِ بِنِ كَعْبٍ that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam sent Khalid radiAllahu anhu to al-Harith ibn Ka'b. And the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam went out in Hajjat al-Wada' in the farewell hajj. And Khalid radiAllahu anhu was there. He was there in the farewell hajj. So the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam حَلَقَ رَأْسَهُ when he had his head shaved, he took some of his hair and he sent it to Khalid radiAllahu anhu which is very interesting. And you'll see exactly, this comes back later on in the story. He sent some of his hair, عليه الصلاة والسلام to Khalid radiAllahu anhu. Now, I mean, if you think about who did the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam save what was shaved from his hair for, right? Like you have Umm Suraym radiAllahu anha the mother of Anas ibn Malik radiAllahu anhu this woman who dedicated herself to Islam
very early on. Why? Khalid. There's something that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is doing here to honor Khalid radiAllahu anhu to give his, not just his blessing to Khalid radiAllahu anhu but to also validate Khalid radiAllahu anhu to increase Khalid radiAllahu anhu and to build that bond with Khalid ibn Mureed radiAllahu anhu. And Khalid has to grow in his spirituality. And subhanAllah, just as the human beings plot against Khalid radiAllahu anhu as he's a Muslim. One of the narrations is that he came to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam and he said, يا رسول الله إن كائدا من الجن يكيدني that verily one of the jinn is plotting against me. And the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam told him to say, أعوذ بكلمات الله التامات التي لا يجاوزهن بر ولا فاجر من شر ما ذرأ في الأرض وما يخرج منها ومن شر ما يعرج في السماء وما ينزل منها ومن شر كل طارق إلا طارق يطرق بخير يا رحمن It's a long narration. قال ففعلت فأذهبه الله عني that he said, I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah which neither the upright nor the corrupt may overcome from the evil of what he created, of what he made, and of what he scattered. From the evil of what descends from the heavens and what rises up from them, or to them, from the evil of what he scattered in the earth and what emerges from it, from the evil... of night and day, and from the evil of every visitor at night except for the visitor who comes with good, ya Rahman, O Most Merciful. So there's the learning of du'a, there's the growth in spirituality, and there's also winning the respect of the Muslims with some of the ethics that he demonstrates. So one of the people that complained about him was Ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما and there's a chapter in the books of the hadith,
باب في المال يصيبه العدو من المسلمين ثم يدركه صاحبه في الغنيمة the chapter of the spoils of war that are taken away, or something that's taken away from the Muslims and then found by the commander of the Muslims amongst the enemy. What does that mean? Someone steals something from you or you lose something in battle, and then years later that Muslim army comes back and they find the property that was stolen away from that person. So what should be done with it? And Nafi' رضي الله عنه narrates that Abdullah Ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما once lost a horse in war, it was seized in war, and when Khalid Ibn Walid رضي الله عنه years later basically defeated that enemy and he found the horse that belonged to Ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما he saved it and then he gave it back to Abdullah Ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما So there's a learning process here, there's a new ethics, there's a new value system to abide by. So when does he get to shine in the military sense? And this is where we'll take it from here and talk about the growth of Khalid Ibn Walid رضي الله عنه the Amir of the Muslims, the commander of the Muslim army. Who is the first person to appoint him? Abu Bakr As-Siddiq رضي الله عنه. That in and of itself is a sign of your praiseworthy nature that Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه finds you fit to command the Muslim army and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه particularly appointed him to fight the Ridda wars, the apostasy wars where you had all of these false prophets that were now rising, Muslims that were apostating on the basis of tribe, and of course we've learned about the brutality of Musaylimah Al-Kaddhab the worst of the false prophets after the death of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم And when some of the people said, well what if he's quick to his sword? You know how Khalid رضي الله عنه
was quick to his sword. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه said, if my lord asks me لو سألني ربي, if my lord asks me on the day of judgment, why did you appoint Khalid Ibn Walid رضي الله عنه on top of the Muslim army or in charge of the Muslim army? He said, I will say to my lord سمعت عبدك وخليلك صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول, I heard your servant and your friend محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم say, خالد سيف من سيوف الله سله الله على المشركين Khalid is a sword from the swords of Allah that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has unsheathed against the disbeliever. So Abu Bakr is saying, I've calculated this and I have my excuse before Allah سبحانه وتعالى. I believe that he's the right man for the job, even if he's been Muslim for just a few years, even if he's made some mistakes in his early days of being a Muslim Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه is the right commander of the Muslims. So Abu Bakr sends him forward and Khalid رضي الله عنه of course attains victory over Musaylim al-Kadhab, the battle of Yamama, which was a huge victory. And there were many of the Sahaba that fought under Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه there. And then Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه was able to basically quell many of the apostates. There were many different false prophets and apostates that were arising. So he was able to defeat many of these pockets that were rebelling against the new Khilafah, against Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه. Now what bordered the Muslims were the Persians, the Persian empire. And this is really important because Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه actually had envisioned, in accordance with what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had mentioned, engaging the Roman empire first. The Muslims are literally situated between
the Persians and the Romans. They're on both sides. And so initially that was the plan, was to engage the Roman empire first, not the Persian empires are situated between them. But the Persian empire were directly inciting the Ridda of the Arabs on the border. Okay, they were directly inciting some of the revolts against Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه. And generally speaking, had a more hostile posture towards the Muslims, both of them. Of course, the whole story of Mu'tah was because an ally to the Roman empire killed the Muslim emissary. So they both had their hostility and it was both sort of like, we're going to push this new tribe around, these little guys around, and let them know that we're going to fight each other while they're nothing. But Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه saw that it was important strategic to now engage the Persian empire instead. So initially, while Hurub al-Ridda are taking place, while the apostasy wars are taking place, Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه says, al-Muthanna ibn Haritha رضي الله تعالى عنه, to keep them at bay. And al-Muthanna رضي الله عنه was able to keep them at bay in many different ways. And then he sends a letter to Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه, to proceed towards al-Iraq after Hurub al-Ridda, after the apostasy wars, and to engage them as well. That it's time to fight them as well. And of course, the aggressions are coming from that side. And so now it's your turn to move towards them. So he receives that order and in the letter of Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه says that whoever wants to come home can, meaning this is not a mandatory battle. This is for whoever wants to stay with you. So initially his army
dwindles from 13,000 to 2,000. And then he asks Abu Bakr رضي الله تعالى عنه for reinforcements. Abu Bakr sends him the man who's equal to a thousand men, al-Qa'qa رضي الله تعالى عنه, as his main reinforcement. And then there are other Muslims that come from Medina to join the effort with Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه, to move now on the Persian empire. The most aggressive and the most brutal and the most violent empire of the day. Even more violent and more brutal than the Roman empire. This was a hostile empire that used to always have statement victories. And of course they were at war with the Romans forever before the Muslims came along. And this is where you see now the battle of ذات السلاسل, the battle of the chains, which we'll talk about. So if you were to break down all of Khalid's battles, right, it's about a hundred campaigns. It's a lot. We're not going to be able to cover all of them. So I just want to sort of focus on the main ones that represent a turning point for Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه and the Muslims. ذات السلاسل, the battle of the chains. So Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه eyed, basically they're going into the southern area of Iraq. The Persian empire, of course, has Iraq as well. And the center of the Persian empire at the time is actually in Iraq. It's not in what is modern day Iran, right? It's actually in Medan, which would be close to Baghdad and the center of their empire. So he initially sees Khalid رضي الله عنه targets what's known as Al-Ubullah. Al-Ubullah is the main port for the Persian empire. And Khalid رضي الله تعالى عنه makes his move and he sends a letter to Hormuz. Hormuz is the commander of the Persian empire under Kisra, who's the main head. So Hormuz.
So he sends a letter to Hormuz telling him, you know, giving him basically his options, right? Submit to Islam and be safe. أسلم تسلم or agreeing to the payment of the jizya and you and your people will be under our protection or else you have only yourself to blame for the consequences. And he says to him a very famous sentence. He says لقد جئتكم بقوم يحبون الموت كما أنتم تحبون الحياة that I'm bringing you a people who love death as much as you love life. Like we're not afraid of you. Hormuz gets this letter and he's like, really? These little Bedouins, right? We've been pushing them around and beating up on them all these years. In fact, Quraysh was basically a client of the Persian empire, right? Like these guys think they can fight us back now. They think they have a chance against us. So Hormuz sends 20,000 fighters in chains and in heavy armor. Now what does it mean to send them in chains? The Persians had a very interesting battle tactic. They had a lot of numbers and what they would do is they would put chains across their own legs. All right? To where they were like a wave, a fort that could not be moved. And they would overwhelm you with their numbers. Okay? They'd move towards you and they were chained to each other. Not fully like chained, but they would have a cuff on one leg to the next person. They were chained to each other. And they would come forth with their swords and with their advanced artillery. They were known to have better weapons, more advanced weaponry than anyone else in the world at the time. So the idea was we just overwhelm you with force. These little Bedouin Arabs, we're just going to mow them, right? Just go over them without any type of issue. And one of the things about Khalid and one of the things that makes him the most brilliant commander of all time is that every
single battle of Khalid, he has some tricks that he doesn't use in the battle before. So he's completely unpredictable. Completely unpredictable. But there is never a battle with Khalid where it's just face to face. He's always got something up his sleeve. So Khalid largely, his main tactic is optical illusions. That's what he did in Mu'tah too. Right? He makes you think his army is somewhere and they're not really there. So Khalid makes it seem like he's in a place called Kaldima. Kaldima, which is south. Okay? Al-Abullah is here. Kaldima is here. So they march towards Kaldima and they realize that Khalid just put up a bunch of props there and his army is not actually there. So then it's like peekaboo. We're actually up here. He was actually in a place that was north which was known as Al-Hafir. And so Hormuz's army gets the word that Khalid's army is actually in Al-Hafir. So they move towards Al-Hafir. When they do that, Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu takes his army around and then they come back to Kaldima. Then his army gets the message that they're back here. So they come back south and he moves again. Why is he doing that? Because he's exhausting them. They're in chains and they're walking through the desert with the chains on their legs and they're getting exhausted. So he's exhausting their army and then he scares them from one side and so they move towards one direction. So basically he gets them paranoid and they wouldn't sleep at night because they'd be worried where Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu's army is going to pop up from. And by the time they actually make it to fight him, to come into combat, they're so exhausted and worn out from just the amount of movement that they've had to do. So this was something completely unanticipated. They'd never faced this type of an opponent before. Hormuz actually sends a message to
Kisra like this is weird. Different things are happening here. We need help. So Kisra blocks off he sent some reinforcements to block off the Euphrates, block off any type of access to water. So basically Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu's army will suffer from dehydration. Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu says to the army to put your trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It just so happens that it rains upon them and they were able to fill all of their water skins and so that tactic failed. So then they finally meet in battle after days of just exhaustion, right, moving them from one place to the other and the Muslims are fresh, outnumbered, but fresh. So Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu's tactic was attack, retreat, attack, retreat, attack, retreat, attack, retreat. So it's all of these false attacks to where they're just tired. Okay. And Hurmuz wants to make a statement. So Hurmuz calls out for Khalid. Right, the Arabs used to duel before battle. Every empire of the day had a different way of starting off a battle. So Hurmuz calls out for Khalid, says come out to a duel, which seems really bold because no one duels with Khalid. But Hurmuz has plans that he actually tells three of his most skilled fighters to stand in the front row. And once the battle starts, he basically is going to trick him and then come out and just kill him. Right, come out and kill him before the battle even ends, right, before the duel ends. So Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu, of course, does not back down from the challenge, but he's not dumb, right. Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu comes out. And, you know, just after a few swipes, Hurmuz, who's also a skilled fighter, a skilled general, he tells him, you know what, let's drop the weapons. Let's do hand-to-hand combat. Right. All right,
fine. Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu drops the weapons. Hurmuz drops the weapons. And as soon as they basically fight hand-to-hand and hand-to-hand combat, the three men rush. Al-Qa'qa radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was onto their plan. So Al-Qa'qa would rush as soon as they rushed. And subhanAllah, the three men got there before Al-Qa'qa in the duel. Khalid was so strong that he basically picked up Hurmuz and used him to protect himself until Al-Qa'qa radiyaAllahu anhu came and he finished them off. And then Khalid killed Hurmuz, which was a huge, huge, huge sign of defeat for the Persian Empire. Like to lose your general in the duel in the very start is extremely demoralizing. They're already exhausted. Their legs are in chains. And so when Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu kills Hurmuz, it basically, you know, already signifies their defeat. And after Hurmuz was dead, it took them very little time to basically decimate that particular army. And that was the first defeat, right, which was that was the battle of the chains, a major defeat. They come back with the ghanima, by the way, the spoils. And they say that was the first time Medina saw an elephant because they took one of the elephants as well and brought an elephant with them back to Medina from the spoils of battle. You also had some of the Persians that converted to Islam after this. So some of the soldiers convert to Islam. Some of the people convert to Islam. But Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu continues his advance into southern Iraq at the time. You have what's known as Datun Nahar, the battle of the river, where once again Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu was able to take from the area of the Euphrates a position and is able to kill up to 30,000 Persian soldiers,
according to some of the narrations. And one of the tactics that he utilized was Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu took out the generals first, because he kind of realizes that the generals are the morale of the Persian Empire, that they had a great emphasis that was placed on the generals. So Khalid plots on the generals before he plots on the others and he thinks about their morale before he thinks about how he moves forward. Then he moves to central Iraq, which is at the fort of Anbar. The fort of Anbar is only about 80 miles away from Babylon. Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu sees this huge army right at the fort and he's like, I know exactly what to do. He brings a thousand archers and he says, take out the eyes. The skilled archers, he basically takes out the eyes and it actually became known as the battle of the eyes, because Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu basically blinds that army and then attacks them and Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu takes that position as well. So he's moving through and Kisra, who's the head of the Persian Empire, who's obviously been fighting the Romans this entire time, is like, what is happening here to where all of a sudden we're incurring this type of loss here? And Khalid is employing a different tactic every time. We can't figure him out in this regard. And there's also, subhanAllah, narration, you know, it's in Fadhal-e-Sahaba by Imam Ahmed rahimAllah and others, that they reached an area of Al-Hira and the Majus had a lot of magicians. So they told Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu in one of the battles, they said, look, if you drink our poison, we'll surrender to you. Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu said, give me the poison. He said, bismillah, he drank the poison, nothing happened to him. Right, threw it to the side. Don't try this at home. If someone gives you poison, first of all, the narration has some kalam in it, has some words about it. Secondly, if someone gives you poison, don't say bismillah and drink and say, nothing happened to me. You're not Khalid
radiyaAllahu anhu. Right, and the Sahaba had karamat. So if anything, this was a miracle of one of the companions. But the point is, is that it completely humiliated the Persians and the Muslims had even more confidence, right? After Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu basically said, that's the best you've got, tossed it aside like it was nothing, right? And it did not affect his body at all. So the Persians are shocked. The Persian empire is shocked. The Roman empire is starting to catch wind about what's happening, right? And basically, what happens is these two empires that have been fighting each other for over 700 years, basically kind of have like a de facto agreement, you know what, let's take a break from fighting each other. And let's deal with these guys. Because they're a nuisance to us, right? We've got to wipe out these people in the middle that we thought were just our little client kingdoms that we could just, you know, pitch around to each other. So they basically agree to take a break in an informal way, despite their heated battles amongst themselves and say, listen, we're going to do away with them. And so now you shift towards Ash-Sham, which is greater Syria, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon. Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu sent four commanders towards Ash-Sham. He sent Amr bin As radiyaAllahu anhu towards the area of Palestine, which we're going to talk about. And obviously, the areas are not delineated in the exact same way back then, right? But to the area generally of Palestine was Amr bin As radiyaAllahu anhu. To the area of Damascus was Yazid bin Abi Sufyan radiyaAllahu anhu. Then he sent Shurahbil bin Hassanah radiyaAllahu anhu to what's the area of Jordan, the area of Al-Urdun. And then he sent Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah radiyaAllahu anhu to the area of Homs, the area of Homs, also in Syria. So he's got, you know, Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu is engaging the Roman Empire at the time, the Byzantines at the time. But Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah radiyaAllahu anhu asks Abu Bakr for
reinforcements, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, against the Romans, because things are getting very difficult. The Roman Empire is starting to turn up the heat. So he basically asks for help in engaging the Roman Empire. Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu sends a letter to Khalid bin Wareed radiyaAllahu anhu, who is in Iraq, and basically says, I need you to turn towards Ash-Sham. I need you to hurry up to Ash-Sham, because things are becoming difficult for the Sahaba that are in Ash-Sham at the time. And this also becomes one of the miracles of Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu basically gathers his advisors. And his main daleel, which was basically his guide, the guy that would map out the terrain for him, map out the route for him, was a man by the name of Rafi ibn Umairah. So he asked Rafi ibn Umairah, he says, give me the routes, how do we get to Ash-Sham? What's the quickest way there? He says, you've got, you know, the northern route, which is along the Euphrates, to northeast modern day Syria. It's a well traveled route. And how did you used to measure routes back then? What do you think? If you're traveling with an army, what do you measure routes by? Someone tell me something that I can make out. Is it days? Okay, time. What else? What do you need along the route? 7-11s? Water, exactly. Water, mashallah, you need water. Right? So basically, back then, if you're mapping out a large army moving from one direction to another, you're really analyzing where the wells are, you're looking at the time span, you're looking at the difficulty of the terrain, you're looking at, you know, villages along the way, you're looking at, again, the Romans and the Persians basically owns everything.
Right? So you either worked for the Romans, or you work for the Persians, you're analyzing all these different things. But water is a huge part of this, how you plan your route. So Rafi ibn Umairah, he gives him two routes. He said, you've got along the Euphrates, or you have along the route, which is known as Ayn al-Tamr. Right? It's an easy march, but it's a longer march around the south. And then Khalid says, give me a route that no one's ever taken before. I need to march terrain, I need to, we need to move in a way that is completely unpredictable, that's fast, and that's never been taken before. So Rafi says, listen, there's one route, but there is no water on this route, the terrain is difficult, no army's ever marched it, you're not going to see water for over 100 miles. And actually, if you map the point of Khalid's departure, there isn't a single well for 120 miles. So imagine you've got to basically keep yourself hydrated, and make it through the hot desert, and through the terrain, without water. Khalid says, that's the one we're taking. Rafi is like, yeah, Amir, this, this is not easy, you might lose your army along the way. Khalid says, we're going to trust in Allah. We will find our way through that terrain, and we will make our way over there. So Khalid says, where's the first well? Rafi can remember, you know, there's one narration, he remembered a little spring under a tree, because he's a dalil, he's well traveled around that area. A little spring, again, over 100 miles out. So Khalid's like, alright, that's the point that we're going to make our way to. So we're going to assess our days by that point. And when they got there, subhanAllah, you know, days later, Rafi couldn't find the spring.
And so the Muslims made dua, they looked for this thorn tree. And eventually, they were able to dig under the roots of that tree, and the spring came out, and the, you know, the Muslims were saying Allahu Akbar, and it was a matter of ease for them. So that's one thing that happened along the route. There's another, you know, historical narration that shows up in some of the books that Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu employed a strategy, which was to fill the camels with water, and then to prevent them from eating. And then once you run out of water, there's a particular part of the camel that stores the water, you sacrifice the camels, and you're able to access that water. So it's a very, very, like, tedious type of tactic. But Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu employs that. So he fills the camels with water when they have access to water. Three days into it, after the heat gets to them, and they run out of water, they sacrifice the camels, and they access the basically where the water is stored within the body of the camel. I think you're all getting the point that Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu always has a solution, right? I just want you to imagine if you're a Muslim, and you're in that day and age, like, the guy is unfazed by absolutely anything, and he's always got a solution. Which is why, by the way, in Uhud, most people, when the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims, at that time, defeated them, most people were like, let's go back to Mecca. We've done this before. It was Badr. Khalid said, no, no. We've got our way around. Because Khalid is that type who's always like, I've got a solution. I can figure this out. I can figure this out. I can figure this out. So in any case, they reach into Al-Sham. Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu reaches to Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu. Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah sees him, and he smiles. He's reassured. Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu comes to him.
And the nickname of Khalid was Abu Sulayman. And he said, Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu says that I received the letter from Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu about your coming. And he said, there is no resentment in my heart. And alhamdulillah, we're basically pleased to serve under you. Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu is going to come and basically assume the leadership of all of the battalions at that point in Al-Sham. And Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu starts to praise Abu Ubaidah radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu. He says, ذاك بأنك أمين هذه الأمة. That's because you're the trustworthy one of this Ummah. That's why you don't have these spiritual, you always think in the interest of the Ummah. Like Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu did not send a letter to Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu saying, I've got it covered. He's thinking in the interest of the Ummah, and you're not thinking about yourself or trying to be the hero or trying to be a brave person. You're always putting the interest of the Ummah first. So they lay siege to a town called Al-Busra. And then you have the battle of Al-Ajnadin, which is a very famous battle, where you have, subhanAllah, all of the battalions of the Muslims basically merge in Al-Sham to fight this battle of Al-Ajnadin. These are some of the most consequential battles against the Romans at the time. It's about 30,000 Muslims against 90,000 Romans. So this ratio of being outnumbered is a constant factor here. And the battle actually takes place in a valley called Wadi As-Sunt, which is where it's believed that Dawud a.s. defeated Goliath. Wadi As-Sunt. So this is actually in the area of modern-day Palestine. So subhanAllah, there's a symbolism to this too, that the Muslims are facing this gigantic army, the Roman Empire, commanded by Caesar, in this area. And there's something, subhanAllah, that happens. There's a narration that I just love about this.
Khalid r.a, so fearless that sometimes you might interpret his fearlessness as recklessness. Khalid will go out at night and basically walk around and check out the other army, with no bodyguards. Right? And so they'd wake up and they'd say, where's Khalid? They'd go and they'd find him. He's kind of scouting by himself. He's always scouting. It's like he never sleeps. So, you know, you're about to fight Ajnadin. You've got 90,000 people on the other side. Right? And Khalid r.a is going over casually, checking them out, seeing what they have planned, completely unfazed. So they basically, you know, told him, like, stop doing this. We're worried about you. And Khalid r.a said, didn't you hear the Prophet s.a.w. say, مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ وَلَذِي لَا يَذْكُرُهُ مَثَلُ الْحَيِّ وَالْمَيِّتُ Didn't you hear that the Prophet s.a.w. said that the one who remembers Allah, the example of the one who remembers Allah and the one who doesn't remember Allah is like the living and the dead? And they said, yes. He said, so what can tens of thousands of dead people do to one living man? I'm alive, they're dead. Because he's walking around doing dhikr. SubhanAllah, the man has his military genius, but this shows you the growth in his spirituality as well. My dhikr is my shield. These people are all dead. I'm not worried about them. The next day, Khalid r.a comes out to meet the commander. And you got to understand that the Persians and the Romans insulted the Muslims initially. And the insult was, you're just a bunch of raggedy, dirty Arabs from the desert that don't have anything. Like, who do you think you are? Stop taking yourself so seriously, right? So they throw these insults towards them.
If you remember, when Sa'd r.a first met Rustam in Persia, he told him to carry a bag of dirt on his head. Like, go back to where you came from, basically. Go back to the desert. And Sa'd r.a said, this is the earth being submitted to us. I'm not worried about it. Unfaithful. So Khalid r.a comes out to meet the commander. The commander says to him, listen. He says to him, the Persians, every time they've come to this area, they've left defeated. And you too will leave defeated. He said, my assumption is, you poor people probably came out here because you need some food and some water. You need some money. You're not fighting for anything meaningful. You probably are just Arabs trying to launch these little raids because you want some money. We're the Roman Empire. We got you back. It's okay. We know what you really want. So he said to him, you know, from my generosity, I'll let you go home. I'll give each one of you a dirham, a robe, and a turban. And he said, and for you, I'll give you 100. 100 dirhams, 100 robes, 100 turbans. And he said, come back to me the next year. I'll give you all a dirham. I'll give you all a robe. I'll give you all a turban. Just go. Right? Get out of our faces. Khalid plays some mind games here. And he's also a man who's so fearless that when you see him, you're terrified by his faith. You know, when someone just shows that they're completely unfazed, unshaken, and you can tell, subhanAllah, you're terrified by him. So he says to him, he responds to him, he says, he said, I swear by Allah, we did not come out to you because of hunger. We're a people who like to drink blood. It's like, we're going to use, we're going to play on your Arab savagery here.
And he said, and we have come to learn that there's no blood sweeter than the blood of the Romans. Like, we're not worried about you. We're not hungry. We're just, you know, Arab savages. We're waking up today. And he said, and by the way, all these robes and turbans, once we defeat you, we'll just take them anyway. So Khalid plays his mind games back with him. And the guy is like, okay, this guy's different. Something is wrong here. So they go back. Khalid is not quick to attack. So you can imagine sort of the standoff before the battle. The idea was to scout, find out what they were doing. So Khalid spends a lot of time sending spies, right, to basically understand the terrain. And he's already planning, and you're going to understand the military genius part, he's already planning for 100 days after, like he's planning all his contingencies before the battle even starts. So he takes his time. He realizes they're not going to attack first, takes his time, sort of studies the terrain. Daraa ibn al-Azwar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, who if you watch the documentary that we did on the plague of Amwas at Yaqeen, I talk about Daraa ibn al-Azwar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu because I visited where his grave is in Jordan. Daraa radiyallahu ta'ala anhu is Khalid's right-hand man. Daraa radiyallahu ta'ala anhu leads a few skirmishes. There are a few fights that take place here. Daraa takes out 10. He actually wears the Roman outfit of one of the soldiers, just walks his way right back into town amongst the Muslims, takes off his armor, and he's back to being himself. So these little skirmishes are happening, the scouting is happening, and Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu basically decides to take the smaller towns around Damascus before fighting, before actually the attack takes place, before Damascus itself would fall.
So he's getting this full idea of the landscape, and Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu is analyzing their animals and comparing them to his animals, and he's matching up. I mean you can think about the level of genius, what flanks of the army have certain horses, where do you line them up, right, and where he can anticipate certain horses coming from. Now generally speaking, Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu's strategy was width, not depth. If you read military books, they'll actually cite him for using this strategy, right, width not depth. So he doesn't have deep armies, he creates a thin layer, and then he hides one deep layer. So you don't know where the reinforcements are going to come. So you see this thin layer all around, but then the deepest layer is going to attack you from one singular direction. So Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu plots all of this out, and then the battle takes place, and subhanallah, they are able to overcome in Ajnadin, and this sends a resounding message to not just the Roman Empire, but to the world. Now Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, the single man, is taking his battalions, and he's dealing defeat after defeat to the Persian Empire, to the Roman Empire, both the Persians and the Romans are like, what do we do with these people? What are we doing about this small group of people? And then they reach the gates of Damascus, and I'm going to move a little bit quicker now. While they are fighting for Damascus, Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu passes away, at the time that Damascus is actually under battle. And Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu becomes the Khalifa, and Umar radiyallahu anhu sends a letter to Abu Ubaidah ibn Jarrah radiyallahu anhu, appointing him as the new commander of the Muslims, effectively replacing Khalid ibn Walid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu as the commander.
Abu Ubaidah radiyallahu ta'ala anhu receives the message in the middle of the battle. So he decides not to tell Khalid about the battle because he doesn't want to jeopardize the battle. He's a trustworthy one of this Ummah. He's always thinking for the Ummah. You know, he says, you know what, this is not the right time. So he holds on to the letter himself. He lets the battle take place after Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu wins the battle. He goes to Khalid radiyallahu ta'ala anhu with great embarrassment almost, with the letter from Amir al-Mumineen Umar al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu appointing him as the commander of the army. Why did Umar radiyallahu anhu appoint Abu Ubaidah ibn Jarrah radiyallahu anhu to be the commander of the army? What do you all think? Jazakallah khair. So I'm going to tell you all something. This is very important. I know that we get fascinated when we see non-Muslims talking about our history. You got a professor, you got some sort of writer talking about our history. And as academics, they throw out something, right, use like a narration from Waqidi to say Umar did not like Khalid. And that's why, you know, they had some previous disputes and that's why he removed him. And as Muslims, sometimes in the name of being objective, we take these narrations that completely undermine the character of the Sahaba. Do you think Umar ibn al-Khattab al-Farooq, the one who is the distinguisher between truth and falsehood, would let his personal grudge drive him to put the Ummah at risk?
Come on. Right? So when people start circulating a video, there's a very particular, like, lecturer, some military school talking about Khalid being the most brilliant military strategist of all time, like, oh, this is what he said. Well, Umar didn't like Khalid very much. Or they had a previous dispute in Jali. And yes, you have, you know, narrations and writers, you know, that make this claim. Umar ibn al-Khattab, who would put his face to the ground to a child for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for this Ummah. You think he's going to jeopardize the Ummah and the safety because he doesn't like Khalid al-Mureed radiAllahu ta'ala anhu? I can't buy that. I can't swallow it. There's also a narration from Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, which is very specific, and it makes a lot of sense. There was a celebrity that was starting to develop around Khalid and a sense of invincibility to where people started to say, if Khalid is amongst us, we never lose. If Khalid is here, we will win. Victory comes from Khalid. There are even people that start to say to Khalid, a Roman commander, in fact, asked him, he says, you know, we've heard that Allah sent down a sword to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam and he gave you that sword. Is it true that you have a sword from the heavens? Like sayfullah, are you this unbreakable, undefeatable, you know, like demigod or something like that? That's what they're starting to suggest, right? I'm talking about the non-Muslims, right? But even amongst the Muslims, there is this, this aura of invincibility developing around Khalid radiAllahu anhu, because the man cannot lose a battle. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, wallahi ma'azaltu khalid an sakhtatin wala khiyana. I swear I did not remove Khalid out of betrayal or hatred or anything like that. He says, walakinni khashitu an yuftana an nasu bihi fayukiruna ilayhi. I was afraid that people would be put to fitna because of him.
And then they'd be entrusted to him, meaning instead of people trusting Allah, they'll start to trust him. They'll start to believe that victory comes from Khalid radiAllahu anhu instead of from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And preserving the aqeedah of the Muslims, the faith of the Muslims is more important than your military losses or your military wins. I need you to understand where victory comes from. Intansurullah yansurukum. You support the cause of Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will support you. Do not start to believe that it comes from the sword of Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu or else you'll be put to the test. Allah will leave you to the sword of Khalid. It's powerful. Umar radiAllahu anhu wants to preserve their hearts, wants to preserve their faith. And he has a point. And Khalid mureed radiAllahu anhu understands that. So Abu Ubaidah ibn Jarrah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, after the battle, goes to Khalid mureed radiAllahu anhu and he reads the letter to him. Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, يرحمك الله يا أبا عبيده ما منعك أن تعلمني حين جاءك. May Allah have mercy on you, Abu Ubaidah. Why didn't you tell me as soon as it came to you? Why did you wait so long? And he responds and he says, إني كرهت أن أكسر عليك حربك. He said, I didn't want to break, I didn't want to basically mess things up. And he says, وما سلطان الدنيا أريده ولا للدنيا أعمل. He said, I don't want authority in this dunya nor do I work for this world. Like Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu anhu is saying, I'm not that type of guy. I'm not the person that's going to fight over commandership or being a general. كلنا في الله إخوة and we're all brothers for the sake of Allah.
Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, what does he do? سمعنا وأطعنا. We hear and we obey. And this is one of the greatest signs of his sincerity at this point. If he was driven by what used to drive him in jahiliyyah, he would have caused a fit. How dare you remove me? He would have started all sorts of fitna about Umar al-Khattab. Maybe he went and started his own empire. Go start something else. Take some Muslims with him and be a fitna for the Muslims. Instead, he says, سمعنا وأطعنا. We hear and we obey. I will accept any position that you give me. So Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu basically uses that as an opportunity to elevate Khalid radiAllahu anhu. He puts him in charge of some armies and he continues to elevate him and use him as an advisor because he understands that Khalid can map out in a way that even he cannot. And it does work to the benefit of the Muslims, as I said, because Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was a negotiator. He was a diplomat. Khalid radiAllahu anhu was not a diplomat or a negotiator. And so a lot of what would happen, like Jerusalem, for example, al-Quds, remember Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu negotiating with the Romans at the time, a lot of that was not Khalid radiAllahu anhu's style. So there was an approach that worked here and an approach that worked here. But at the end of the day, both of them together were able to do so much. And there's a beautiful narration where Abdullah ibn Ja'far radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was apprehended in one of the skirmishes. And Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu turned to Khalid radiAllahu anhu and he said, يا أبا سليمان, I'm asking you to go out and to rescue Abdullah ibn Ja'far.
So he said, absolutely. He said, I was just waiting for you to tell me to do so. I was waiting for the command. And Abu Ubaidah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu put his head down because he was embarrassed to tell Khalid radiAllahu anhu what to do. And Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said to him, first he started to praise him. And it's a long narration. He said, والله, if you were to appoint a child over me, then I would hear and I would obey. I'm your soldier now. Right? I'm at your command. Like I understand my role and I'm going to work in accordance with what you have put me in. And this was from their sincerity. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed him to be successful in that regard as well. Finally, you have the Battle of Yarmouk, which for the sake of time, I won't go into too much detail. The Battle of Yarmouk takes place in the year 636. It is considered one of the most significant battles in history. In the history of Islam and in the history of the world period is the Battle of Yarmouk, which is in the area of modern day Syria, the Yarmouk River. And this is the turning point. This was the point in which the Muslims, if you were to trace a moment in which they defeated, overcame the Byzantine Empire. This is really the moment where you really struck the Roman Empire and they overwhelmed them again through multiple tactics that Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhum was able to utilize. The numbers put it at about 25,000 Muslims versus 100,000 Byzantines at the time. So one fourth, but they were able to overcome them. Al-Imam bin Kathir rahimahullah has a narration in Bidayah wa Nihaya. It's without a chain, but it's a beautiful narration that kind of brings things full circle. That Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhum, his helmet fell off during the Battle of Yarmouk. And he basically panicked and he started to go through and started to go through the ranks of the army to try to find his helmet.
Which it wasn't like him to be that way. He's too smart of a military general to put himself at risk. Instead of fighting without the helmet and basically managing, he almost recklessly dives in to try to find that helmet. And after the battle, when he found his helmet, I mean in the middle of the battle, put it back on, some of the people actually admonished him for that. Like, why did you do that? Like, it wasn't that big of a deal. You could have put another helmet on. There were other ways for you to basically compensate. And he said that I keep the hair that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam gave me in Hajjatul Wada' in the front of my helmet. SubhanAllah. So he was panicking because of what he had from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with him at the time of battle. RadiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhum. SubhanAllah, as the time for his death comes near. One of the things that's incredible about Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhum is actually how early he died in Islam. Like, his contributions are extremely high. His legacy is great. He actually didn't live that long after Umar bin Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhum became the Khalifa of the Muslims. And his story in Islam was an incredible story. You know, SubhanAllah, Abdurrahman bin Auf radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhum was, show me to the marketplace. Khalid radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhum was, show me to the battlefield. I know exactly what I need to do. And he used to say, he used to say, Ashghalani al-jihadu an-hift al-Qur'an. You know, as he started to get sick in his later days and he was unable to be in war, he said that, you know, battle kept me, being in jihad, fee sabihillah, kept me from being able to read the Qur'an, memorize the Qur'an. And he used to make mistakes in some of the short shuras of the Qur'an when he was leading the battles, right, leading the army, because he never really had time for it. I mean, he went from being the enemy to the Muslims, to being a supporter, to being a commander. He was just focused on that the entire time.
But in his last few months of his life, he would read the Qur'an from fajr to dhuhr. So he was basically trying to make up for the time that he missed. And he fell in love with the Qur'an, you know, subhanAllah, realizing that beauty in those last days when he wasn't involved in the battlefield as much. And one of the things that happens is that he gets sick in al-Hams. So he's in al-Sham. And he's basically dying in his bed, which is so anticlimactic for him. It's like, you can imagine how much he's envisioned, right, dying a brave death in the battlefield and things of that sort. So people come to visit him during his death, as he's on his deathbed, and he shows them, he pulls out his arm and he says, you see this, you see this, you see this. He says to them, لَقَدْ شَهِدْتُ مِئَةَ زَحْفٍ That I have encountered a hundred battles, right, or little raids, like, I've been in a hundred, over a hundred campaigns, military campaigns. وَمَا فِي جَسَدٍ مِن شِبْرٍ إِلَّا وَفِيهِ ضَرْبَةً أَوْ طَعْنَةً أَوْ رَمْيَةً There is not a single part of my body that doesn't have a, you know, a sword that struck it, like a wound from a sword or an arrow or a spear. Every part of me is beat up. Every part of my body has been struck in war. And he says, ثُمَّهَا أَنَا أَمُوتُ عَلَىٰ فِي رَاشِي كَمَا يَمُوتُ البَعِير And now I'm dying on my bed the way that a camel would die, just, like he's so upset with himself that I've always, you know, envisioned my end to be on the battlefield. I live my life on the battlefield.
And he said, فَلَا نَامَتْ أَعْيُنُ الْجُبُنَاء May the eyes of the cowards never sleep. Because he knew that the cowards would know when Khalid r.a died, they would all breathe in relief, right? May the eyes of the cowards never sleep. May they never find rest. And so SubhanAllah, they said to him at the time of his death, Ibn Abdul Barth says, one of his companions said to him, don't you remember that the Prophet ﷺ called you Sayfullah, a sword of Allah? You can break every sword in battle, but you are the sword of Allah, and the sword of Allah will not be broken. Allah عز و جل gave you a special place, you will not be broken. And SubhanAllah, this man who was daring, this man who went out in battle in all of this, you know, all of this legacy of just being a hero and being the greatest military genius of all time, dies in his bed in Homs in the year 642. His children die in the plague of Amwas, which follows shortly after, as does Darar ibn al-Azwar رضي الله عنه, Mu'adh ibn al-Jabr رضي الله عنه, and so many. كم من فئة قليلة غلبت فئة كثيرة بإذن الله. When Allah عز و جل says, how many times did a little group, a small group of people overcome a large group of people by the permission of Allah? Over a hundred campaigns in the life of Khalid رضي الله عنه. Every single time he was outnumbered, and over a hundred victories from Khalid ibn Waleed رضي الله عنه. If you wanted to go through the quotes about his greatness, both from Muslim historians and non-Muslim historians, you would never end. John Keegan who wrote the book A History of Warfare, he said Khalid ibn Waleed was the most brilliant tactical commander in the history of either Islam or Christendom.
Richard Gabriel who wrote the book The Great Armies of Antiquity, he said Khalid's record as a battlefield commander remains unsurpassed in human history. And in military schools around the world, Khalid is studied. His tactics in battle are studied. It's literally chapters upon chapter for every battle and the tactics that he employed. But the greatest compliment is what Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه has narrated to have said, عاجزة النساء أن يلدن مثل خالد. That women have become incapable of giving birth to a man like Khalid. No one will ever give birth to a man like Khalid again. And so we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to be pleased with him. We ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to revive in this ummah courage and bravery that we learned from the likes of Khalid رضي الله عنه. And to allow for those courageous warriors and brave warriors to rise in defense of the oppressed. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى allow us to be joined with the great ones of the past and the great ones of the present. And with our beloved prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Inshallah ta'ala next week we'll talk about Amr ibn Aas رضي الله عنه and continue with his friend who has a very similar path into Islam. But of course also a unique biography. Jazakumullahu khayran wa salalamu ala ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.
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