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Note 3: Dates of the Campaign of Apostasy
We know the dates of events more or less accurately up to and including the organisation
of the 11 corps by Abu Bakr at Zhu Qissa. Thereafter the early historians give no dates.
We do know, however, that the entire campaign was completed by the end of 11 Hijri.
We know that the Battle of Yamamah was fought in the early part of winter ("The cold
has come"-Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 518.) We also, know the chronological sequence of the
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various battles and other events. And there are certain pointers, like reinforcements for
Battle E being sent on conclusion of Battle C, and so on.
From this information, I have worked out the approximate dates of the various events that
have been described, with the help of my military experience and judgement: for
instance, it would take so long for a force to move from A to B; it would take so long to
prepare for battle; it would take so long to complete administrative actions after battle
before the next operation could be launched, and so on.
Because such estimates cannot be entirely accurate, I have given all dates after the
formation of the 11 corps in terms of weeks rather than days. There may still be some
inaccuracy, but probably of no more than a week or so.
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Note 4: Plan for Invasion of Iraq
Early historians quote certain sources as narrating another version of the Caliph's plan for
the invasion of Iraq. This version is as follows:
a.
Abu Bakr instructed two generals to enter Iraq: Khalid from below, via Uballa, and
Ayadh bin Ghanam from above, via Muzayyah. Ayadh was then somewhere in Northern
Arabia, between Nibbaj and the Hijaz.
b.
Hira was given as the common objective to both generals. Whichever of them got to
Hira first would become the Commander-in-Chief and the other would serve under him.
c.
The Commander-in-Chief would then leave sufficient forces to guard Hira as a base,
and proceed with the rest of the army to fight the Persians in the imperial capital,
Ctesiphon.
I reject this version for the following reasons:
(i)
Abu Bakr, who relied heavily on Khalid to fight the main battles of the apostasy,
would not plan the new campaign in a way that might place Khalid under the command
of an untried general like Ayadh bin Ghanam, who was in any case not in the same class
as Khalid.
(ii)
Abu Bakr believed strongly in the principle of concentration of force, as is evident
from his conduct of the Campaign of the Apostasy. It is unlikely that he would violate
that principle now by splitting the available forces into two and launching them in two
widely separated areas whence they would be unable to support each other. A two-
pronged invasion, sometimes desirable and sound, would be a grave error in this case,
when the enemy was so much stronger and operated on interior lines. The Muslims, split
into two forces, would suffer defeat in detail.
(iii)
If this version were true and Ctesiphon was indeed the ultimate objective of the
invasion, Khalid would certainly have attacked it. Actually, we know from Tabari that
towards the end of the campaign, Khalid wanted to attack Ctesiphon but did not do so for
fear of the Caliph's disapproval. And there is no mention anywhere of Abu Bakr ever
cancelling his supposed order to attack Ctesiphon or, alternatively, reminding Khalid of
it.
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(iv)
As it happened, Ayadh was stuck at Daumat-ul-Jandal and was later helped out by
Khalid. If his objective were "Iraq from above" there was no need for him to engage in
serious hostilities in a region far from his objective, especially when other and better
routes to that objective were available to him. Ayadh bin Ghanam did have a force under
his command, but its strength was not very great. His objective was probably none other
than Daumat-ul-Jandal. Abu Bakr may, of course, have had the intention of sending him
to Iraq later to support Khalid, for after Daumat-ul-Jandal he did proceed to Iraq with
Khalid and served under his command.
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