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1.
Waqidi: p. 23.
Chapter 29
(The Battle of Ajnadein)
Page 1
"How often has a small force vanquished a large force by the permission of Allah?
And Allah is with those who steadfastly persevere."
[Quran 2:249]
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In the third week of July 634, the Muslim army marched from Busra; and the march of
this army was an amazing sight-one that would earn the immediate disapproval of any
regular, disciplined soldier. It had none of the appearance of a normal army. Its advance
was more like the movement of a caravan than the march of a military force.
The soldiers of this army had no uniform of any kind, and there was no similarity in the
dress that they wore. The men could wear anything they chose, including captured
Persian and Roman robes. There were no badges of rank and no insignia to distinguish
the commander from the commanded. In fact there were no officers so far as rank was
concerned; officership was an appointment and not a rank. Any Muslim could join this
army, and regardless of his tribal status would consider it an honour to serve in the ranks.
The man fighting as a simple soldier one day could next day find himself appointed the
commander of a regiment, or even a larger force. Officers were appointed to command
for the battle or the campaign; and once the operation was concluded, they could well
find themselves in the ranks again. The army was organised on the decimal system-a
system started by the Holy Prophet at Madinah.
1
There were commanders of 10, 100 and
1,000 men, the latter corresponding to regiments. The grouping of regiments to form
larger forces was flexible, varying with the situation.
Even in weapons and equipment there was no standard scale for this army. Men fought
with whatever weapons they possessed, and had to find their own weapons either by
purchase or by taking them from fallen foes. They could have any or all of the normally
used weapons of the time-the lance, the javelin, the spear, the sword, the dagger and the
bow. For armour they wore coats of mail and chain helmets. And these could be of any
colour or design; in fact many of them had been taken from the Persians and the Romans.
Most of the men mounted camels; those who possessed horses formed the cavalry.
One remarkable feature of the movement of this great army was that it was independent
of lines of communication. Behind it stretched no line of supply, since it had no logistical
base. Its food trotted along with the army; and if it ran out of meat, the men, women and
children could live for weeks on a simple ration of dates and water. This army could not
be cut off from its supplies, for it had no supply depots. It needed no roads for its
movement, for it had no wagons and everything was carried on camels. Thus this army
could go anywhere and traverse any terrain so long as there was a path over which men
and animals could move. This ease of movement gave the Muslims a tremendous edge on
the Romans in mobility and speed.
Although this army moved like a caravan and gave the impression of an undrilled horde,
from the point of view of military security it was virtually invulnerable. The advance was
led by a mobile advance guard consisting of a regiment or more. Then came the main
body of the army, and this was followed by the women and children and the baggage
loaded on camels. At the end of the column moved the rear guard. On long marches the
horses were led; but if there was any danger of enemy interference on the march, the
horses were mounted, and the cavalry thus formed would act either as the advance guard
or the rear guard or move wide on a flank, depending on the direction from which the
greatest danger threatened. In case of need, the entire army could vanish in an hour or so
and be safe at a distance beyond terrain which no other large army could traverse. In this
fashion the Muslims marched from Busra.
The route of the army has not been recorded; but it undoubtedly lay north of the Dead
Sea, for the army arrived at Ajnadein before the corps of Amr bin Al Aas, who joined the
army at Ajnadein. Had the army travelled south of the Dead Sea, Amr bin Al Aas, who
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was still at the Valley of Araba, would have been picked up
en route
. The army probably
marched via Jarash and Jericho, then by-passed Jerusalem, which was strongly garrisoned
by the Romans, and crossed the Judea Hills stretching south of Jerusalem. Beyond this
range it descended into the plain of Ajnadein, arriving there on July 24. The following
day Amr bin Al Aas, moving up from the Valley of Araba on the orders of Khalid,
arrived at Ajnadein, and his joy knew no bounds. He had been in a state of anxiety for
several weeks, expecting the Roman storm gathering at Ajnadein to break over his head
any day.
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