A Sword From the Swords of Allah

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would receive the news through Jibrīl (peace be upon him): while he was in Madīnah, he would receive the news from the battlefield in Jordan. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: akhadha al-rāyata Zaydun fa-uṣīb, thumma akhadhahā Jaʿfarun fa-uṣīb, thumma akhadhahā Ibnu Rawāḥata fa-uṣīb, ḥattā akhadha al-rāyata sayfun min suyūf Allāh ḥattā fataḥa Allāhu ʿalayhim. And this is in al-Bukhārī (4262). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: the banner was carried by Zayd until he was killed, and then it was carried by Jaʿfar until he was killed, and then it was carried by ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah until he was killed, and then the banner was carried by a sword from the swords of Allah, until Allah gave them victory.

Khālid ibn al-Walīd was a sword of Allah. Khālid ibn al-Walīd carried the banner, and he was fighting, leading the Muslims — a new Muslim, but the spirit of Islam was strong. Khālid ibn al-Walīd said: takassarat fī yadī tisʿatu asyāf — nine swords broke in my hand (al-Bukhārī 4265). Subḥān Allāh — what was Khālid ibn al-Walīd doing with those swords? He broke nine swords. And then he said that in the end only a broad sword, a Yemeni broad sword, survived with him. So the question is not whether Khālid can deal with the swords; the question is whether the sword can handle Khālid ibn al-Walīd. Nine swords were broken in one day on the enemies of Allah, and only a broad sword, a big piece of iron, a Yemeni sword, survived in his hand until the end of the day.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said about the three leaders of the army: wa mā yasurruhum annahum ʿindanā — and it would not please them to be with us. Zayd, Jaʿfar and ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah are happier in the Ākhirah than in the dunyā; they do not want to come back to us; they are happy where they are.

As for Khālid ibn al-Walīd, it is mentioned in one narration that at nightfall, when the fighting stopped — what he was doing was a slow retreat. He did not want to make a fast retreat, because then the enemy would take advantage of it and destroy the army. So it was a slow retreat; they were holding on, and he was doing it slowly until nightfall, trying to encourage the Muslims to hold on. At night, what he did was switch the left flank to the right and the right to the left. So when they woke up in the morning and the Romans saw the army, the right flank of the Romans saw different people in front of them, and the left flank of the Romans saw different people in front of them, and they were deceived into believing that the Muslims had received reinforcements. So they told themselves: if the Muslims were able to hold their ground when they were only three thousand, what are they going to do today, after they have received reinforcements? And this convinced the Romans to retreat. And this is the victory the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is speaking of in al-Bukhārī; this is the opening of which the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: fa-fataḥa Allāhu ʿalayhim. When that happened, and the Romans stopped, Khālid ibn al-Walīd immediately withdrew with the army, and they came back to Madīnah.