“My camel stopped at the gates of Quadesyeh; my chief was Sa’d ben (Abi) Waqqas.
Remember (may God guide thee) our prowess near Qodaïs, and the blindness of our perfidious enemies.
That evening many of us would willingly have borrowed the wings of the birds to fly away,
When their battalions advanced one after another against us, like unto moving mountains.
With my sword I threw their ranks into disorder, and my lance dispersed them; for I am a man worthy of wielding the lance,
I and my companions: Amr, father of Thawr, the martyr, Haschem, Qaîs, Nô’man the brave, and Djerir.”
There exists a great number of poems composed in honour of this battle, one of the most celebrated, and fraught with the greatest blessings for the Mussulmans. Omar having written to Sa’d to ask for some information regarding the position of Quadesyeh, the latter sent him the following:—“Quadesyeh is situated between the moat and el-’Atiq (the canal of the Euphrates). On its left is the sea, a sort of bay, whence lead two roads to Hirah: the first, over high hills; the second, over the banks of a river called Khousous, which passes out between Khawarnaq and Hirah; on its right are numerous streams which water the country. All the tribes who have made peace with the Mussulmans before my arrival tremble before the Persians, and are ready to assist me.” The historians of the first conquests divide this affair at Quadesyeh into four battles. The first is called the battle of Ermath; the second, the battle of Aghwath; the third, the battle of Amas; the evening preceding the fourth, they called the evening of Herir or of the storm; and the last, the battle of Quadesyeh. The celebrated Rustam, son of Farrokh-Zad, lost his life in this battle, and the Persians could not replace this skilful general. (Dictionnaire geographique, historique et littéraire de la Perse et des Contrées adjacentes, taken from the Mo’d’jem el-Bouldan of Yaqout, &c. Trans. Barbier de Meynard, Paris, 1861, p. 432.)
[8] The town of Elkadder, not far from Kerbela, marks the old site of Kadesia. As to Koufah a collection of ruins marks the site of the capital of the Caliphate, which is said to have been as great as Babylon.
[9] “There was at Ozhaïb a castle belonging to the Persians called Qodaïs, whence, it is said, the name Quadesyeh. Sa’d occupied it with his harem, as he was suffering from gout, and could neither sit nor ride. Lying on the top of this fortress he watched his army, and some men posted below transmitted his military orders and arrangements” (Merasid) (See [Essai sur l’Histoire des Arabes] by Caussin de Perceval, iii. 481–485, and Weil, [Gesch. der Chal.] i. pp. 65 et seq.
[10] Malcolm, [Hist. of Persia], vol. i. ch. vi. p. 174. Weil, Geschichte der Chalifen, ch. ii. pp. 54 et seq. Caussin de Perceval, Histoire des Arabes, bk. x. pp. 481 et seq. Masoudi, [Prairies d’or], trans. Barbier de Meynard, c. lxxvi. p. 207. Tabari, trans. H. Zotenburg, part iv. ch. xli. pp. 385 et seq.