[174] The order given by Omar is couched in terms which would appear to imply that Khâlid was in supreme command in Syria, from which command he was now deposed, and Abu Obeida substituted in his room. This is not consistent with the previous narrative. It is possible, indeed, to construe the order as deposing Khâlid simply from his command over his own Irâc contingent, and transferring it to Abu Obeida. But it is certain that Abu Obeida from this time became in permanence the Ameer, or governor-general and commander-in-chief of Syria. See Ibn Khaldûn, p. 86, and previous note p. 106.
[175] The date is fixed by that of Abu Bekr’s death (August 22); twenty days after which we are told that the battle was fought. But the messenger bringing the news of the Caliph’s death could hardly have taken more than half that time for so urgent a journey. We may safely, therefore, place the action about the end of August (Jumâd II.); or, rather, following other traditions, early in Rajab, that is, the beginning of September.
[176] The new king is called otherwise Shahrîzân and Shahrîzâz, son of Ardshîr. His commander is called Hormuz Jâdzoweih.
[177] The poet Farazdac (who flourished shortly after), enumerating the various families of the Beni Bekr ibn Wâil, when he comes to the clan of Mothanna, describes him as ‘the hero who slew the elephant at the battle of Babylon.’ So also Abda, a Bedouin poet, who, being in search of his mistress, chanced to be present as a wayfarer at the battle, makes a similar reference to the slaughter of the elephant.
[178] The delay may have been occasioned by Abu Bekr’s sickness, or the proposal to employ the apostate Arabs in the campaign may have been difficult to answer.
[179] The Council House (Dar ul Nadwâ) built by Cossaí. Life of Mahomet, Introduction.
[180] From this account it would appear that Abu Bekr did not perform the full pilgrimage to Mina and Arafât. Some authorities make Omar to preside at this pilgrimage, others Abd al Rahmân. Possibly Abu Bekr performed only the Omra or Lesser Pilgrimage (Ibid. p. xii.), and left Omar to fulfil the other rites.
There is a curious incident quoted by an early writer as an authority to prove that Abu Bekr was himself present. Some one bit the ear of a man at the pilgrimage in play. Abu Bekr sent the case to Omar as judge, and he summoned a surgeon. Thereupon Abu Bekr recited, as in point, a story of the Prophet, who, having made the gift of a slave to his aunt, bade her not to bring him up as a surgeon, lest in the discharge of his profession he should be subject to reprisals for injuries done in surgical operations.
[181] That is, the year in which the Viceroy of Yemen besieged Mecca. He had in his train an elephant; and the year, A.D. 570, is therefore called ‘the year of the Elephant.’ Ibid. p. xxvi.
[182] There is a tradition that Abu Bekr’s illness was owing to poison, given to him and to Attâb and another, which, being a slow but deadly drug, did not take effect till a year after. No details are given; the tale is evidently apocryphal, and based on the desire (common in those early days) to give to Abu Bekr the honour of martyrdom.