CHAPTER II.
EXPEDITION OF OSÂMA TO THE SYRIAN BORDER.
A.H. XI. A.D. 632.
Osâma ordered by Mahomet to lead an expedition against the Syrian border, A.H. XI. May, A.D. 632.
Abu Bekr soon had the opportunity of showing that he was resolved to carry out the commands of Mahomet to the very letter. A few weeks previously an expedition had been ordered to avenge by a raid on the Syrian border the disaster which, three years before, had tarnished the Moslem arms. In that reverse Zeid, the Prophet’s bosom friend, who led the army, was with many others slain at Mûta; and the more distinctly now to mark the object of the campaign, his son Osâma, though still a youth, was nominated by Mahomet to the command, and bidden to avenge his father’s death. The camp was formed at Jorf, a little way on the Syrian road; but during the Prophet’s sickness the force remained inactive, uncertain of the issue. When the fatal event took place, Osâma broke up the camp, and carrying back the banner which he had received at the hands of Mahomet, planted it in the court of the Great Mosque, close by the door of Ayesha’s apartment.
Abu Bekr deaf to reclamations against its dispatch.
The day following his inauguration as Caliph, Abu Bekr took up the banner, and placing it in the hands of Osâma, in token that he was still commander, bade the army again assemble and encamp, as it had done before, at Jorf; and not a man was to be left behind. Obeying the command, the fighting men of Medîna and its neighbourhood flocked again to the camp, and even Omar was amongst the number. While yet preparing to depart, the horizon darkened suddenly. Report of the Prophet’s mortal illness, followed by tidings of his death, had spread like wildfire over the land. From every side there now came rumours of disloyalty, and of the resolve to cast the yoke of Islam off. The sense of the army, and of Osâma himself, was strongly against leaving the city thus defenceless, and the Caliph exposed to the risk of sudden inroad. Omar was deputed to represent this to Abu Bekr, and also to urge (as had been already urged to Mahomet himself[12]) that, if the expedition must proceed, some more experienced general should command. To the first request Abu Bekr replied, calm and unmoved: ‘Were the city swarming round with packs of ravening wolves, and I left solitary and alone, the force should go; not a word from my Master’s lips shall fall to the ground.’ At the second demand the Caliph’s anger kindled: ‘Thy mother be childless, O son of Khattâb!’ he said, seizing Omar by the beard. ‘Shall the Prophet of the Lord appoint a man to the command, and I, deposing him, appoint another in his place?’ So Omar returned, without gaining either object, to the army.
He accompanies it a little way on foot. June, A.D. 682.
When all was ready for the march, Abu Bekr repaired to the camp, and accompanied the force a little way on foot, ‘Be mounted,’ said Osâma to him; ‘or else I will dismount and walk by thee.’ ‘Not so,’ replied Abu Bekr; ‘I will not mount; I will walk and soil my feet, a little moment, in the ways of the Lord. Verily, every step in the ways of the Lord is equal to the merit of manifold good works, and wipeth out a multitude of sins.’ After a while he stopped, and said to Osâma: ‘If it be thy will, give Omar leave that he may return with me to the city, for strength and counsel.’ So he gave him leave.[13]
And gives Osâma instructions.
The army then halted, to receive the parting injunctions of the Caliph. ‘See,’ said he, addressing Osâma, ‘that thou avoid treachery and deceit. Depart not in any wise from the right. Thou shalt mutilate none; neither shalt thou kill child or aged man, nor any woman. Injure not the date-palm, neither burn it with fire; and cut not down any tree wherein is food for man or beast. Slay not of the flocks or herds or camels, saving for needful sustenance. Ye may eat of the meat which the men of the land shall bring unto you in their vessels, making mention thereon of the name of the Lord. And the monks with shaven heads that spend their lives in monasteries, if they submit, leave them in their cloisters unmolested. Now march forward in the name of the Lord, and may He protect you from sword and pestilence!’
Osâma returns victorious, July and August.