Omar was disconsolate at the death of Nómân; and he promoted his brother Nóeim ibn Mocarrin (one of the three heroes of Dzul Cassa) to high command. He had now embarked on an enterprise from which there was no returning. The proud Yezdegird refused to yield, and Omar no longer scrupled pursuing him to the bitter end. But a long series of campaigns was yet needful, effectually to reduce the empire. These it is not the object of this work to trace otherwise than in such brief and cursory way as shall enable the reader to estimate the expanding area and growing obligations of the Caliphate. The warlike races of the southern shores of the Caspian gathered under Isfandiar, brother of the ill-fated Rustem, for the defence of Rei, one of the royal cities of Persia. Assuming the offensive, they began to harry the Mussulman garrisons. Nóeim advanced to meet them; and another great battle and decisive victory placed the city at his mercy.[391] Yezdegird flies to Merve, where Turks espouse his cause.Isfandiar retired to Azerbâijân; where, again defeated, he was taken prisoner; and at last, without much compunction, he threw in his lot, and made common cause with the invading army. From Rei, Yezdegird fled south to Ispahan; finding no shelter there, he hurried on to Kermân; then he retired to Balkh: and at last he took refuge in Merve, whence he sought the aid of the Khâcân of the Turks, and of the Emperor of China. The Khâcân espoused his cause; and for several years the contest was waged with varying success in the vicinity of Merve. But in the end the Turks retired, and with them Yezdegird, across the Oxus. Death of Yezdegird. A.H. XXXI. A.D. 651.The conflict was subsequently renewed, and nine or ten years afterwards, in the reign of Othman, Yezdegird, bereft of his treasures and deserted by his followers, who in vain besought him to tender his submission, perished miserably in the hut of a miller, whither he had fled for refuge.
Reduction of the Persian empire.
On the fall of Rei, the Arabs lost no time in turning their arms against all quarters at once of the Persian empire. Six considerable armies, drawn from Kûfa and Bussorah, and continually replenished from Arabia and the provinces by soldiers of fortune thirsting for rapine and renown, invaded as many different regions; and these, as they were overrun, fell each under the government of the leader who reduced it. Thus, one after another, Fars, Kermân, Mokrân, Sejestan, Khorasan, and Azerbâijân, were annexed to the empire of Islam. Some of these, though subordinate in name, had been virtually independent; and so now, even after the heart had ceased to beat, they maintained a dangerous vitality. When tributary and reduced to an outward subjection, the people would ever and again rise in rebellion; and it was long before the Arabs could subside into a settled life, or feel secure away from the protection of garrisoned entrenchments. Subordinate position of the conquered races.But the privileges of Islam on the mere confession of the Faith were so considerable and enticing, that the adherents of the Zoroastrian worship were unable to resist the attraction; by degrees the Persian race came over to the dominant creed, and in the end opposition ceased. The notices of Zoroastrian families, and of Fire temples destroyed in after reigns, show indeed that in many quarters the conversion was slow and partial.[392] But after the fall of the Court, the death of Yezdegird, and the extinction of outlying authority, the political and social inducements to join the faith of the conquerors were, for the most part, irresistible. The polished Persian formed a new element in Moslem society. But however noble and refined, he long held a place inferior to, and altogether distinct from, that maintained by the rude but dominant races of Arabian blood. Individuals or families belonging to the subject peoples, on embracing Islam, attached themselves to some Arab chief or clan, as adherents, or ‘clients’ of the same; and in this dependent position could claim some of the privileges of the ruling faith. But neither here nor in other lands did they intermarry with the Arabs on equal terms; they were looked down upon as of an inferior caste. Thus, although in theory, on becoming Mussulmans, the conquered nations thereby entered the equal brotherhood of the Faith, they formed, not the less, a lower estate. The race and language, ancestral dignity, and political privileges, of the Arabs continued to be paramount throughout the empire for many generations.
Miraculous tale connected with the siege of Darâbgird.
While passing by thus cursorily the military details of connected outlying conquest, there is one episode which I may mention, as containing a curious relation of miraculous interposition, such as we rarely meet with in the tradition of events subsequent to the Prophet’s death. The warrior Saria had long besieged with inadequate force the stronghold Darâbgird in Kermân, when a band of Kurds came suddenly down to its relief. The small Arab army, taken thus on both sides, would have been cut to pieces, had not Saria, warned by a cry from heaven, promptly sought refuge upon a hill at his rear. Omar on that very day (so the tradition runs), as he conducted the Friday service in the Great Mosque at Medîna, saw distinctly in a vision the impending disaster, and trembling for his safety, cried aloud, ‘To the hill, O Saria! to the hill!’ It was this voice which reached Saria, clear from the sky, just in time to enable him to make good his retreat to the hill, from whence, having rallied his troops, he turned again and discomfited the enemy. Omar, we are told, related the whole affair of the retreat and subsequent victory, at the moment it occurred; and with this the courier’s report, received several weeks after, was found exactly to tally.[393]
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE LATER YEARS OF OMAR’S REIGN—DOMESTIC EVENTS.
A.H. XVII.-XXIII. A.D. 638–644.
Quiet in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt.
While the arms of Islam were thus rapidly reducing province after province in the East to the sway of Omar from the Caspian to the Indian Ocean, the wave of conquest was for the time calmed down in Asia Minor. There had now for some time prevailed a period of comparative quiet. After the death of Heraclius there was no spirit left in the Byzantine empire to continue the struggle either by land or by sea. Desultory attempts were made, indeed, at intervals upon the coast; but they were followed by no lasting success.[394] Muâvia was busy meanwhile consolidating the administration of Syria; and, with a sagacious foresight, strengthening his hold upon the provinces against the contingencies of the future. Elsewhere peace prevailed. Shorahbîl ruled over the district of the Jordan. Amru maintained a firm government in Egypt; and, pushing a chronic warfare against the native tribes and the Roman settlements on the coast of Africa, gradually extended the boundaries of Islam towards the West. Arabia, still pouring forth its unquiet spirits to fight in the wars abroad, was tranquil at home under its various governors.
Omar visits Mecca, and founds Grand Square around Kâaba.
Besides the journeys into Syria already mentioned, Omar only quitted his residence at Medîna for the purpose of performing the annual pilgrimage.[395] The governors of the various provinces were wont to repair to Mecca to discharge at that season the same religious obligation; and the Caliph used to improve the opportunity for conferring with them, as they returned by way of Medîna, on such provincial business as needed his attention. The occasion, in fact, served the purposes of an annual report delivered orally of local government. Several years before his death, Omar spent three weeks within the sacred precincts of Mecca, and enlarged the space around the Kâaba. The dwellings approaching too closely the Holy House were pulled down, and the first step taken towards the formation of a grand square and piazza fitting the place of worship for all nations. Some of the owners refused to sell their patrimony; but the houses were demolished nevertheless, and the price in compensation left at their disposal in the treasury. The boundary pillars of the Haram, or Sacred Territory, were renewed. And convenient halting places were constructed at the pilgrim stations on the road to Medîna, for the custody of which, and the care of the adjoining springs of water, the local tribes were held responsible.