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The Battle of Mootah
IN 629 THE CHRISTIAN ARAB TRIBE OF GHASSAN was ruled
by Shorhail, a prince who was a vassal of the Byzantine emperor. He was one of those
rulers who had received letters from Muhammad Mustafa inviting them to accept Islam. In
those days he held court in Mootah, a town east of the Dead Sea. When the Prophet's
emissary, Harith bin Umayr, arrived at his court bearing the letter for him, he ordered
his execution. The murder of Harith bin Umayr was an unprovoked
outrage, and the killing of an ambassador is considered an unpardonable crime in many
nations. The Prophet decided to take punitive action. He equipped an army of 3000 men, and
sent it under the command of his friend and freedman, Zayd bin Haritha, to Mootah, to
demand reparations. At the same time, he designated a chain of command and responsibility.
In the event of Zayd's death, the command of the army was to pass on to Jaafer ibn Abi
Talib. If he too were to be killed, then the third general was to be Abdullah ibn Rawaha. When Shorhail heard that an army was approaching his
capital from Medina, he also mobilized his men, and was soon ready to meet it. He deployed
his troops on the south-side, out of the walls of Mootah. They were composed of the Roman
garrison of Mootah, and the freshly raised tribal levies. When the Muslims arrived and
took stock of the situation, they realized that it was going to be an unequal fight as
they were heavily outnumbered by the enemy. The Muslim leaders held a war council. Zayd bin
Haritha proposed that they immediately send a messenger to the Prophet apprising him of
the imbalance in the strength of the two forces, and requesting him to send
reinforcements. But Abdullah bin Rawaha opposed him, and said that the decision to fight
or not to fight did not rest upon their numbers, and if they were outnumbered by the
enemy, it was immaterial for them. "We fight to win the crown of martyrdom, and not
the laurels of victory, and here is our chance; let us not miss it," he said.
Abdullah bin Rawaha clinched the debate with his powerful argument, and the Muslims
advanced to meet the enemy. At the very first clash of arms, Zayd bin Haritha, the first
general of the Muslims, was killed. Betty Kelen Zayd took the Apostle's standard and was killed
almost at once, the first Muslim to die for the faith on foreign soil. (Mohammed,
Messenger of God) The command of the army then passed to Jaafer ibn
Abi Talib, the elder brother of Ali. He fought most gallantly and for a long time, killing
so many of the enemy that their bodies were stacked like cordwood all around him. But then
a Roman soldier crept up from behind, unseen, and struck a blow with his sword at his
right arm, and severed it. Jaafer didn't let the banner fall, and kept pressing the enemy.
A little later, another Roman came from behind, and with a blow of his sword, cut his left
arm also. The hero, still undismayed, held the banner under his chin, and kept advancing.
But with both arms gone, he was unable to defend himself, and in a few moments, a third
Roman approached him, and killed him with a blow of his mace on his head. After Jaafer's
death, Abdullah bin Rawaha took charge of the army, and he too fell fighting against heavy
odds. Washington Irving Among the different missions which Mohammed had sent
beyond the bounds of Arabia to invite neighboring princes to accept Islam, was one to the
governor of Bosra, the great mart on the confines of Syria. His envoy was killed at Mootah
by an Arab of the Christian tribe of Ghassan, and son to Shorhail, an emir, who governed
Mootah in the name of Heraclius. Mohammed sent an army of 3000 against the offending
city. It was a momentous expedition, as it might, for the first time, bring the arms of
Islam in collision with those of the Roman Empire. The command was entrusted to Zaid, his
freedman. Several chosen officers were associated with him. One was Mohammed's cousin,
Jaafer, the same who, by his eloquence, had vindicated the doctrines of Islam before the
king of Abyssinia, and defeated the Koreishite embassy. He was now in the prime of life,
and noted for great courage and manly beauty. (The Life of Mohammed) As Jaafer charged the enemy, he sang a song. Sir
William Muir has given the following translation of his song: Paradise! O Paradise! How fair a resting place! Cold is the water there, and sweet the shade. Rome, Rome! Thine hour of tribulation draweth nigh. When I close with her, I will hurl her to the
ground. When Jaafer was killed, his body was brought into
the camp. Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab, who was with the army, says that he counted
the wounds on the hero's body, and found more than fifty of them, and they were all in
front. Jaafer had dared sword and spear even after the loss of his arms, but had not
flinched. When all three generals appointed by the Prophet had
been killed, the Muslims were left leaderless for a time. Then Khalid bin al-Walid who was
also fighting in the ranks, seized the banner, and managed to rally the Muslims. At night
the armies disengaged, and this gave him the opportunity to reorganize his men. He is said
to have fought a defensive action on the following day but realizing that it was
impossible to win a victory, ordered a retreat from Mootah, and succeeded in bringing the
remnants of the army back to Medina. When these warriors entered Medina, they got a
"reception" that must have made them forget the "reception" that the
Romans gave them in Mootah. They were greeted by jeering crowds which cast dust in their
faces and garbage on their heads, and taunted them for fleeing from the enemy instead of
dying like men if not like heroes. Eventually, the Prophet himself was compelled to
intervene on their behalf to rescue them from indignity and molestation. Sir William Muir The ranks of the Muslims were already broken; and
the Romans in full pursuit made great havoc among the fugitives. So, distinctly, in the
secretary of Wackidi. Some accounts pretend that Khalid rallied the army, and either
turned the day against the Romans, or made it a drawn battle. But besides that the brevity
of all the accounts is proof enough of a reverse, the reception of the army on its return
to Medina, admits of only one conclusion, viz. a complete, ignominious, and unretrieved
discomfiture. (The Life of Mohammed, London, 1861) Sir John Glubb In the battle of Mootah, Jaafer ibn Abu Talib, the
brother of Ali, seized the banner from the dying Zaid and raised it aloft once more. The
enemy closed in on the heroic Jaafer, who was soon covered with wounds. Tradition relates
that when both his hands were cut off gripping the banner, he still stood firm, holding
the staff between his two stumps, until a Byzantine soldier struck him a mortal blow. When the defeated Muslims approached Medina, the
Prophet and the people of the town went out to meet them. The citizens began to throw dirt
at the crestfallen warriors, crying, "You runaways, you fled from the way of
God!" But Mohammed, with that kind paternalism which he knew well how to use,
interposed on their behalf. Next morning in the mosque, the Prophet announced
that he had, in a vision, seen the martyrs of Mootah in Paradise, reclining upon couches,
but Jaafer was there in the guise of an angel with two wings, stained on their feathers
with the blood of martyrdom. It was as a result of this vision that the martyr has since
been known as Jaafer the Flyer, Jaafer at-Tayyar. (The Great Arab Conquests) Betty Kelen When the army came riding home, he (Mohammed) went
out to meet them, Jafer's son on the saddle before him. It was a terrible homecoming for
these men who had returned from battle alive, following Khalid, while the Prophet's own
relatives and beloved companions had fallen. The people of Medina picked up sand and dirt
along the way to throw at the returning force, shouting, "Cowards! Runaways! You fled
from God." (Muhammad, the Messenger of God) Some Muslim historians have made desperate efforts
to "prove" that Mootah was a Muslim victory which it was not. It is not clear
why a defeat is being dished out by them as a victory. The attempt to prove that Muslims
won the battle, may have been prompted by their desire to present the Muslim soldiers as
invincible. But will they smother truth merely to prove that Muslims were invincible.
After all, the Muslims were defeated in the battle of Uhud! Abul Kalam Azad, the Indian biographer of the
Prophet, says that the Muslims inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Romans at Mootah. He
takes notice of the reception that the citizens of Medina gave to the "victors"
when they came home, but he attributes it to their "ignorance," and says that
they had received wrong reports of the outcome of the battle. But if the citizens had received wrong reports, then
it is curious that no one among the warriors tried to correct them. No one among them, for
example, said to the citizens: "Is this your way of welcoming the heroes of Islam,
with dirt and garbage? Do you reward the defenders of the Faith by booing them and
insulting them?" But they did not pose any such questions. Even if the citizens of Medina had been misinformed
that the Muslims were defeated at Mootah, as Azad claims, then how long it ought to take
them to learn the truth? In the first place, the soldiers themselves did not protest when
the citizens covered them with garbage, as already noted. In the second place, some among
them were too embarrassed to go out of their homes. They did not want to be seen in public
for fear of being upbraided or even rough-handled by the citizens for the abject cowardice
they had shown before the enemy. Their greatest desire was to hide themselves from
everyone else. D. S. Margoliouth The survivors of this disastrous fight (Mootah) were
greeted by the Moslems as deserters, and some were even afraid to appear in public for
some time. Such Spartans had the people of Medina become in their eight years of warfare.
(Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, 1931) Muhammad Husayn Haykal As soon as Khalid and the army reached Medinah,
Muhammad and the Muslims went out to meet them, Muhammad carrying on his arm, Abdullah,
the son of Ja'far, the second commander of the Muslim force. Upon learning the news, the
people flung dust in the face of the Muslim soldiers and accused them of fleeing in the
face of the enemy and abandoning the cause of God. The Prophet of God argued with his
people that the soldiers did not flee but simply withdrew in order, with God's will, to
advance again. Despite this justification on the part of Muhammad of the Muslim army, the
people were not willing to forgive them their withdrawal and return. Salamah ibn Hisham, a
member of this expedition, would neither go to the mosque for prayer nor show himself in
public in order to avoid being chastised for fleeing from the cause of God. Were it not
for the fact that these same men, especially Khalid ibn al-Walid, later distinguished
themselves in battle against the same enemy, their reputations would have remained forever
stained. (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935) Another "proof" that Abul Kalam Azad has
found of the "victory" of the Muslims at Mootah, is that the Romans did not
pursue them. He says that if the Romans had won the battle of Mootah, they would have
pursued the Muslims to the gates of Medina itself, and beyond. But the Romans might have had other reasons for not
pursuing the Muslims. One of them was that with their cavalry, they could not maneuver in
the desert. The desert to them was like the sea, and neither they nor the Persians had any
"ships" in which to "navigate" in it. The best they could do, was to
operate on the "shores" as "land-powers" which they, in fact, were,
and at a decided disadvantage strategically and tactically against a "maritime"
nation like the Arabs If the Arabs retreated into the desert before an
active foe, their safety was assured. He was simply not equipped to penetrate the desert.
The logistical problems alone of attacking them in their own element discouraged the most
enterprising spirits of those days. The desert was the "fortress" which
protected the Arabs from the ambitions of all the conquerors of the past, and guaranteed
their freedom and independence. Sir John Glubb The key to all the early operations, against Persia
and against Syria alike, is that the Persians and Byzantines could not move in the desert,
being mounted on horses. The Muslims were like a sea-power, cruising offshore in their
ships, whereas the Persians and Byzantines alike could only take up positions on the shore
(that is, the cultivated area) unable to launch out to "sea" and engage the
enemy in his own desert element. Similarly the Arabs, like the Norse or Danish pirates who
raided England, were at first afraid to move inland far from their "ships."
Raiding the areas on the "shores" of the desert, they hastened back to their own
element when danger threatened. (The Great Arab Conquests, 1963) Joel Carmichael There is a remarkable resemblance between the
strategy of the Bedouin and that of the modern sea power. Viewed from the vantage point of
nomads, the desert, which only they could make use of, was like a vast ocean on which they
controlled the only vessels. The Bedouin could use it for supplies and communications -
and as a haven when defeated. They could appear from its depths whenever they wished and
slip back again at will. This gave them enormous mobility and resilience, as long as they
were moving against sedentary communities (Shaping of the Arabs, 1967) The battle was fought just outside Mootah. If the
Arabs had defeated the Romans and had routed them, then what did they do with the city
which lay at their feet? As conquerors they ought to have occupied it. But no historian
has claimed that the Muslims entered Mootah and occupied it. The Arabs were notorious for their love of booty.
This is a fact well-known to every student of their history, and historians like Abul
Kalam Azad cannot be ignorant of it. The same historian says that the number of the Romans
and their allies who fought at Mootah was two hundred thousand. If the Muslims had
defeated the Romans, then they ought to have captured thousands of Romans, and they ought
to have returned to Medina laden with plunder and the treasures of Mootah. But they did
not. The annals are silent on this point. There is no reference to any booty or to any
prisoners of war in the accounts of the battle of Mootah. This silence is the most
eloquent proof that the Muslims were not the victors. Actually, they considered themselves
lucky to have escaped alive from the battlefield. Muhammad Husayn Haykal After the campaign of Mootah, the Muslim army led by
Khalid ibn al Walid returned to Medinah neither victorious nor vanquished, but happy to be
able to return at all. (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935) We admire those Muslims who were aware that they had
shown cowardice in the battle of Mootah, and were ashamed of it. But there were other
Muslims, some of them companions of the Prophet, who fled from battle, not once, but
several times, and they were not ashamed of their performance. One may admire them for
their brazenness though. To save their own dear lives, they could flee from a battlefield,
and then return to it when the scales tilted in favor of the Muslims. The battle of Mootah was a defeat for the Muslims.
As for the Romans, it was nothing more than a minor border skirmish. They drove the Arabs
back into the desert, and for them the incident was closed.
