Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, (636/637), battle fought near Al-Ḥīrah (in present-day Iraq) between forces of the Sāsānian dynasty and an invading Arab army. The Arab victory over the army of Yazdegerd III (reigned 632–651) marked the end of his dynasty and the beginning of Arab and Islamic rule in Persia.
al-Ḥīrah, (from Syriac ḥirtā, “camp”), English Hira, ancient city located south of al-Kūfah in south-central Iraq; it was prominent in pre-Islāmic Arab history. The town was originally a military encampment, but in the 5th and 6th centuries ad it was the capital of the Lakhmids, who were Arab vassals of Sāsānian Persia (Iran). As such it was a centre of diplomatic, political, and military activities involving Persia, the Byzantine Empire, and the Arabian Peninsula. It protected the Sāsānians from the attacks of Arabian nomads and served as an important station on the caravan route between Persia and the Arabian Peninsula.
Al-Ḥīrah is most important, however, in the cultural history of the Arabs before the advent of Islām. The Lakhmids adorned the town with palaces and castles in its heyday during the 6th century. Tradition holds that the Arabic script was developed there, and al-Ḥīrah’s role in the development of Arabic poetry and Arab Christianity was especially significant. Some of the best-known poets in pre-Islāmic Arabia (e.g., Ṭarafah and an-Nābighah adh-Dhubyānī) gravitated toward the Lakhmid court. As the seat of a bishopric for Nestorian Christians, al-Ḥīrah exercised a strong influence over the religious life of the East, helping Christian monotheism to penetrate the Arabian Peninsula.
The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, romanized: Maʿrakah al-Qādisīyah; Persian: نبرد قادسیه, romanized: Nabard-e Qâdisiyeh), also spelled Qadisiyah, Qadisiyya, Ghadesiyeh or Kadisiya, fought in 636, was a decisive battle between the Arab Muslim army and the army of the Sasanian Empire of Persia during the first period of Muslim conquests.
Although the description of this battle has had an important place in Islamic historiography, much of the material has little historical value.[10] The battle took place at an uncertain date at the small frontier town of Qadisiyyah. The larger Sasanian army was headed by the important military and political figure Rostam Farrokhzad, who died in uncertain circumstances during battle, and a collapse of the Sasanian army led to an Arab Muslim victory.[10]
The Muslim victory was key to the conquest of Asorestan (Iraq), and was followed by major engagements at Jalula and Nahavand. The battle also saw the alleged alliance of Emperor Yazdegerd III with Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who married his granddaughter Manyanh to Yazdegerd as a symbol of alliance
Caliph Umar started raising new armies from all over Arabia with the intention of re-invading Iraq. Umar appointed Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās, an important member of the Quraysh tribe as commander of this army. In May 636, Sa'd was instructed to march to Northern Arabia with a contingent of 4,000 men from his camp at Sisra (near Madinah) and take over command of the Muslim army, and immediately march onwards to Iraq. Because of his inexperience as a general, he was instructed by Caliph Umar to seek the advice of experienced commanders before making critical decisions. Umar sent orders to him to halt at al-Qadisiyyah, a small town 30 miles from Kufah.
Umar continued to remotely issue strategic orders and commands to his army throughout the campaign. Due to a shortage of manpower, Umar decided to lift the ban on the ex-apostate tribes of Arabia from participating in state affairs. The army raised was not professional but a volunteer force composed of newly recruited contingents from all over Arabia. After a decisive victory against the Byzantine army at the Yarmouk, Umar sent immediate orders to Abu Ubaidah to send a contingent of veterans to Iraq. A force of 5,000 veterans of Yarmouk were also sent to Qadisiyya, arriving on the second day of the battle there. This proved to be a major turning point, and a major morale booster for the Muslim army. The battle of Qadissiyyah was fought predominantly between Umar and Rostam, rather than between Sa'd and Rostam. Coincidentally, the bulk of the Sassanid army was also made up of new recruits, since the bulk of the regular Sassanid forces was destroyed during the Battles of Walaja and Ullais.
