His wounds were so numerous that when his sister Rabi' arrived...

His wounds were so numerous that when his sister Rabi' arrived, she managed to identify him only by means of his fingertips.[^6] The Muslim Slave Fudhail Ibn Zaid Raqqashi, one of the Muslim officials, along with his soldiers laid siege to a fort, by the name of Shahriyaj, with the objective of conquering it. After some hours of battle, he returned to his camp for some rest. In those days, slaves who came into the captivity of the Muslims, were put up for sale in the market.

If they happened to be Muslims, they would battle against the enemies alongside their Muslim brethren. In Fudhail's army too there was a slave soldier, who happened to lag behind the main contingent. Observing him to be alone, the enemy forces spoke to him in the local dialect from atop the fort and sought pardon and safety from him; the soldier acceded to their demand and granted them the letter of pardon.

When the forces of Islam advanced upon the fort, the enemy forces opened its door before them leaving the Muslim soldiers bewildered. The enemy forces carried the letter of pardon of the slave soldier and presented it to the Muslim army. Acknowledging a pardon granted by a slave soldier was very unusual in…