`Adi ibn tay was about to start with his contingent when a...

`Adi ibn tay was about to start with his contingent when a message came from Malik ibn Ka`b that they were able to force the enemy away and they were no more in need of the reinforcements. It happened that Malik thought it would take time to get help from al-Kūfah and he took the precaution of sending `Abdullah ibn Hawzah al-Azdi to Qarazah Ibn Ka`b and Mikhnaf ibn Salim and sought help from them.

Qarazah said that he was stationed for collection of the tribute and the men under him were not suitable for battle, but Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym sent 50 men under the command of his son, `Abd al-Rahman. When around the time of `Asr Prayer the group reached near Ayn al Tamr, they found that Malik and his men were standing with their backs to the wall and, having broken the sheaths of their sword, they were ready to fight unto death.

When al-Nu`man saw this small group he thought this must be the front guard and the larger contingent must be coming from behind. He immediately turned back his troops and ran away. Malik chased them and killed three of their men. In the same 39 H Mu`awiyah sent 6,000 troops with Sufyan ibn `Awf al-Ghamidi to attack al-Anbar and al-Mada’in. He ordered him to destroy the army cantonments of the Imam (a.s). Sufyan first went to Hit.

The governor of Hit, Kumayl ibn Ziyad al-Nakha`i heard that at Qarqisiyah some troops of the Syrians had assembled and had plans to attack Hit. He therefore left the city to meet the invaders, although he was instructed not to leave the place. The result was that when Sufyan’s contingent reached Hit, there was none in the city to defend it. He proceeded to al-Anbar without any resistance at Hit.

At al-Anbar there was stationed a group of 500 men but when the Syrians arrived, there were only 200 present and the rest were not there. Sufyan wanted to gather intelligence about the number of troops there. They caught hold of a few local youths and asked them. They said that presently there must be about 200 men there. When he knew that the number of defenders was very small, he became bold. He advanced with his contingent.

From that side, Ashras ibn Hassan al-Bakri, who was the chief of the men, came out to fight with his small group. When the men saw the huge contingent, more than half of the 200 men fled. And the rest fought with the enemies from the street corners playing the game of hide and seek!