ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Islam Chapter Two : the Spread of Islam The war of Mu’tah After the Hudaybiyah Truce, the Holy Prophet started his universal mission and invited the heads of governments of the world to his faith. Among the countries of those days, the Roman Empire and the Iranian Empire enjoyed high standards of living.

Having acquired some information regarding the Prophet’s mission, Caesar of Rome had the will to accept Islam; but when he revealed his intentions, he was resisted by the Christians and the Roman army; therefore, he had to withdraw his decision.[^23] This shows that the commanders of the Roman army had a hostile attitude towards Islam. We could find the root of the Mu’tah war with this view.

In order to spread his faith outside the Arabian Peninsula, the Holy Prophet dispatched Harith Ibn `Umayr al-Azdi to carry a letter to the King of Busra (Damascus).[^24] That was in Jumada al-¬la, the eighth year of Hegira. Shurahbil ibn `Amr al-Ghassani, the governor of Damascus appointed by the Roman emperor,[^25] arrested the Holy Prophet’s courier and, having known the nature of his mission, killed him at the village of Mu’tah.

This event saddened the Holy Prophet greatly.[^26] Although the murder of one person could not be considered good reason to start war, the murder of the Holy Prophet’s representative, which was against ethical codes, was in fact a sort of military threat on the part of the governor of Damascus vis-à-vis the peaceful invitation to the Holy Prophet’s faith. He therefore decided to send a troop over there. This movement could be interpreted as a sign of military power.

Based on these facts, the Holy Prophet dispatched to Mu’tah an army of three thousand troops under the commandership of Ja`far ibn Abi-talib,[^27] Zayd ibn Harithah and `Abdullah ibn Rawahah respectively.[^28] The Islamic troops faced the one hundred thousand troops of Rome near the village of Mu’tah. The three Muslim commanders bore the banner in turn and they all were martyred. Then, the Muslim troops elected Khalid ibn Walid as the commander-in-chief.