Battle of Ayn al-Tamr

32°33′58.0″N 43°29′25.4″E / 32.566111°N 43.490389°E / 32.566111; 43.490389

Battle of Ayn al-Tamr
Part of Muslim conquest of Persia and
Campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid

Al-Razzaza Lake in Ain Al-Tamr
Date633 AD
Location
Ayn al-Tamr, Sasanian Empire
Result
Belligerents
Rashidun Caliphate Sasanian Empire[1]
Arab Christians[2]
Commanders and leaders
Khalid ibn al-Walid Mihran Bahram-i Chubin (MIA)
Aqqa ibn Qays ibn Bashir (POW), later executed Executed
Strength
500–800[Notes 1][6] Unknown number, although it consisted of a "great" following of Arab Christian tribes and Sassanian "mobile troops". At least tens of thousand[3]
Casualties and losses
Unknown Entire field army executed Executed
Persian garrison defenders of the town slaughtered[4]

The Battle of Ayn al-Tamr (Arabic: معركة عين التمر) took place in modern-day Iraq (Mesopotamia) between the early Muslim Arab forces and the Sassanians along with their Arab Christian auxiliary forces. Ayn al-Tamr is located west of Anbar and was a frontier post which had been established to aid the Sassanids.[7]

The Muslims under Khalid ibn al-Walid's command soundly defeated the Sassanian auxiliary force, which included large numbers of non-Muslim Arabs who broke earlier covenants with the Muslims.[8] According to William Muir, Khalid ibn al-Walid captured the Arab Christian commander, Aqqa ibn Qays ibn Bashir, with his own hands,[9] which matched the accounts of both Ibn Atheer in his Usd al-ghabah fi marifat al-Saḥabah, and Tabari in his Tarikh.[3][4]

  1. ^ Annals of the Early Caliphate by William Muir pg. 85
  2. ^ Iraq After the Muslim Conquest by Michael G. Morony, pg 224
  3. ^ a b c d Ibn Atheer.
  4. ^ a b c Tabari 1993, p. 53-54.
  5. ^ Tabari 1993, p. 55.
  6. ^ a b Baladhuri 2011, p. 169.
  7. ^ The Caliph's Last Heritage: A Short History of the Turkish Empire by Mark Sykes
  8. ^ The Book of Revenue: Kitab Al-Amwal by Abu 'Ubayd Al-Qasim Ibn Sallam, pg 194
  9. ^ Muir 1883, p. 62.


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