Battle of Hazir
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| Battle of Hazir. | |||||||
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| Part of Campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Muslims | Roman Empire Christian Arabs |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Khalid ibn al-Walid | Meenas | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 4000 | 6000-10,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Unknown but very few. | 6000-10,000 The whole army was perished. | ||||||
| Byzantine-Arab Wars |
|---|
| Mutah – Tabouk – Dathin – Firaz - Qarteen – Bosra – Ajnadayn – Marj-al-Rahit – Fahl - Yarmouk – Hazir – Aleppo – Iron Bridge - Nikiou – 1st Constantinople – Syllaeum – That Al-Sawari – Carthage – 2nd Constantinople – Akroinon |
| Campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid |
|---|
| Conquest of Arabia Uhud – Trench – Mu'tah – Mecca – Hunayn – Ta'if Ridda Wars Yamama – Zafar – Buzakha – Ghamra – Naqra Conquest of the Persian Empire Chains – River – Walaja – Hira – Al-Anbar – Ein-ul-tamr – Daumat-ul-Jandal – Ullais – Muzayyah – Saniyy – Zumail – Firaz Conquest of the Eastern Roman Empire Mu'tah – Firaz – Qarteen – Bosra – Ajnadayn – Marj-al-Rahit – Fahl – Yarmouk – Hazir – Aleppo – Iron Bridge |
Contents |
[edit] Background
After the conquest of Jerusalem Caliph Umar went back to his capital city of Madinah and Following the Caliph's instructions, Yazeed proceeded to Caesarea and once again laid siege to the port city. Amr bin al-A’as and Sharhabeel marched to reoccupy Palestine and Jordan, which task was completed by the end of this year. Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah and Khalid ibn Walid, with an army of 17,000 men, set off from Jerusalem to conquer all of Northern Syria. Abu Ubaidah marched to Damascus, which was already in Muslim hands, and then to Emesa, which welcomed his return. His next objective was Qinassareen, and towards this the army advanced with Khalid and the Mobile Guard in the lead. After a few days the Mobile Guard reached Hazir, 3 miles east of Qinassareen, and here it was attacked in strength by the Byzantines. The Byzantine commander at Qinassareen was a general named Meenas, a distinguished soldier who was loved by his men. Meenas knew that if he stayed in Qinassareen, he would be besieged by the Muslims and would eventually have to surrender, as at present no help could be expected from the Emperor. He therefore decided to take the offensive and attack the leading elements of the Muslim army well forward of the city and defeat them before they could be joined by the main body. With this plan in mind, Meenas attacked the Mobile Guard at Hazir with a force whose strength is not recorded; He either did not know that Khalid was present with the leading elements of the Muslim army or did not believe all that he had heard about Khalid ibn Walid.
[edit] Battle
The Battle began at Hazir, which was a farming village, on a plain 3 miles east of Qinassareen. Khalid to throw his cavalry into fighting formation for battle, Meenas arranged his army in one center and two wings and was himself leading the army in the front ranks like Khalid, and soon a fierce action was raging at Hazir. The battle was still in its early stages when Meenas was killed; and as the news of his death spread among his men, the Romans went wild with fury and attacked savagely to avenge their beloved leader's death. But they were up against the finest body of men of the time. Soon Khalid ordered the cavalry to charge from the sides of the wings and him self took a cavalry and manoeuvred from a side of one of the wing and attacked the Byzantine army from the rear soon the whole army encircled and . Their very desire for vengeance proved their undoing for not a single Roman survived the Battle of Hazir.[1]
[edit] Aftermaths
As soon as the battle was over, the people of Hazir came out of their town to greet Khalid. They pleaded that they were Arabs and had no intention to fight him. Khalid accepted their surrender, and advanced to Qinassareen. Qinassareen the part of the Roman garrison which had not accompanied Meenas to Hazir shut itself up in the fort. As soon as Khalid arrived, he sent a message to the garrison:
| “ | "If you were in the clouds, Allah would raise us to you or lower you to us for battle." | ” |
. [2] Without further delay Qinassareen surrendered to Khalid. The Battle of Hazir and the surrender of Qinassareen took place about June 637.
When Caliph Umar received reports of the Battle of Hazir, he made no attempt to conceal his admiration - for the military genius of Khalid. Umar exclaimed..
| “ | "Khalid is truly the commander," . "May Allah have mercy upon Abu Bakr. He was a better judge of men than I have been." | ” |
.
This was Umar's first admission that perhaps he had not judged Khalid rightly after he had dismissed Khalid from the command of Muslims army.[3]
[edit] On-line Resources
A.I. Akram, The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns Lahore, 1969
[edit] References
- A.I. Akram, The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns, Nat. Publishing. House, Rawalpindi (1970) ISBN 978-0-7101-0104-4.
