Battle of Burs

Background

With the victory at Qadisiyya, thc road to Ctesiphon (called Al-Madain by the Muslims) the capital of Persia lay open to the Muslims. but that was not the end of the Persian rude in Iraq. As long as the Persians held their capital Ctesiphon, there was always the danger that at some suitable moment they would make an attempt to recover what they had lost, and drive away the Arabs from Iraq. so Umar then instructed Sa'ad the Muslims should push forward to Ctesiphon and wrest it from the Persians.

Rashidun troops deployment

Some time towards the end of November 636, Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās issued orders t to march to Ctesiphon. Sa'ad reorganised his army into five corps, and each corps was placed under the command of a veteran General. The commanders were:

• Zuhra bin Al-Hawiyya
• Abdullah bin Muta'm
• Shurahbeel bin Al-Samt
• Hashim bin Utban
• Khalid bin Urfula

The entire army consisted of cavalry.

From Qadisiyya, the main stages on the route to Ctesiphon were Najaf; Burs; Babylon; Sura; Deir Kab; Kusa; Sabat; and Ctesiphon.

The corps of Zuhra b. Al-Hawiyya set off as the advance guard. It occupied Najaf and stayed there till the other corps reached Najaf. Then Zuhra with his corps crossed the Euphrates and proceeded on the road to Ctesiphon. He reacted Burs on the western bank of the Hilla branch of the Euphrates.

The battle

At Burs the advance of Zuhra was resisted by a Persian force under the command of Busbuhra the Mayor of Burs. The troops on both sides were deployed for action. Busbuhra stepped forward and gave the challenge for a personal duel. Zuhra accepted the challenge. Zuhra inflicted heavy wounds on Busbuhra. Profusely bleeding he retired. There was some fighting but the Persians were no match for the Muslims. The Persian army withdrew and crossing the Hilla branch proceeded to join the main Persian army at Babylon. At Babylon, Busbuhra died of the wounds.

After the withdrawal of the Persian force, the people of Burs approached Zuhra with the offer of peace, which was accepted. Zuhra stayed at Burs for some time to attend to administrative matters. In the meantime other Muslim corps also arrived at Burs.^[1]

Aftermath

After the Persian forces had left, the citizens of Babylon formally surrendered. They were afforded protection under the usual terms after payment of jaziya. Some volunteered to cooperate with the Muslims in their fight against the Sassanid regime and provided a good deal of useful information about the disposition of Persian forces. Some Babylonian engineers are said to have been employed in the construction of roads and bridges. While the main Muslim army remained at Babylon, Zuhra was commanded by Saad to pursue the Persians who had retreated from Babylon, before they could concentrate effectively at some other place to give a combined resistance. The Muslim advance guard under Zuhra followed the Persians, and caught their rear-guard at Sura, where the Sassanid forces were routed; they then retreated towards Deir Kab. Zuhra next marched to Deir Kab where after defeating the Sassanid detachment he afforded protection to the people under the usual terms. Early in January 637, the Muslim advance guard under Zuhra reached Kusa, ten miles from Ctesiphon, where Sassanid Persians were to make their last stand to delay the Muslim advance. The Sassanid detachment there was commanded by Shahryar, who was killed in a duel with the Muslim Mubarizun. The rest of the Sassanid army quickly withdrew to Ctesiphon, whereupon the Muslims occupied Kusa on the usual terms. After the victory, Zuhra stayed at Kusa for some time. In the meantime the main army reached Kusa, an historically important location for Muslims who believed this was where Nimrod imprisoned the Prophet Abraham and threw him into a fire, from which he emerged unharmed. Saad wrote a detailed account of the march towards Ctesiphon. In the second week of January 637, the Muslim advance guard reached Sabat, four miles from Ctesiphon. Although this was a Persian cantonment, there was no garrison present. The residents were given protection on the usual terms after payment of jaziya. The Muslims now occupied all the territory up to the gates of Ctesiphon.

References and notes