The Battle of Sallasil ( ar, معركة ذات السلاسل ''Dhat al-Salasil'') or the Battle of Chains was the first battle fought between the

Rashidun Caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate ( ar, اَلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ, al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah) was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his ...

and the Sasanian Persian Empire in April 629. The battle was fought in Kazima (present day

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

) soon after the

Ridda Wars The Ridda Wars ( ar, حُرُوْبُ الرِّدَّةِ, lit=Apostasy Wars) were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic proph ...

were over and

Eastern Arabia Eastern Arabia, historically known as al-Baḥrayn ( ar, البحرين) until the 18th century, is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Unite ...

was united under the authority of Caliph Abu Bakr. It was also the first battle of the

in which the Muslim army sought to extend its frontiers.

Background

Muthana ibn Haritha Shaybani was a tribal chief in north

, residing close to the Persian border. After the wars of apostasy, Muthana raided the Persian towns in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. The raids were successful, with a considerable amount of booty being won. Muthana ibn Haritha went to

Madinah Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

to inform Caliph

Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...

about his success, and Abu Bakr appointed him as the commander of his people; after this he began deeper raids into

. Using the mobility of his

light cavalry Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily ...

he could easily raid any town near the

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

and disappear again in to the desert, leaving the

Sassanid army The Sasanian army was the primary military body of the Sasanian armed forces, serving alongside the Sasanian navy. The birth of the army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I (r. 224–241), the founder of the Sasanian Empire, to the throne. Arda ...

unable to chase him. Muthana’s actions made

decide to conquer

from the Sasanians. To make certain of victory, Abu Bakr decided on two measures: the army would consist entirely of volunteers, and it would be commanded by his best general,

Khalid ibn Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in ...

. After defeating the self-proclaimed prophet Musailima in the

Battle of Yamama The Battle of Yamama was fought in December 632 as part of the Ridda Wars against a rebellion within the Rashidun Caliphate in the region of al-Yamama (in present-day Saudi Arabia) between the forces of Abu Bakr and Musaylima, a self-procla ...

, Khalid was still in the Yamama district when Abu Bakr sent him orders to fight the

Sassanid Persian Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

. Making

Al-Hirah Al-Hirah ( ar, الحيرة, translit=al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. History Kingdom of the Lakhmids Al-Hirah was a significant city in pre-Is ...

(an area in Mesopotamia) the objective of Khalid's mission, Abu Bakr sent reinforcements and ordered the tribal chiefs of northeastern Arabia Muthana ibn Haritha, Mazhur bin Adi, Harmala and Sulma to operate under the command of Khalid. In approximately the third week of March 633 AD (first week of

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after ...

12th

Hijrah The Hijrah or Hijra () was the journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Solar Hijri calendars; its date e ...

) Khalid set out from Yamama with an army of 10,000 men. But before doing so he wrote to Hormozd, the Persian

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the frontier district of Dast Meisan: The tribal chiefs and their warriors (2,000 each) joined Khalid in his quest. Thus Khalid entered the Persian Empire with 18,000 troops. The Persian commander informed the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

about the threat from

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...

and concentrated an army for the battle, consisting of a large number of

Christian Arab Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who ...

auxiliaries.

Khalid’s strategy

The

Sasanian army The Sasanian army was the primary military body of the Sasanian armed forces, serving alongside the Sasanian navy. The birth of the army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I (r. 224–241), the founder of the Sasanian Empire, to the throne. Ar ...

was one of the most powerful and best equipped armies of the time, and was an ideal force for a set-piece, head-on confrontation. The only weakness of the Persian army was in its lack of mobility: the heavily armed Persians were not able to move fast, and any prolonged movement would tire them. On the other hand, Khalid's troops were mobile; they were mounted on

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. ...

s with

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

s at the ready for

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

attacks. Khalid's strategy was to use his own speed to exploit the lack in mobility of the

. He planned to force the Persians to carry out marches and counter-marches until they were worn out, and then strike when the Persians were exhausted. Geography would help

to carry out this strategy successfully. There were two routes to Uballa, via Kazima or via Hufair, so Khalid wrote a letter to the Persian leader Hormozd from Yamama so that he would expect Khalid to arrive via the direct route from Yamama to Kazima and then to Uballa.

The battle

Expecting

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in ...

to come though Kazima, Hormozd marched from Uballa to Kazima. At Kazima there were no signs of the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

army. Soon information was given by scouts that

was moving towards Hufeir. As Hufeir was only 21 miles from Uballa, this endangered Hormozd’s base. Uballa which was an important port of the

Sassanid Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...

, situated near modern-day

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

. Hormozd immediately ordered a move to Hufeir, 50 miles away. Khalid waited at Hufeir until his scouts informed him about the hurried approach of Hormozd. Passing through the desert, Khalid moved towards Kazima. On his arrival at Hufeir, Hormozd was informed about Khalid’s march towards Kazima. Because Hormozd could not leave the Kazima route to the Muslims, the heavily armed

was once again ordered to set off for Kazima. The Persians arrived at Kazima in a state of exhaustion. Hormozd at once deployed the army for battle in the normal formation of a centre and wings. The generals commanding his wings were Qubaz and Anoshagan. The men linked themselves together with chains as a sign to the enemy that they were ready to die rather than to run away from the battle field in case of defeat. This lessened the danger of a breakthrough by enemy cavalry, as with the men linked together in chains it was not easy for

groups to knock down a few men and create a gap for penetration. Since the

was organized and trained for the set-piece battle, this tactic enabled it to stand like a rock in the face of an enemy assault. But the chains had one major drawback: in case of defeat the men were incapable of withdrawal, for then the

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. ...

s acted as fetters. It was the use of chains that gave this battle its name.Tabari: Vol. 3, p. 206. Hormozd had deployed his army just forward of the western edge of Kazima, keeping the city covered by his dispositions. Khalid deployed his army with the desert behind them, so that they could retreat there in case of defeat. The exhausted Persian army was unable to stand the attack for long and the Muslims successfully penetrated the Persian front in many places. Sensing defeat, the Persian generals commanding the wings, Qubaz and Anoshagan, ordered a withdrawal, which led to a general retreat. Most of the Persians who were not chained managed to escape, but those who were chained together were unable to move fast, and thousands of them were slain.

Aftermath

After the Battle of Chains, Khalid defeated the Persian armies in three more battles and captured his objective:

. The first Muslim conquest of Iraq was completed within four months.

did not direct Khalid to move deeper into the Sassanid territory, as the Sassanids had ordered reinforcements. Khalid's orders were now to set out to win over the Persian population of Hira. After nine months he sent him to command the

Muslim conquest of Syria The Muslim conquest of the Levant ( ar, فَتْحُ الشَّام, translit=Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam."Syria." Encyclopædia Br ...

References

Online resources

A.I. Akram, The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns Lahore, 1969
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chains Battles of Khalid ibn Walid Battles involving the Rashidun Caliphate Battles involving the Sasanian Empire Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia History of Kuwait 633