Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi () was a wealthy Arab clan chief and military commander during the time of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

; he belonged to the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe.Encyclopaedia of Islam By Mufti M. Mukarram Ahmed, Muzaffar Husain Syed, pg.200
/ref> In 625 he was defeated in the Expedition of Qatan, a Muslim expedition against him. He also took part in the Battle of the Trench in 627 against Muhammad and in

Battle of Buzakha The Battle of Buzakha took place between Khalid ibn al-Walid and Tulayha, in September 632. Strength Khalid had 6,000 men under his disposal while Tulayha had 35,000 men. General engagement Tuhlaya himself took up a position somewhere ...

and Battle of Ghamra in 632 against

Rashidun caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate () is a title given for the reigns of first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali collectively — believed to Political aspects of Islam, represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the ...

. He later submitted to the caliphate and participated in the

Battle of al-Qadisiyyah The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah ( ; ) took place between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sasanian Empire in November 636. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Rashidun army and is considered to be one of the most significant engagements of the ...

, Battle of Jalula, and the

Battle of Nahavand The Battle of Nahavand ( ', '), also spelled Nihavand or Nahawand, was fought in 642 between the Rashidun Caliphate, Rashidun Muslims, Muslim Rashidun army, forces under Caliphate, caliph Umar and Sasanian Empire, Sasanian Persian armies under ...

on the Muslim side. He along with

Amr ibn Ma'adi Yakrib Amr ibn Ma'adi Yakrib al-Zubaīdi al-Madḥ'hijī () (died 642 CE) was an Arabian cavalry commander of the Zubaid clan in Yemen, part of the Madhhij tribe confederation. Amr is considered a legendary warrior, battling against legendary figures ...

were praised by

Umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...

for their strength in battlefield and military wisdom during the

Muslim conquest of Persia As part of the early Muslim conquests, which were initiated by Muhammad in 622, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654. This event led to the decline of Zoroastrianism, which had been the official religion of ...

Biography

In 631, Tulayha claimed to be a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

and the recipient of divine revelation and rebelled against

. Thus, Tulayha became the third person to claim prophethood among the Arabs against Muhammad. Many tribes acknowledged him as a prophet, which made him sufficiently strong and powerful to lead a confederacy of numerous tribes against the Muslims. In July 632,

Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...

raised an army mainly from

Banu Hashim Banu Hashim () is an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged, named after Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf. Members of this clan, and especially their descendants, are also referred ...

, a clan within the tribe of

Quraysh The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...

Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until Assassination of Ali, his assassination in 661, as well as the first imamate in Shia doctrine, Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muha ...

, Talha ibn Ubaidullah and Zubair ibn al-Awam, were each appointed as commander of one-third of the newly organized force. They fought the Battle of Zhu Qissa against the forces of Tulayha and his followers as they prepared to launch an attack on Medina during the Ridda wars. The Rashidun commanders held until they were reinforced by Abu Bakr. Tulayha was defeated and his forces were driven back to Zhu Hussa. Thereafter,

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

was sent to crush him and his confederacy. The armies of Khalid and Tulayha met at a place named Buzakha in 632. In this engagement, the army of Tulayha was defeated in the

. Following this battle, many of the rebellious tribes surrendered and accepted Islam. However, Tulayha escaped from Buzakha and sought refuge in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. But when Syria was conquered by the Muslims, Tulayha accepted Islam. In 634, he personally paid homage to

after the latter’s assumption of the position of Caliph. Later on, Tulayha enthusiastically took part in the campaign against the

Sassanid Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

in the Battle of Jalula, the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, and the

Battle of al-Qādisiyyah

The Tabari chronicle records that he played significant roles in the famous battle of al-Qādisiyyah. The translation from Arabic language by Andrew Leber said where the contingent of Bani Assad, the clan of Tulayha played significant role on the Yaum Armath (يوم أرماث) or "The Day of Disorder". At one time recorded he single-handedly rushed enemy ranks in the dark of night and came back with a prisoner of war, Tabari particularly detailed in one chain of Narrations the circumstances in which Tulayha infiltrated the Sassanid camps under the cover of darkness, singlehandedly wreaking havoc in their camps, killing two Sassanid soldiers, taking two horses and then brought back one captive to

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas ibn Wuhayb al-Zuhri () was an Arabs, Arab Muslims, Muslim commander. He was the founder of Kufa and served as its governor under Umar, Umar ibn al-Khattab. He played a leading role in the Muslim conquest of Persia and was a cl ...

Muhammad Husayn Haykal Mohammed Hussein Heikal ( ; August 20, 1888 – December 8, 1956) was an Egyptian writer, journalist, politician. He held several cabinet posts, including minister of education. Life Haekal was born in Kafr Ghannam, Mansoura, Ad Daqahliyah in ...

in his book of

biography, also borrowed the same circumstances and wrote the aftermath of the raid as following: Sa'd asking the Sassanid captive about what happened, the latter answered: The Sassanid prisoner later converted to Islam and gave valuable information to the Muslim army. Another record from the notoriously dubious account of

Ya'qubi ʾAbū al-ʿAbbās ʾAḥmad bin ʾAbī Yaʿqūb bin Ǧaʿfar bin Wahb bin Waḍīḥ al-Yaʿqūbī (died 897/8), commonly referred to simply by his nisba al-Yaʿqūbī, was an Arab Muslim geographer. Life Ya'qubi was born in Baghdad to a fam ...

recorded that Tulayha was among the ones who found the corpse of Rostam Farrokhzād. Later he fought his last battle in the Battle of Nahāvand alongside the Muslim armies and later died as

Shahid ''Shahid'' ( , , ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); the latter sense acq ...

in that battle.

Death

Tulayha was slain at the last battle in Nahavand. However, his performance was pivotal in Muslims victory in this battle.

Appraisal

When Saad bin Abi Waqqas asked Caliph

to send him reinforcements, Umar replied: "I have sent you 2000 men: Amru bin Ma'adi Yakrib and Tulayhah Asadi. Each one of them counts as a thousand." Jabir bin Abdullah has found the praising about Tulayha that he said among soldiers that participating in the battle of al-Qadisiyah that had not desired worldly gain and also exceptionally pious and trustworthy, they are Tulayhah bin Khuwailid Al-Asadi, 'Amr bin Ma'di Karb (another former apostate leader) and

Qays ibn Makshuh Qays ibn Makshuh al-Muradi (), or also known as Qays ibn Hubayrah; was a Companions of the Prophet, companion of Muhammad. He converted to Islam during the life of Muhammad. He later rebelled during Ridda Wars after the killing of Al-Aswad al-Ans ...

('Amr bin Ma'di Yakrib's nephew and Asma' bint Nu'man second husband).

References

Notes

External links

E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, By Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, T W Arnold, A J Wensinck, pg.831
Tulayha’s characteristics described.
Islam at war, By George F. Nafziger, Mark W. Walton, pg.17
Tulayha’s humour.
Islamic History, By M. A. Shaban, pg.30
Tulayha joins the Muslim army to fight the

. {{Authority control Converts to Islam 7th-century Muslims Arab generals Arab prophets Medieval Arabs killed in battle Self-declared messiahs People of the Muslim conquest of Persia 7th-century Arab people People of the Ridda Wars