Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/127

 98 by the Capital of Persia so close at hand. Al-Medāin must be taken at any cost, and a great army gathered for the purpose. Orders, more stringent than ever (as already told), went forth for a new and universal levy. "Haste hither," was the command sent everywhere, "hasten speedily!" And forthwith Arabia again resounded with the call to arms. The tribes from the south were to assemble before the Caliph at Medina; those lying northward,—the demand being urgent and time precious,—were to march straight to Al-Muthanna. So much arranged, ʿOmar set out on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. This accomplished, he repaired to the camp outside Medīna, where the contingents as they came in were marshalled. There it was debated whether the Caliph, as he proposed, and as the people wished, should in person lead the army to Al-ʿIrāḳ. The chief Companions were against it. Defeat, if ʿOmar were on the field, might be fatal; seated at Medīna, even at the worst, he could launch column after column on the enemy. ʿOmar yielded; but the readiness he had thus shown to bear in his own person the heat and burden of the day, added new impulse to the movement.

Who now should be the leader of this great army in ʿIraḳ? Al-Muthanna and Jarīr were but Bedawi chieftains. None but a Noble could take command of the proud tribes now flocking to the field. The matter was at the moment under discussion, when there came a despatch from Saʿd, the Caliph's lieutenant with the Beni Hawāzin, reporting the levy of a thousand good lances from amongst that tribe. "Here is the man!" cried out the assembly. "Who?" asked the Caliph. "None but the Ravening Lion," was theanswer,—"Saʿd, the son of Mālik." The choice was sealed by acclamation; and ʿOmar at once summoned Saʿd. Converted at Mecca while yet a boy, the new Amīr of Al-ʿIrāḳ was now forty years of age. He is known as "the first who drew blood in Islām," and was a noted archer in the Prophet's wars. He took rank also as the nephew of Moḥammad's mother. Short and dark, with large head and shaggy hair, Saʿd was brave, but not well-favoured. The Caliph gave him advice on the momentous issues of the