Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/93

64 a volunteer Shuraḥbīl's detachment. The nomination of the three was made in the second month (Ṣafar) of the year 13, April 634.

As fresh volunteers arrived in Medīna, they were sent on to the support of the three commanders. Abu ʿObeida the son of Al-Jarrāḥ appears to have been at the head of one of these supporting columns; and the dislike to regard a companion of such eminence as second in command may have given rise to another account according to which there were in all, not three, but four columns sent to the invasion of Syria, Abu ʿObeida being even regarded as holding supreme command over the others. However that may be, the invading army soon amounted to 24,000 men. This included a corps of observation under ʿIkrima.

The force thus brought together differed altogether in composition from the army of Al-ʿIrāḳ. That in the main consisted of Bedawi tribes, which flocked in thousands to the banners of Al-Muthanna and Khālid; the men of Mecca and Medīna amongst them were comparatively few; for most had returned to their homes after the battle of Al-Yemāma. In the Syrian army, on the contrary, there are reckoned at least a thousand “Companions,” i.e. men who had seen and conversed with the Prophet, and no fewer than a hundred of the famous 300 of Bedr. These enrolled themselves at pleasure under the chief of their choice; but once enrolled, they yielded to that leader implicit obedience; while he, on his part, was bound to consult their views and wishes on all occasions of importance. Sheikhs of renown, who but a few years before had wielded the whole power of Mecca, and haughty chieftains of high descent, now joined with alacrity the column of anyone into whose hands the Caliph was pleased to present the banner of command, however young or inferior to themselves in dignity. And the whole force, thus formed in separate detachments, held itself at the absolute disposal of the Commander of the Faithful.

Duly sensible of the gravity of the enterprise—nothing short of measuring swords with the Emperor—the Caliph strained every nerve to meet it. He had thrown down the gauntlet, and was waging war at one and the same time with the Potentates both of the East and of the West. The brigades now formed for this great venture were pitched one