The Battle of Namariq and Kasker

A battle took place in 13 AH, which is known as the Battle of Namariq and Kasker. Prior to Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra) departing with his army, Hazrat Muthannara had returned to Al-Hirah. Al-Hirah was the capital city of an ancient Arab government in Iraq and was situated to the west of the Euphrates where later Kufa was founded. Hazrat Muthannara returned to Al-Hirah and assumed control of his army. However, the situation changed very quickly and Hazrat Muthannara and his army had to move back. The details of this are as follows:

Disagreements and differences had arisen in the court of the Persian rulers. However, a new and powerful personality emerged, Rostam, who was the son of the governor of Khurasan, Farrukhzad. Rostam was appointed as the ruler of the people by the Persian court and all the various officials of the government who were previously in disagreement with one another and divided and were weakening the strength of their rule, were now in complete obedience to Rostam. Rostam was a very courageous and astute man. As soon as he assumed leadership, he sent his people to those areas that had been conquered by the Muslims and instigated a rebellion. He greatly impassioned the people dwelling in the neighbouring areas of the Euphrates against the Muslims and also sent an army to fight against Hazrat Muthannara. In light of these conditions, Hazrat Muthannara felt that the most appropriate course of action was to move back a little from their positions. Thus, he left Al-Hirah and set up camp in Khafan, which is situated close to Kufa.

Rostam, on the other hand, was readying for battle and had prepared a large army and sent them along two different routes to fight against the Muslims. One army was under the command of Jaban, which arrived in Namariq. Namariq is also situated in Iraq close to Kufa. The other army was sent under the command of Narsi towards Kasker. Kaskar is a city situated to the west of the Tigris River and lies between Baghdad and Basra where today the city of Wasit is.

It had only been a month since Hazrat Muthannara had arrived back from Medina when the army, under the command of Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra), also arrived in Khafan and joined them. Khafan is also situated close to Kufa. This army consisting of a few thousand soldiers arrived at the battlefield at a time when the situation was not very favourable for the Muslims in Iraq and the Muslims were gradually losing hold of the areas which they had previously conquered.

After spending a few days in Khafan in order to gather and organise the army, Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra) thereafter headed towards Namariq. In Namariq, a powerful army under an elderly and experienced warrior, Jaban, was camped there. Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra) organised the army and handed the flag of the army to Hazrat Muthannara. He gave the command of right flank to Walik bin Judara and appointed Amr bin Haythim as the commander of the left flank. The two wings of the Persian forces were commanded by Joshandma and Mardan Shah.