A Dream about the Battle of Jisr
In Tarikh al-Tabari, there is a narration that before this battle, Dumah, the wife of Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra), saw a dream in which a man brought a vessel containing a drink from Paradise and Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra) and Jabar bin Abi Ubaid drank from it. Similarly, a few members of his family also drank from it. Dumah narrated this dream to her husband. Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra) stated that this dream indicated towards martyrdom. After this, Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra) urged the people that if he were to be martyred, then Jabar would be the commander-in-chief and if he was martyred, then so-and-so would lead the army.
Thus, whosoever drank from the vessel in the dream, Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra) appointed them in the same order to be the commander-in-chief. He then said, “If Abu al-Qasim is martyred, then Hazrat Muthannara will be your leader.”
The dream of Dumah was fulfilled to the letter; after Hazrat Abu Ubaid (ra), the six persons named would take the flag of leadership and were martyred one after another. Hazrat Muthannara was the eighth person to take up the Islamic flag and decided to launch a powerful attack, but the ranks of the Muslim army had become disrupted. Seeing seven consecutive leaders being martyred, the people began to scatter and some jumped in the sea.
Hazrat Muthannara and his comrades continued fighting valiantly. During the course of the battle, Hazrat Muthannara was injured and returned after crossing the Euphrates River.
In this battle, the Muslims suffered a significant loss; 4,000 Muslims were martyred whereas 6,000 Iranians were killed. This loss would have resulted in detrimental effects for the Muslims for longer, but fortunately, it so happened that the enemy could not chase the Muslims because there was a rift amongst the Iranian kings, as a result of which Bahman Jaduya had to return. Ibn Athir has written that in Madain [Ctesiphon], the capital of the Iranian Empire, one faction of the courtiers of the king revolted against Rostam.
(Tarikh-ul-Islam bi-Ahad Hazrat Umar (ra), thesis by Syed Mir Mahmood Ahmad Nasir Sahib, pp. 18-21) (Tarikh Al-Tabari, Vol. 2, p. 229, Nafees Academy Karachi, 2004) (Al-Tarikh, Ibn Khuldun, Vol. 3, pp. 270-273, Dar-ul-Isha’at, Karachi, 2003) (Al-Kamil Fi Al-Tarikh, Ibn Athir, p. 311, Bait-ul-Afkaar Al-Dauloyah)