order, al-Mughîrah was dragged out. So he exclaimed: "[Remember that] I am an envoy!"
The battle fought. When the Moslems met the "polytheists", they found them fastened in chains, in tens and fives, so that they might not flee. Before the fight started they shot their arrows and wounded some of the Moslems. Then an-Nuʿmân said, "I noticed that when the Prophet did not carry on the fight in the morning, he would wait until the sun set and the wind blew; then the victory would be assured."[1] An-Nuʿmân added, "I shall now shake the standard I carry three times. After the first shake, let each perform the ablutions and satisfy his natural wants. After the second shake, let each turn to his sword (he may have said sandal-thong) and get ready, putting everything in order. When the third shake is, by Allah's will, made, then rush and let none of you heed the other." Saying this, an-Nuʿmân shook the standard and they did as he had ordered them. His coat of mail was too heavy for him; but he fought and his men fought; and he was the first Moslem to be killed.
The Persian [dhu-l-Ḥâjib] fell from his mule and his belly was cut open.
Maʿḳil ibn-Yasâr [the narrator of this tradition] adds, "Coming to an-Nuʿmân and finding that life had not yet fully departed from him, I washed his face with some water I carried in a vessel; upon which he asked, 'Who art thou?'—'Maʿḳil.'—'How did the Moslems fare?'—'I have glad tidings; Allah has given us conquest and victory!'—'Praise be to Allah! Write and tell ʿUmar about it.'"
The news carried to ʿUmar. Shaibân from abu-ʿUthmân an-Nahdi:—The latter said, "I myself carried the glad news to ʿUmar who asked, 'And what about an-Nuʿ-
- ↑ Cf. Ṭabari, vol. i, p. 2603.
