| Battle of Rasil | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Muslim conquest of Sassanid empire | |||||||||
 Map detailing location of Battle field according to present day geography. |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Rai Dynasty | Rashidun Caliphate (Rashidun army) |
||||||||
| Commanders | |||||||||
| Raja Sahasi Rai II | Suhail ibn adi Usman ibn Abi Al Aas Hakam ibn Amr |
||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
|
|||||
Battle of Rasil was fought between Rai Kingdom of Sindh and Rashidun Caliphate in early 644. It was first encounter of Rashidun Caliphate with Indian subcontinent. The exact location of Battle is not known but historian suggest it was fought at western bank of River Indus. Caliph Umar (634-644) launched offense against Sassanid Persian Empire in 642 and by mid 644 almost whole of the Persian empire was conquered. Expedition to Kerman was sent roughly at the same time when expedition to Sistan and Azerbaijan were sent. Suhail ibn adi was given command of this expedition. Suhail marched from Busra in 643, passing from Shiraz and Persepolis he join with other Muslim armies and marched against Kerman, which was subdued after a pitch battle with local garrisons. Further east of Kerman laid Makran what is now a part of present day Pakistan. It was a traditional territory of Sassanids but was then a domain of Rai Kingdom, who annexed it in 636-637 although they acted as a vassal of Sassanid Persians in past. Chach of Alor, the king of Sindh concentrated huge armies from Sindh and Balochistan to halt the advance of Muslims. Suhail was reinforced by Usman ibn Abi Al Aas from Persepolis, and Hakam ibn Amr from Busra, the combined forces defeated Chach of Alor at a pitch Battle of Rasil, who retreated to the eastern bank of River Indus. Further east from Indus River laid Sindh, which was domain of Rai kingdom.[1] Umar, after knowing that sindh was a poor and relatively barran land, disapproved Suhail’s proposal to cross Indus River.[2] For the time being, Umar declared the Indus River, a natural barrier, to be the eastern most frontier of his domain. This campaign came to an end in mid 644.[3]
Aftermaths
This was first confrontation between Rashidun Caliphate and Rai dynasty. In response of Caliph Umar’s question about the Makran region, the Messenger from Makran who bring the news of the victory told him:
| “ | 'O Commander of the faithful!
It's a land where the plains are stony; Where water is scanty; Where the fruits are unsavory Where men are known for treachery; Where plenty is unknown; Where virtue is held of little account; And where evil is dominant; A large army is less for there; And a less army is use less there; The land beyond it, is even worst (referring to Sind). |
” |
Umar looked at the messenger and said: "Are you a messenger or a poet? He replied “Messenger”. Thereupon Caliph Umar, after listening that Sindh was a barren and poor land and the unfavorable situations for sending an army, instructed Hakim bin Amr al Taghlabi that for the time being Makran should be the easternmost frontier of the Rashidun Caliphate, and that no further attempt should be made to extend the conquests. This was mainly because of Umar's policy of consolidating the rule before conquering more land. The same year in 644 Umar had already rejected the proposal by Ahnaf ibn Qais, conqueror of Khurasan, of crossing Oxus river in north to invade central Asia and in west similarly he had called back Amr ibn al-Aas who marched to north Africa and had captured Tripoli. Thereupon on of the commander of Islamic army in Makran is reported to have said the following verses:
| “ | If the Commander of faithful wouldn’t have stopped us from going beyond, so we would have bought our forces to the temple of prostitutes[4] | ” |
Referring to the Hindu Temple in interior Sind where prostitutes use to give a part of their earning as charity.
See also
Notes
- ^ The Muslim Conquest of Persia By A.I. Akram. Ch:13 ISBN 0195977130,
- ^ The History of Al-Tabari: The Challenge to the Empires, Translated by Khalid Yahya Blankinship, Published by SUNY Press, 1993, ISBN 0791408523
- ^ Al Farooq, Umar By Muhammad Husayn Haykal. chapter 19 page no:130
- ^ Tabri vol:4 pg:183
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
