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From Oman, following the
orders of Abu Bakr, Ikrimah marched to Mahra. Here too the germs
of apostasy had infected the local population, though not in such
virulent a form as in some other provinces. Mahra actually was the
objective of Arfaja bin Harsama (one of the corps commanders) and
Ikrimah's instructions were to assist Arfaja; but as the latter
had not yet arrived, Ikrimah decided that instead of waiting for
him he would tackle the local apostasy on his own.
The army of local rebels that had gathered
at Jairut consisted of two unequal factions. Ikrimah arrived at
Jairut and confronted the infidels in early January, 633 (mid-Shawal,
11 Hijri). When ready to engage the enemy, he called upon the apostates
to return to the fold of Islam. Of the two apostates factions, the
larger rejected the call, but the smaller one accepted it and came
over to join the Muslims, whereupon Ikrimah attacked and defeated
the rebels. Their commander was killed, and a large quantity of
booty came into Ikrimah's hands.
Having re-established Islam in Mahra, Ikrimah
moved his corps to Abyan, where he rested his men and awaited further
developments.
In Bahrain an independent action against
the rebels was fought by the corps of Ala bin Al Hadhrami. It was
after the Battle of Yamamah that Abu Bakr had sent this general
to crush the apostasy in Bahrain, telling him that he would get
no help from other Muslim forces, that he would be entirely on his
own.
Ula arrived in Bahrain to find the apostate
forces gathered at Hajr and entrenched in a strong position. (This
was the only instance of entrenchment being used in these campaigns.)
Ula mounted several attacks and the battle continued for some days
but without success, as he found it difficult to cross the trench
line. Whenever he managed to get some forces across they were repulsed.
Ula began to wonder just how he was going to crack this virtually
impregnable position.
Then early one night Ula heard wild, joyous
shouts coming from the rebel position. At a loss to understand this
phenomenon, he sent spies to investigate. These spies returned soon
after to inform him that there was wild revelry in the enemy camp
and that everybody was drunk. Ula at once ordered a night attack.
As the Muslims went into the assault they found no sentries and
caught the enemy completely by surprise. They plunged into the rebels,
and hundreds of them were killed before they realised that their
celebration had been disturbed! Hundreds, more were slain before
the rest could come to their senses and escape.
The following day Ula pursued the fugitives
to the coast, where they made one more stand but were decisively
defeated. Most of them surrendered and re?entered Islam.
This operation was completed at about the
end of January 633 (second week of Dhul Qad, 11 Hijri).
The Yemen had been the first province to
rebel against the authority of Islam when the tribe of Ans rose
in arms under the leadership of its chief and false prophet-Aswad,
the Black One. The affair of Aswad has already been described. He
was killed by Fairoz the Persian, while the Holy Prophet still lived,
and thereafter Fairoz had acted as governor at San'a.
When word arrived that the Holy Prophet
had died, the people of the Yemen again revolted, this time under
the leadership of a man named Qais bin Abd Yaghus. The avowed aim
of the apostates was to drive the Muslims out of the Yemen, and
they decided to achieve this objective by assassinating Fairoz and
other important Muslim leaders, thus rendering the Muslim community
leaderless. Its subsequent expulsion would then, present no difficulty.
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