Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (78) - Al-Qaqa bin Amr, may God be pleased with him - Part One

0:00 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

0:15 The Mawaddah Association is pleased

0:17 to present to you glimpses from the lives of the Companions,

0:21 by Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,

0:25 may Allah have mercy upon him.

0:26 Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr, may Allah be pleased with him.

0:51 We are now in the ninth year of the Hijrah,

0:54 the year which the Muslims called the Year of Delegations.

0:58 The city of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, opens its wide heart

1:04 to welcome, with the brightness of every morning, one delegation or more,

1:09 arriving from all corners of the Arabian Peninsula

1:13 to declare their Islam before the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,

1:17 and to pledge their allegiance to him, promising to listen and obey.

1:20 Here are the noble masters, the notables of the Banu Tamim,

1:25 submitting to Islam after long defiance,

1:28 arriving in the city as obedient Muslims,

1:32 extending their hands to the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in allegiance.

1:38 While the people were declaring their Islam before the noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,

1:45 and receiving the rewards he had ordered for them,

1:49 the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, noticed a young man among them,

1:54 gazing intently at his face.

1:56 Then, he stared at him and asked,

1:59 "What is the young man's name?"

2:01 He replied, "Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr."

2:04 He then asked, "What have you prepared for jihad in the cause of Allah, O Qa'qa'?"

2:10 He replied, "Obedience to Allah and His Messenger,

2:13 swift horses, and sharp spears."

2:17 He said, "That is the ultimate goal."

2:20 From that day on,

2:22 Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr dedicated his soul and his sword to the obedience of Allah and His Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

2:29 He made the backs of his horses his bed.

2:32 So come, let us spend these wonderful moments with Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr

2:38 and his commander, the Sword of Allah, Khalid ibn al-Walid, may Allah be pleased with him and grant him satisfaction.

2:44 Khalid ibn al-Walid had barely rested after finishing the Wars of Apostasy

2:51 when the letter from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, reached him,

2:56 ordering him to set out to conquer the lands of Iraq,

3:00 to rescue them from the hands of the Persians, and to bring their people into the religion of Allah.

3:05 However, Khalid's soldiers had dwindled and dispersed,

3:10 as many had been martyred in the grueling Wars of Apostasy,

3:14 and others had been dismissed to return to their families after being away for so long.

3:20 Khalid was left with only a small number from his once-great army.

3:25 So he wrote to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, requesting reinforcements.

3:30 When al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, opened Khalid's letter

3:34 and understood its contents, he said to those with him,

3:38 "Khalid ibn al-Walid is asking us for reinforcements."

3:41 "Reinforce him with Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr."

3:44 The attendees opened their mouths in astonishment at what they heard and said,

3:49 "O Commander of the Faithful, will you reinforce a commander

3:53 who has lost most of his soldiers with only one man?"

3:56 Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, replied,

3:59 "Yes, for the voice of Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr in the army is better than a thousand horsemen,

4:05 and an army that includes Al-Qa'qa' shall never be defeated."

4:09 Khalid ibn al-Walid set out at the head of ten thousand of his soldiers toward Iraq,

4:14 accompanied by Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr,

4:17 whom al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, had counted as equal to a thousand horsemen.

4:22 He turned his attention toward the region of al-Hafir,

4:25 located near the Persian Gulf,

4:29 bordering the desert.

4:31 Hormuz was the governor of this region on behalf of the Persian King.

4:36 And Hormuz, if you do not know,

4:39 was one of the few men who possessed great honor among the Persians in his time.

4:44 There is no greater proof of his honor than his headgear, which was worth one hundred thousand,

4:50 for it was the custom of the Persians

4:53 to value their headgear according to their status among their people.

4:57 Whoever reached the pinnacle of honor,

4:59 the value of his headgear was one hundred thousand.

5:02 However, Hormuz was one of the Persian governors who treated the Arabs the worst,

5:07 and was the most arrogant toward them.

5:10 The Arabs hated Hormuz with intense hatred,

5:13 to the point that they made him a proverb for evil.

5:17 They would say in their proverbs, "More evil than Hormuz,"

5:21 and "More [arrogant] than Hormuz."

5:23 No sooner had Khalid ibn al-Walid set up camp in the region

5:28 than he sent a letter to Hormuz, saying,

5:32 "To proceed:

5:34 Embrace Islam and you shall be safe,

5:36 or choose the status of dhimmah for yourself and your people,

5:38 and pay the zakat to the Muslims while you are in a state of submission.

5:43 Otherwise, do not blame anyone but yourself,

5:46 for I have come to you with a people who love death

5:49 as much as you love life."

5:52 Hormuz lost his composure when he read Khalid ibn al-Walid's letter,

5:56 and he wrote to Ardashir, the King of the Persians,

5:59 informing him of the Muslims' arrival toward Iraq.

6:02 Then he immediately rose, arranged his ranks, and gathered his forces,

6:07 and rushed toward the water sources at al-Hafir,

6:11 arriving there before Khalid could reach it with his army.

6:15 When Khalid ibn al-Walid reached al-Hafir,

6:18 he ordered his soldiers to set up their camp in a place he had chosen for them.

6:23 Some of them stood up and said,

6:26 "O Commander,

6:28 our enemy is at the water, and we are not at the water,

6:32 and we fear that we will die of thirst."

6:35 Khalid replied to them,

6:37 "Set up your camp where I have ordered you,

6:40 then fight your enemy for the water with the determination of those who have no choice but to win.

6:45 For by my life, the water will belong to the more patient of the two parties and the more noble of the two armies,

6:51 and you are the more patient and the more noble, by the permission of Allah."

6:54 The two armies lined up, each facing the other.

6:58 Hormuz stood at the front of his soldiers,

7:01 and placed on his right a prince from the royal family,

7:05 and on his left another prince.

7:08 He had harbored evil in his heart,

7:11 and concealed treachery in his chest.

7:13 Hormuz was certain that if he could kill Khalid ibn al-Walid,

7:18 he would have covered four-fifths of the way to victory.

7:23 But he was certain that he could not kill him in fair combat.

7:29 Since that was the case, he would kill him by treachery,

7:33 and let people say what they wanted about him afterward,

7:37 and let them accuse him of whatever they wished.

7:40 So he confided in a group of his elite horsemen about what he had resolved to do,

7:46 perfected the plan with them,

7:48 and assigned each of them their task.

7:51 Hormuz emerged from between the ranks

7:54 and stood in the arena that separated the two armies,

7:57 and he shouted a challenging cry, saying,

8:01 "Come to me, O Khalid! Step out to me, O Khalid!"

8:05 But he positioned himself near the Persian camp,

8:09 far from the Muslim camp.

8:12 As soon as Khalid ibn al-Walid heard his call,

8:15 he dismounted from his horse and went to meet him.

8:19 However, Khalid had barely drawn his sword to fight the enemy of Allah and his own enemy

8:25 when the men Hormuz had prepared leaped upon him all at once,

8:30 their swords drawn in their hands, intending to kill him by treachery.

8:35 At that moment, the horseman whom al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, had counted as a thousand horsemen rose up,

8:41 and launched himself from his place like an arrow,

8:44 throwing himself into the arena while saying,

8:47 "Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr has come to you, O enemy of Allah!

8:51 Al-Qa'qa' has come to you!"

8:53 Then he descended upon Hormuz and his men like a thunderbolt.

8:57 He was followed by brave and noble men from the Muslim army.

9:02 A swift battle ensued between the two parties,

9:06 during which Khalid snatched the soul of Hormuz from his body,

9:10 and Al-Qa'qa' and those with him struck down the treacherous band that had violated the ethics of war,

9:16 leaving them as lifeless corpses on the battlefield,

9:20 in full view and hearing of the Persians.

9:23 None of them dared to make a move.

9:27 Then the Muslims launched a single, unified attack against their enemy,

9:32 driving them from their positions,

9:35 and forcing them to turn their backs and flee.

9:38 They left them scattered, between killed, wounded, and defeated.

9:43 When the battle had ended,

9:46 Khalid looked at Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr and said,

9:50 "May Allah reward Abu Bakr, for he is more knowledgeable of men than we are.

9:55 The Caliph of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was truthful when he said,

10:00 'An army that includes Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr shall not be defeated.'"

10:05 From the day of al-Hafir, a bond was forged between Khalid ibn al-Walid and Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr.

10:10 It is no wonder, for Khalid had recognized the status of his companion on the fields of battle,

10:16 and his effectiveness when the situation became dire and calamities struck.

10:21 He entrusted him with commands and placed the heaviest tasks upon his shoulders,

10:27 making him his right-hand man at Yarmouk and on other days besides Yarmouk.

10:32 He and he had an adventure on the day of the conquest of Damascus that no one would dare to attempt

10:38 except those whose hearts were carved from rock and whose minds were forged from jewels.

10:45 Khalid ibn al-Walid was one of four commanders on the day of the conquest of Damascus,

10:50 working under the command of Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah.

10:55 Whether Khalid was the general commander of the entire army

11:00 or the commander of one of its battalions,

11:03 he was always keen to have Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr with him.

11:09 This was because Khalid always aspired for himself and those with him to perform miracles,

11:16 and who was like Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr for performing miracles?

11:20 The city of Damascus at that time was surrounded by impregnable walls on every side,

11:26 like a bracelet around a wrist.

11:29 Around it was a deep trench that encircled it on three sides,

11:34 and it had five gates

11:37 that would open in times of peace with the brightness of every morning

11:41 for people to exit and enter,

11:44 and would close every evening,

11:48 secure in their safety and wealth from thieves and bandits.

11:53 If the ancient city was subjected to an invasion,

11:57 its defenders would close its gates

12:00 and flood its trench with water,

12:02 turning it into an impregnable island,

12:05 surrounded by walls and water at the same time.

12:09 Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah distributed the gates of Damascus among himself and his commanders.

12:15 He stationed himself before the al-Jabiya Gate,

12:18 'Amr ibn al-'As stationed himself before the Thomas Gate,

12:21 Shurahbil ibn Hasana stationed himself before the al-Faradis Gate,

12:25 and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan stationed himself before the Small Gate.

12:29 As for Khalid ibn al-Walid,

12:32 he and his companion Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr stationed themselves before the Eastern Gate,

12:37 which was the most fortified and strongest of these gates.

12:41 The Muslims set up their catapults around the fortified city

12:47 and positioned their siege towers at its gates.

12:50 The city's defenders repelled the soldiers at the siege towers,

12:54 and their fortifications withstood the bombardment of the catapults.

12:57 The Muslims found no way to force the enemy to surrender

13:02 except through a siege.

13:04 But the siege of Damascus dragged on,

13:06 lasting for seven months or thereabouts.

13:10 The distress of those besieged inside Damascus

13:13 was no greater than the distress of those besieging it from the outside.

13:17 The Muslims began to ask, in a state bordering on despair,

13:21 "How can we conquer the city, and when?"

13:24 The answer came to them through the tongue of Khalid ibn al-Walid

13:28 and his companion Al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr.

13:31 Khalid ibn al-Walid had ears that heard everything said behind the walls of Damascus,

13:37 and eyes that saw everything happening within it.

13:40 One day, his scouts came to him saying,

13:43 O Prince.

13:45 The governor of Damascus has been blessed with a child in his old age.

13:49 After a long period of anticipation.

13:51 He rejoiced over him with the greatest of joy.

13:53 His joy reached such a point.

13:55 That he invited the city’s guards and its soldiers.

13:58 To a grand banquet tomorrow night.

14:01 Where they will feast on the finest foods.

14:04 And drink aged wines throughout the night.

14:07 And revel until the morning.

14:10 Therefore, O Prince, you must seize this opportunity.

14:14 The inspired commander took the initiative.

14:17 He fashioned rope ladders.

14:19 And prepared for this raid a sufficient number of lassos.

14:24 Lassos are sturdy ropes.

14:27 At the end of each is a noose, which a skilled thrower casts.

14:31 It catches onto whatever it is thrown at.

14:34 When the night grew dark and enveloped the universe in its shadows.

14:38 Khalid said to his soldiers.

14:40 We shall scale the wall.

14:43 And when you hear our takbir.

14:45 A large group of you shall climb up behind us.

14:48 And the rest of you shall pour toward the gate.

14:51 Then he, along with al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr, set out.

14:54 Accompanied by a small band of his companions.

14:57 They crossed the trench by swimming with the aid of inflated skins.

15:00 Until they reached the city walls.

15:03 Then they cast their lassos.

15:05 Securing them onto the battlements of the wall.

15:08 They climbed them until they reached the top.

15:12 They set up the rope ladders they had brought on the outside of the wall.

15:16 For those who wished to climb up to them.

15:18 And on the inside for those who wished to descend into the city.

15:22 Then Khalid proclaimed the greatness of Allah.

15:24 His soldiers crossed the trench.

15:26 He and al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr then descended in front of the gate.

15:30 They killed its guards and opened its locks.

15:34 The soldiers of Allah poured into the city from above and below.

15:38 They surged into Damascus, chanting the praises of Allah and proclaiming His greatness.

15:42 Panic and terror spread throughout the fortified city.

15:46 Fear and alarm took hold of its defenders.

15:49 They consulted with one another.

15:52 And decided to open the other city gates with their own hands.

15:56 So that the Muslims might enter peacefully.

15:58 Rather than entering through warfare.

16:01 Which would lead to the killing of combatants, the taking of captives, and the seizing of spoils.

16:05 So they opened them.

16:07 And had they not done so.

16:09 The Muslims would have opened them by the victory of Allah.

16:12 Until another meeting with al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr.

16:16 Who placed himself, his sword, and his spear.

16:19 In obedience to Allah and His Messenger, peace be upon him.

16:23 And made his bed upon the backs of steeds.

16:27 The voice of al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Amr in the army.

16:35 Is better than a thousand horsemen.

16:38 Abu Bakr al-Siddiq.

Pictures from the lives of the Companions - Episode (78) - Al-Qaqa bin Amr, may God be pleased with him - Part One

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