Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

THE BATTLE OF AJNADAYN
(634 A.D./13 A.H.)
When Hazrat Khalid reached Ajnadayn he called a council of the commanders of Islamic armies whose total strength was between forty and forty five thousand. The first proposal put before them by suggesting that one of them should act as the commanderin-chief turn by turn each day. The chief command for the first da\ was given to Hazrat Khalid (Rad.A). He divided the army into several sections and put each section under the command of the commander.
The Romans were about two hundred fifty thousand in number while the Muslims were little more than forty thousand. When the Islamic and Roman armies faced each other somebody among the Muslims remarked: ”How numerous is the Roman army! ”Hazrat Khalid said, ”The number of people does not matter. It is the final outcome which is important”. At last the battle started. In the beginning the Romans put pressure upon Muslims. Seeing this Tkrimah bin Abu Jahl took pledge of some Muslims that they would not give the field to the enemy and would fight into death. The Roman army was headed by Theodore, brother of Heraclius, the Emperor but there was not that type of discipline in their army as Muslims demonstrated. A fierce battle was fought. The Romans horsemen would not bear the brunt of Muslim attack, and started to flee. Roman cavalry was totally discomfited. Then Muslim forces fell on their infantry and disposed its ranks. Thus Romans were badly defeated and took shelter in the trench but were chased and slaughtered in large numbers- Three thousand Muslims were martyred in this battle. Defeat at the battle of Ajnadayn was a great shock to Byzantium. After the victory at Ajnadayn the Muslim armies marched forward and laid siege to Damasc is. In the meantime Hazrat Abu Bakr (Rad.A) fell sick. He received the news of the victory at Ajnadayn when he was confined to bed.
Von Kramer has made the following observation on the Muslim conquest of Arabia: ”Islam was everywhere triumphant. fo Medina the caravans wended their way with booty of war, or with money paid in as taxes or money paid in as tributes. Great enough
Muhammad Arshad. Islamic Histor>, P

210 Political and Cultural History cjIslam
were the direct successes of Islam but greater still were the indirect ones Apart from the extraordinary progress of the new religion, which convii ed the rude sons of the desert more than anything else of its truth, the religi-Ais war at home led to a complete transformation of the social conditions throughout ihe peninsula .
The daz, :i. • brilliance of the victories that had made the haughty apostates prostrate themselves before the Caliphate, vindic. ted Islam as formidable and triumphant force that had come to stay Islam had er rged as the national religion of Arabia. Here and there the lawless Bedouins still showed signs of resentme at the payment of Zakal and in the earlier stages of the development of Arabia as a nation abhorred the settled andorderly life of the towns: but on the whole, Islam effected a complete transformation in the character and outlook of the life of the tribes, biingmgas it did into the lives of the most unruly elements, discipline, loyalty and respect for the authority of a central government and spreading the peace of God among the believers. Out of the disintegration, chaos and turmoil that threatened to engulf the peni nsula after the Holy Prophet’s death, Abu Bakr (Rad.A) evolved tranquility, order, discipline and peace, Ethically, Islam inspired the tribes with new values belief in the unity of God taking the place of superstition and ,dol-worship. It also gave them a personal cosmopolitan outlook instead of the narrow and restricted vision that had been theirs before and which had prevented them from seeing beyond the ””mediate interests of their clan or township. Politically, Islam welded them into a nation, but over and above the feelings of nationalism it also established the fraternity and equality of all rnankinc on earth. Ihe old social structure, its vanities and special injustices became more and more discredited as the roots of the new theocracy sunk deeper and deeper into the Arabian soil. Culturally, the Qur’anic revelation provided a great impetus to learning and scholarship and the dreary darkness of ignorance, in which Arabia had been groping for long ages was now dispelled, by the light of the new fa.th. Islam was, therefore, a great deal more than a new religion, it was also a new form of government and the foundation ofa new learning.
For this remarkable achievement, Abu Bakr (Rad.A) deserves more credit than any man, saveonty the Holy Proi**; °” whom be peace. With wisdom and foresigjit, Abu BaKr v^a”-< •/ launched the campaigns that were to veld the* peninsula into an indivisible whole and which would transform discord and hatred into
HazratAbu Bakr (Rad. A.)
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a national solidarity that nothing could overthrow. The strength of Islam was to prove itself solid as a rock against which in the centuries to come more than one empire was to hurl itself in vain. Today, in the twentieth century the distinct individuality of the Muslims and their culture still bears witness to the sweeping transformation that Islam brought about in Arabia fourteen hundred years ago.
Abu Bakr’s (Rad.A) reign the civil and executive powers of the Amils were delegated to his military commanders who also collected taxes. However, as soon as was practicable Abu Bakr (Rad.A) removed the Revenue Department from the jurisdiction of the army commanders, and appointed separate officials to deal with Finance. In the smaller provinces and sub-divisions Abu Bakr (Rad.A) appointed commissioners to represent the Caliph in the territory entrusted to their charge, and although the powers of these officials were restricted in theory they were in fact unlimited in practice.
Undef Abu Bakr (Rad.A) the administrative units of Arabia were as follows:
(1) Makkah, (2) Ta’yf, (3) San’a, (4) Zabid, (5) Janad, (6) Thur (Muzaina), (7) Khaulun, (8) Najran, (9) Bahrayn, (TO) Dumat al-Jandal, (11) Medina the metropolis of the Caliphate.
Syria was divided into the following four units: (1) Damascus, (2) Himis, (3) Urdun, and (4) Filistin (Palestine).
Abu Bakr (Rad.A) further appointed an Ameer in every large town in Southern Arabia to safeguard its economic and political interests. Southern Arabia having been a great commercial centre from pre-historic times its people had reached a high pitch of civilization. It was, however, to Medina that the Caliph attached the greatest importance-the city of his Master and the metropolis of the Muslim commonwealth-and he personally governed the city through a Council of Elders.