Amazing victory

This incident took place during the Uthmani caliphate when the Muslim army fought against some trouble making Persians. The Persians at the time were under Muslims rule.

Since administrative changes took place rather quickly the Persians took it as a sign of providence and so they indulged in hatching conspiracies against the administration. They began to prepare for a fresh encounter with the Muslims. The centers of these uprisings and preparations were Istakhar and Jur. Ubaidullah bin Ma'mar, the governor of Persia invaded Istakhar in 27 AH, and was martyred in the encounter with the result the detachment under his command scattered and escaped. Hearing this , Abdullah bin Amir, the governor of Basrah marched forward with his army with Uthman bin Abdul-As at the vanguard. Abdullah bin Amir turned toward Istakhar while Harim bin Haiyan laid siege around Jur. The Persians put up strong resistance but they ran away after a bloody battle and Istakhar fell to Muslims.

Harim bin haiyan's siege of Jur was protracted. During this period Harim fasted in the day and fought with the enemy too. He would broke his fast in the evening followed by prayers. Once he did not get bread after breaking the fast. He observed fast the next day in the same state. However, he did not get a meal that day either. The whole week passed in successive fasts without food. When he grew too weak he said to his servant, "What happened to you my son. You fail to give me bread and I am keeping fast with water alone for a week." He replied , "My master; I bake bread for you daily without fail, it is quite amazing that you didn't get it." The next day the servant baked bread and lay in wait to see who was taking it away. He was shocked to notice that a dog came and took the bread and made off with it. He followed the dog and saw that it went towards the fortification of the city and it entered the city through sewer. The servant came back and related the whole event to Harim bin Haiyan. He too was amazed. Harim and a few adventurous persons went into the sewer, which led them inside the fortifications and they opened the gates after killing the watchmen. In this way the Muslim army made an easy entry into the city and conquered it. The uprisings both in Istakhatr and Jur were heavily put down and the insurgent met their doom.

The story was extracted from the book "History of Islam" (volume 1 / page 393) by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi.