When Saad bin Abi Waqqaas (ra) asked the Khalifah Umar (ra) to
send him reinforcement. Umar (ra) replied: “I have sent you 2000 men: Amr bin
Ma’adi Yakrib and Tulayhah al Azdi. Each one of them counts as a thousand.”
Tulayhah al Azdi , Amr, and Qays bin Makshooh went on a
reconnaissance mission to the enemy’s army. Both Amr and Qays kidnapped some Persian
soldiers and brought them back to the Muslim camp for interrogation.
Tulayhah went
further until he was in the camp of the army’s commander. He hid until nightfall
and then went straight to the tent of the commander and took away his horse -
which was tied to the tent - and ran away. A Persian horseman saw that and
followed him. Tulayhah killed him and took his horse along with his and the
commander’s horse. Another horseman pursued him and Tulayhah also killed him
and took his horse. A third horseman attacked him but then surrendered.
Tulayhah captured him and carried him away, along with a total of four horses
in addition to his.
The Muslim leaders gathered to question the Persian who was
captured who turned out to be one of their leaders. He said: “I have fought
numerous battles but I have never seen anything like this man! He crossed our camps
until he made it to where even the brave would not dare: the camp of our army’s
commander, which had over 70,000 soldiers. As if that wasn’t enough he went
ahead and took the commander’s horse! The first of us to follow him was
considered among us to be equal to a thousand men and he killed him! The second
to follow him was killed and then I pursued him and I don’t think that there is
anyone in the army equal to myself in strength and courage. But I saw death on
his hands and surrendered! The man then accepted Islam and fought alongside the
Muslims.
Source: ‘Mashari al-Ashwaq ila Masari al-Ushaaq’ by Imam Ibn Nuhaas
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