Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 36077 — Reports on Tustar

Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakrah said: When Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) led the fighters against Tustar to subdue al-Hurmuzan, they stayed there for a year or about that without achieving victory. During this time al-Hurmuzan had a noble and leading man of Tustar killed. The brother of the slain man came one day to Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) and said to him: "If I show you the way into al-Hurmuzan's fortress, what reward will I get?" Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What do you want?" He said: "That you spare my life and the lives of my family, and leave us our property and our dwellings." Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) agreed to this. He said: "Now give me a man who can swim and is intelligent. He will bring you clear news." (2) Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) called Majza'ah bin Thawr al-Sadusi and said to him: "Give me a man from your people who can swim and is very intelligent, but not so important a man that his martyrdom would be a cause of despair for the Muslims. If he stays safe, he will bring us the news. I do not know what this man wants, nor do I trust him." (3) Majza'ah said: "I have found that person." Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "Who is he?" He said: "It is I." Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "May Allah have mercy on you. I do not want this; give me some other man." Majza'ah bin Thawr said: "By Allah, I will not go to an old woman of Bakr bin Wa'il to ransom the son of Umm Majza'ah with her son." Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If you refuse, then go." (4) Majza'ah put on white clothes and took a handkerchief and a dagger with him. Then he went with that man, swam across a stream on the way, and then entered their fortress by way of the stream. At times the way became so narrow that he had to crawl on his belly, at times it opened up and he walked on his feet, and at times he went on his knees, until he entered the city. Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) had ordered him to memorise the way to the city gate, the way to its wall, and the house of al-Hurmuzan. That man took him and showed him the way to the wall, the way to the gate and the house of al-Hurmuzan. Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) had instructed Majza'ah: "Take no action on your own until I know of it." (5) When Majza'ah saw al-Hurmuzan sitting with his friends drinking wine, he said to that man: "Is this al-Hurmuzan?" He said: "Yes, this is he." Majza'ah said: "This is the man who has caused the Muslims hardship. I will not leave him alive." That man said: "Do not do that. Those appointed to guard him will not let you reach him, and the Muslims will not be able to enter the fortress either." Majza'ah held firm to what he had said. That man tried hard to persuade him, and finally he reminded him of the advice of Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him). Then Majza'ah stopped, came back to that man's house and stayed there until evening. (6) Then he went back to Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him), who sent a force of more than three hundred fighters with Majza'ah and ordered them that each man should wear only two garments and keep his sword with him. The people did so. Then all the fighters sat on the bank of the river waiting for Majza'ah, while Majza'ah was with Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) taking orders and instructions. Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakrah said: Those people desired nothing but death. That scene is before my eyes: the dining mat was spread before Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him), and Majza'ah felt shy not to take something from the mat. He picked up a grape but did not have the heart to swallow even that, and he gently took it out and put it down. Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) gave him advice and sent him off. While taking leave Majza'ah said to Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him): "If I ask you for one thing, will you grant it to me?" Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whatever you ask, I will give it to you." Majza'ah said: "Give me your sword, so that I may gird it on beside my own sword." So Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) gave him his sword. (7) Then Majza'ah joined the fighters, and saying Allahu Akbar he plunged into the water. Behind him all the people plunged into the water as well. Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakrah said: They were swimming in the water like ducks. They crossed the stream, then advanced to the opening through which the water was going in. He said Allahu Akbar and went in. When they reached the city, only thirty-five or thirty-six men remained with him. He said to his companions: "Shall I not go back to them and bring them in?" A man from the people of Kufah, who was called al-Jaban on account of his courage, said: "Let someone other than you say this, O Majza'ah. You are only responsible for yourself, so carry out what you have been ordered to do." He said to him: "You are right." So he went with one group to the gate and posted them at it, sent one group to the wall, and went on with those who remained until he climbed up to the wall. A non-Arab soldier of the Asawirah (Persian cavalry) came down upon him with a short spear and thrust at Majza'ah, wounding him gravely. Majza'ah said to them: "Carry on with your task; let nothing distract you from it on my account." They threw a saddle blanket over him so that they would know his place, and went on. The Muslims cried Allahu Akbar on the wall and at the gate of the city, opened the gate, and the Muslims came on in their usual manner until they entered the city. It was said to al-Hurmuzan: "These Arabs have entered." He said: "There is no doubt they have forced their way in. From where did they enter? From the sky?" He took refuge in a citadel of his. Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) came galloping on an Arab horse of his until he came to Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who was in command of the people, and he said: "As for us, O Abu Hamzah, we have accomplished nothing today, while they have finished with the enemy; they have killed those whom they killed and captured those whom they captured." They surrounded al-Hurmuzan in his citadel but could not reach him until they gave him security, and he came down on the judgement of Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab, the Commander of the Faithful. Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) sent them, al-Hurmuzan and his companions, with Sayyiduna Anas, and they took them until they reached Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Anas sent word to him: "What is your view concerning these people? Shall I bring them in naked and bound, or shall I order them to take up their ornaments and fine clothes?" Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sent word to him: "If you brought them in naked and bound, as you say, they would be nothing more than non-Arab peasants. Rather, bring them in wearing their ornaments and fine clothes, so that the Muslims may know what Allah has bestowed upon them as spoils." So he ordered them, and they took up their fine clothes and ornaments. They came in to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), and al-Hurmuzan said to him: "O Commander of the Faithful, how shall I speak to you: with the speech of a living man who will remain, or with the speech of a man to be killed?" A word came from Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he did not intend: "Speak; there is no harm for you." Al-Hurmuzan said to him: "O Commander of the Faithful, you know how it was with us and you when we were all in misguidance. A tribe of the Arab tribes would see the arrow of one of our cavalrymen and flee to a distant land. But when Allah guided you and He was with you, we could not fight Him." Sayyiduna Anas took them back. When evening came, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sent word to Sayyiduna Anas: "Come to me in the morning with your captives so that I may strike their necks." Sayyiduna Anas came to him and said: "By Allah, O Umar, that is not for you to do." He said: "Why?" He said: "Because you said to the man: 'Speak; there is no harm for you.'" He said: "You shall bring me proof of this, or I shall deal harshly with you." Sayyiduna Anas asked the people sitting with Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him): "Did not Umar say to the man: 'Speak; there is no harm for you'?" They said: "Yes indeed." This weighed heavily on Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: "If it must be so, then take them away from me." So he sent them off to a village called Dahlak, in the sea. When they were on their way, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) raised his hands and said three times: "O Allah, break it with them." They boarded the ship, and it was smashed and broke apart with them, but it was close to land, so they came out. A man of the Muslims said: "Had he prayed that they should drown, they would have drowned; but he only said: 'Break it with them.'" So he left them there.