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636 CEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah Breaks Sassanian Power in Iraq

A sandstorm and a slain general turn the tide against the Persian Empire

On the timeline · around 636 CE · The Rashidun Caliphs and the First FitnaPre-Islamic Arabia and the Life of MuhammadThe Rashidun Caliphs and the First FitnaThe Battle of al-Qadisiyyah Breaks Sassanian Power in Iraq620 CE625 CE630 CE635 CE640 CE645 CE650 CE

Quick facts

Location
Qadisiyyah, near Kufa, modern Iraq
Rashidun commander
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
Sassanian commander
Rustam Farrokhzad, killed in battle
Follow-up
Battle of Nahavand, 642 CE; fall of Sassanian Empire, 651 CE

What happened

As Rashidun raids into Sassanian Iraq escalated after 633 CE, Caliph Umar reinforced the front under Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas to face a large Persian army led by the general Rustam Farrokhzad. At the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in 636 CE, the outnumbered and less well-equipped Rashidun army held on through several days of fighting until Muslim cavalry slipped past the Persian lines under cover of a sandstorm and killed Rustam. His death demoralized the Persian troops, who routed despite their numbers, and the Rashidun army swept through Iraq and captured Ctesiphon, the Sassanian capital.

Why it matters

Qadisiyyah ended organized Sassanian resistance in Iraq and opened the road to Persia itself, a conquest completed within two decades at Nahavand in 642 CE and the death of the last Sassanian king in 651 CE. It marks the point at which the Arab conquests stopped being border raids and became the destruction of a centuries-old empire.

How we know

The battle's narrative, including Rustam's death during a sandstorm, comes from the Arabic historical tradition as summarized by the World History Encyclopedia; the fall of Ctesiphon and the subsequent Nahavand campaign are recorded in the same continuous account of the Sassanian collapse.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Rise of Islam30 events · From a trading town in the Arabian desert to a caliphate stretching from Iberia to Central Asia in under a centuryView all →
The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah Breaks Sassanian Power in Iraq · The Rise of Islam · SourcedStory