Ridda Wars

When the Prophet Muhammad died in 632, many Arabian tribes that had accepted his authority broke away, refused to keep paying the alms tax, or followed rival claimants to prophethood. The first caliph, Abu Bakr, answered with a year of campaigns, known in Arabic as the wars of the ridda, or apostasy, which by 633 had brought the whole Arabian Peninsula under the rule of Medina. The victory turned a fragile tribal alliance into the Rashidun Caliphate and prepared the ground for the great conquests that followed.

The story is known almost entirely from early Islamic historical writing, compiled generations later, whose accounts are often contradictory and sometimes shaped by later concerns. The chronology and many details below follow these traditional accounts and should be read with that caution.

Abu Bakr was chosen as caliph at a meeting known as Saqifah in June 632. Despite the unrest, he insisted on sending out an expedition under the young commander Usama ibn Zayd, which Muhammad had ordered against the Byzantine frontier. Meanwhile, according to the early sources, revolt spread: tribes across Arabia withheld the zakat, and several leaders claimed prophethood, among them Tulayha of the Banu Asad in the north, Musaylima of the Banu Hanifa in Yamama, the prophetess Sajah of the Banu Tamim, while in Yemen, the first region to revolt, the self-proclaimed prophet al-Aswad al-Ansi had already risen and been killed.

With much of his army away, Abu Bakr organised guards to protect Medina against tribal forces gathered nearby. In the summer of 632 the Medinans beat back these tribes at Dhu al-Qassah and at Abraq. After Usama's force returned, the caliph divided his troops into eleven corps under separate commanders, each assigned a rebel region, and sent envoys with a final call to submit.

The strongest corps went to Khalid ibn al-Walid. In mid-September 632 he defeated Tulayha at Buzakha, then subdued other tribes in the north-centre of Arabia. In Najd he had the Tamimi chief Malik ibn Nuwayra executed as a rebel, although the accounts suggest he had withheld the tax rather than abandoned prayer.

The hardest fight came against Musaylima, whose army the sources put at as many as 40,000. Two Muslim commanders, Ikrima and Shurahbil, attacked prematurely and were beaten. Reinforced to about 13,000 men, Khalid met Musaylima at the Battle of Yamama in December 632, where Musaylima was killed and the Banu Hanifa defeated. Central Arabia then submitted.

Other corps dealt with the rest of the peninsula. In Oman, Hudhayfa and Ikrima defeated the Azd chief Laqit, known as Dhu'l-Taj, at Dibba. Ikrima went on to Mahra, while Amr ibn al-As campaigned against tribes near the Syrian frontier. In Bahrain, al-Ala al-Hadrami captured the rebel stronghold of Hajr. In Yemen, a further revolt led by Qays ibn Makshuh and Amr ibn Ma'adi Yakrib was put down. The last major rising, by the Kinda of Hadhramaut under al-Ash'ath ibn Qays, broke out in January 633 and ended with the capture of the fortress of Nujayr around February. Al-Ash'ath was spared, later settling in Medina and marrying the caliph's sister.

By early 633 Abu Bakr controlled all of Arabia. Historians are uncertain whether he then intended full-scale conquest or simply a buffer against the neighbouring empires, but Muslim armies soon moved against the Sasanian Empire in Iraq and the Byzantine Empire in Syria. Khalid, whose reputation as a commander was made in these wars, led the advance into Iraq.

Our 600 map shows Arabia before its unification, and the 700 map shows the Umayyad Caliphate that emerged from these conquests stretching far beyond the peninsula.