Ridda Wars
The Ridda Wars were a series of military campaigns launched by the first Rashidun caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes, some of which were led by rival prophethood claimants. These wars began shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632 and concluded the next year, with all battles won by the Rashidun Caliphate.
In September 632, Laqit, the leader of the Banu Azd tribe, prepared an army to attack Oman. However, commander Hudayfa's forces defeated Laqit and his rebel army. The next month, more rebel attacks were faced in Northern Arabia and Yemen, which were also defeated. A few months later, Banu Hanifa's chief Musaylimah, a rival claimant of prophethood with an army of allegedly 40,000 soldiers, was killed in the Battle of Yamama. The last major rebel attack came from the tribe of Kinda in Hadhramaut in January 633. The campaigns came to an end in June 633 as Abu Bakr united all tribes of Arabia.
These wars established Khalid ibn al-Walid's reputation as a great tactician and cavalry commander. A detailed reconstruction of the events is complicated by the frequently contradictory and tendentious accounts found in primary sources.
Background
In May 632, Muhammad ordered a large expedition to be prepared against the Byzantine Empire in order to avenge the martyrs of the Battle of Mu'tah. He appointed Usama ibn Zayd, the son of Zayd ibn Harithah who was killed in the Battle at Mu'tah, as commander of this force so he could avenge the death of his father. However, as Muhammad was ailing, the expedition was delayed. In June 632, Muhammad died and Abu Bakr was chosen as the caliph at Saqifah.On the first day of his caliphate, Abu Bakr ordered the army of Usama to prepare to march into battle. Abu Bakr was under great pressure regarding this military expedition due to rising rebellions, with many regions across Arabia withholding zakat and leaving Islam. Before his march into battle, Usama sent Umar to Abu Bakr and is reported to have said:
Abu Bakr however refused his demands. On June 26, 632, the army of Usama broke camp and moved out. After leaving Medina, Usama marched to Tabuk where most of the tribes in the region opposed him fiercely, but were defeated. Usama raided far and wide in the region of Northern Arabia, starting with the Quza'a, and then made his way to Dawmatu l-Jandal. Usama next marched to Mu'tah, attacked the Christian Arabs of the tribes of Banu Kalb and the Ghassanids in a small battle. Then he returned to Medina, bringing with him a large number of captives and a considerable amount of wealth, part of which comprised the spoils of war and part taxation of the re-conquered tribes. The Islamic army remained outside of Medina for 40 days. This expedition became notable in Islamic history as the eighteen year old Usama had been appointed as overall commander, leading veterans and high ranked Companions of the Prophet such as Umar, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Sa'id ibn Zayd, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, and Qatada ibn al-Nu'man.
Usama's expedition succeeded in forcing several rebel tribes to resubmit to Medinan rule and rejoin Islam. The Quza'a remained rebellious and unrepentant, but 'Amr ibn al-'As later attacked them and forced them to surrender again.
Meanwhile, the rebels of the Ghatafan clan from Qays's tribe made several attempts to capture Mecca, which was still loyal to Islam, before joining the rebel from the north, Tulayha of the Banu Asad, who was seen by many as a rival prophet claimant to Muhammad.
Ridda Campaign
In the fourth week of August 632, Abu Bakr moved to Zhu Qissa with all available fighting forces. There he planned his strategy, in what would later be called the Campaign of Apostasy, to deal with the various rebel groups across Arabia. The battles which he had fought recently against the rebel concentrations at Zhu Qissa and Abraq were, according to tradition, defensive actions to protect Medina and discourage further offensives by the enemy. These actions enabled Abu Bakr to secure a base from which he could fight the major campaign that lay ahead, thus gaining time for the preparation and launching of his main forces.Abu Bakr had to fight not one but several opponents: Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi at Buzakha, Malik bin Nuwaira at Butah, and Musaylima at Yamamah. He had to deal with widespread renouncement of Islam on the eastern and southern coasts of Arabia: in Bahrain, in Oman, in Mahra, in Hadhramaut and in Yemen. There were similar movements renouncing Islam in the regions south and east of Mecca and by the Quza'a in northern Arabia.
Abu Bakr formed the army into several corps, the strongest of which was commanded by Khalid ibn Walid and assigned to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces. Other corps were given areas of secondary importance in which to subdue the less dangerous rebel tribes, and were dispatched after Khalid, according to the outcome of his operations. Abu Bakr's plan was first to clear west-central Arabia, then tackle Malik bin Nuwaira, and finally concentrate against his most dangerous and powerful enemy: Musaylima, leader of the Banu Hanifa tribe and rival prophet claimant to Muhammad.
Battle of Dhu al-Qassah
In July 632, Abu Bakr sent envoys to the enemy tribes, calling upon them to remain loyal to Islam and continue to pay their zakat. This demand was rejected by the rebel tribes. Tulayha, who was also acknowledged as a prophet by many Arabian tribes, reinforced an army at Zhu Qissa, a city about thirty miles east of Medina. From there, Tulayha and his forces were preparing to launch an attack on Medina.Abu Bakr received intelligence of the rebel movements, and immediately prepared for the defence of Medina. Ibn Kathir recorded that Abu Bakr immediately formed organised elite guard units al-Ḥaras wa al-Shurṭa to defend Medina. Veteran companions like Ali ibn Abi Talib, Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam were appointed as commanders of these units. The Haras wa'l Shurta troops rode their camels to the mountain passes of Medina at night, intercepting the rebel coalition assault forces, until the enemy retreated to Dhu Qisha.
On 4 August 632, Usama's army returned to Medina. Abu Bakr ordered Usama to rest and resupply his men there for future operations. Meanwhile, in the second week of August 632, Abu Bakr moved his army to Zhu Qissa. The following day, Abu Bakr marched the garrison troops from Medina with the main army and moved towards Dhu Hussa.
Since all horses and trained camels were brought by main army to Balqa, tradition has it that Abu Bakr and the rest of the Haras forces that were left in the capital had to resort to fighting the rebels with only untrained camels. As the rebels retreated to the foothills on the outskirts of the city, Abu Bakr and the Medinan army could not catch up to the battle in the outskirts of Medina due to their untrained camels, so they had to wait until the next day to gather momentum for the second strike. These pack camels, being untrained for battle, bolted when Hibal, the rebel commander at Zhu Hussa, made a surprise attack from the hills; as a result, the Muslims could not control their untrained camels and decided to retreat toward Medina, and the rebels recaptured the outposts that they lost a few days earlier. The Medinans then regrouped their forces to prepare to engage the rebels in the Battle of Zhu Qissa the next day. Abu Bakr merged An-Numan ibn Muqarrin's remaining forces with his own, with Abu Bakr leading from the center, while Al-Nu'man ibn Muqrin rode on the right flank, Abdullah ibn Muqrin on the left flank, and Suwaid ibn Muqrin was positioned in the rear. The surprise attack from the Medinans caused chaos among the rebel forces, and during the height of the battle, Ukasha ibn al-Mihsan managed to kill the rebel leader Hibal, the brother of Tulayha. The Medinan forces finally capturing Dhu Qissa on 1 August 632.
Battle of Abraq
The defeated rebel tribes retreated to Abraq, where more clansmen of the Ghatfan, the Hawazin, and the Tayy were gathered. Abu Bakr left a residual force under the command of An-Numan ibn Muqarrin at Dhu Qissa and returned with his main army to Medina. The remaining rebels retreated to Buzakha, where rival prophet claimant Tulayha had moved with his army from Samira. Then, after the rebels retreated from the outskirts of Medina, the caliph went further to the north to crush another Bedouin rebellion in Dumat al-Jandal.In mid-August of the year 632, Battle of Abraq occurred at the Abraq area, situated approximately 8 kilometres north of Al Hinakiyah. It is within the Nejd region against rebellious Arab tribes led by Hibal ibn Khuwailid. In response to the rebels retreating into Abraq, Abu Bakr As-Siddiq personally led a corps to Al-Rabadha where he met the rebels from Banu Dhubyan, Banu Bakr ibn Abd Manat, and May others. There, they clashed at al-Abraq. Al-Harith ibn Fulan, a member of the Banu Subay', and Awf ibn Fulan ibn Sinan were killed in the fighting, while Al-Hutay'ah was taken prisoner. After the battle, Abu Bakr stayed in Abraq for a few days. The Banu Dhubyan, who dominated the region. Abraq was then reserved for the horses of the Muslims, while the rest of the land in Al-Rabadha was turned into communal pasture area.
Battle of Buzakha
As soon as the expedition of Usama ibn Zayd had returned, Abu Bakr immediately started preparing his forces for further combat against the rebels close to Medina. Before dispatching Khalid against Tulayha, Abu Bakr sought to reduce the latter's strength. Nothing could be done about the tribes of Bani Assad and Banu Ghatafan, which stood solidly behind rival prophet claimant Tulayha, but the Tayy were not so staunch in their support of Tulayha, and their chief, Adi ibn Hatim, was a devout Muslim. Adi was appointed by Abu Bakr to negotiate with the tribal elders to withdraw their contingent from Tulayha's army. The negotiations were a success, and Adi brought with him 500 horsemen of his tribe to reinforce Khalid's army. Khalid next marched against another rebel tribe, Jadila. Here again Adi ibn Hatim offered his services to persuade the tribe to submit without bloodshed. Bani Jadila submitted, and their 1000 warriors joined Khalid's army.Khalid, now much stronger than when he had left Zhu Qissa, marched towards Buzakha. There, in mid-September 632 CE, he defeated Tulayha in the Battle of Buzakha. Khalid led a fast column in pursuit of rebel commander Uyaina, who had fled to the south-east with his clan of Bani Fazara and some elements of the Bani Asad led by Uyaina as far as Ghamra, 60 miles away. After several clashes, Islamic tradition has it that Uyaina at this point became disillusioned regarding the prophethood of Tulayha, even though he supposedly remained defiant and unrepentant at the same time. It is alleged that Khalid personally engaged the bodyguards of Uyaina in combat, before he had Uyaina taken as prisoner. The remnants of rival prophet claimant Tulayha's army retreated to Ghamra, 20 miles from Buzakha, and were defeated in the Battle of Ghamra in the third week of September. After the action at Ghamra, Khalid set off for Naqra where certain clans of the Bani Sulaim had gathered to continue the rebellion. As the rest of the rebel tribes surrendered, Khalid moved south from Buzakha, and Naqra in October, with an army now 6,000 strong, he defeated the rebel tribe of Banu Saleem in the Battle of Naqra. In the third week of October, Khalid defeated a tribal chieftess, Salma, in the battle of Zafar. Afterwards he moved to Najd against the rebel tribe of Banu Tamim and their Sheikh Malik ibn Nuwayrah. As part of his campaigns against the resistance of the Banu Tamim tribe, Khalid sent Dhiraar ibn al-Azwar to quell this rebellion. Dhiraar was one of the Arabian chieftains of the Asad clan who had stayed loyal to the Islamic government in Medina by pledging allegiance to the newly appointed caliph, Abu Bakr, Dhiraar showed his loyalty by warning and chastising the conduct of the peoples who rebelled against the caliphate.