Khalid ibn al-Walid
The famous commander among the Companions, to whom the Prophet gave the title Sayf Allah ("the Sword of God"). His full name was Abu Sulayman Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi al-Qurashi ; he is also known as Faris al-Islam . He was born in Mecca some 35-39 years before the Hijra (583-587). His lineage joins that of the Prophet at his seventh-generation ancestor Murra. His father al-Walid ibn al-Mughira was a distinguished man among Quraysh; his mother Lubaba al-Sughra Asma bint al-Harith was a paternal half-sister of Maymuna bint al-Harith, one of the Prophet's wives. The Banu Makhzum, to whom he belonged, held the command of the Qurayshi cavalry. Following custom he spent his early childhood with a family in the desert; back in Mecca he learned riding, the use of arms, and the leading of cavalry units. He travelled with trade caravans to Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Yemen; it is known that he could read and write and that after becoming Muslim he was among the Prophet's scribes. Before Islam he commanded the cavalry of the Qurayshi army. At Uhud (625), seeing some Muslims leave the hill of Aynayn, he attacked the Muslim army from the rear and changed the outcome of the battle; at the Trench (627) too he led the Qurayshi horse. In the year of Hudaybiya (628), commanding a cavalry unit of 200, he saw the Prophet lead the prayer of fear and is reported to have said, "This man is protected." On reading the letter of his brother al-Walid, who told him that the Messenger of God had asked after him, he resolved to embrace Islam; with Uthman ibn Talha and Amr ibn al-As he went to Medina on 1 Safar 8 (31 May 629) and pronounced the testimony of faith in the Prophet's Mosque. The Prophet prayed for him and gave him a house near the Mosque. His first battle as a Muslim was Mu'ta (September 629), where he saved the Muslim army from annihilation by the Byzantine army; on his return to Medina the Prophet gave him the title Sayf Allah . At the conquest of Mecca (11 January 630) he commanded the right wing and broke the only resistance offered during the conquest, and then destroyed the idol al-Uzza in the valley of Nakhla. He was wounded at Hunayn, was sent to Dumat al-Jandal during the Tabuk expedition (630), went in July 631 with 400 men to Najran to invite the Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b to Islam, and took part in the Farewell Pilgrimage the same year. Under Abu Bakr he stood with the caliph against the apostasy movements. After Dhu al-Qassa he was made commander-in-chief of an army of 4000; on 19 September 632 he marched against Tulayha, a claimant to prophethood, and prevailed at Buzakha. He then went to al-Butah to fight the Banu Tamim, who refused to pay zakat, and from there to Yamama, where he defeated the forces of Musaylima the Liar at the battle of Aqraba, which ended early in 633. Abu Bakr then sent him to Iraq to aid al-Muthanna ibn Haritha al-Shaybani, who was fighting the Sasanians; thus the first step of the age of conquests was taken. His core force of 2000 reached 5000 with al-Muthanna's troops. He conquered al-Ubulla, made a treaty with the people of Ullays on 3 Rajab 12 (13 September 633), and took al-Hira, al-Anbar and Ayn al-Tamr, bringing the lands from the Gulf to Ayn al-Tamr into the Islamic state. On the caliph's order he turned to Syria; with a cavalry unit of 700-800 he crossed the desert between Quraqir and Suwa in five days and defeated the Ghassanids at Marj Rahit (23 April 634). At Bosra he joined Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, Shurahbil ibn Hasana and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and became commander-in-chief of the united army. At Ajnadayn (30 July 634) he won a great victory over a Byzantine army of 80.000; he prevailed again at Fihl (23 January 635), conquered Damascus in September 635, and won the battle of Yarmuk (20 August 636). Meanwhile the new caliph Umar removed him from the supreme command and appointed Abu Ubayda in his place; thereafter Khalid took part, under Abu Ubayda's orders and as commander of the vanguard, in the conquest of Homs, Hama, Shayzar and Qinnasrin. After Abu Ubayda's death he served under no one else, and died in the year 21 (642) at Homs , where he had spent the rest of his life. His grave is there. Very little is known of his wives and children; he is reported to have had some forty children, nearly all of whom died in the plague in Syria, the best known being Abd al-Rahman, governor of Homs. He transmitted eighteen hadiths from the Prophet; among those who narrated from him are Abd Allah ibn Qays, Qays ibn Abi Hazim and al-Miqdad ibn Ma'dikarib. Three swords attributed to him, named mirsab, edlak and qurtubi , are preserved in the Topkapı Palace Museum.