Note 220 — Chapter XIV · ACCESSION OF OMAR—REINFORCEMENTS FOR IRAC—CAMPAIGN THERE UNDER ABU OBEID AND MOTHANNA. Jumâd II., A.H. XIII.—Moharram, A.H. XIV. August, A.D. 634–March, A.D. 635.

‘I brought the army,’ Mothanna said, ‘to an evil pass by getting before the enemy and closing the bridge upon him; but the Lord graciously warded off the danger. Beware, therefore, of following my example, for verily it was a grievous lapse. It becometh us not to bar the escape of those who have nothing to fall back upon.’ It will be observed that the compunction was not at all for any unnecessary bloodshed among the helpless enemy (an idea altogether foreign to the thoughts of a Moslem crusader), but of gratuitous loss and risk to the Moslems. It may have added to Mothanna’s grief that in repelling this last charge he lost his brother. The slain are put at 100,000. ‘Years after, even in the time of the civil wars, you could not walk across the plain without stumbling on the bones strewed all around.’