Note 268 — Chapter XVI · YEZDEGIRD SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE OF PERSIA.—BATTLE OF CADESIYA. A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.

Sura viii., entitled Anfâl, or ‘The Spoils,’ is called also ‘Sura Jehâd.’ It is a long chapter, of seventy-eight verses. On ordinary occasions only suitable portions were recited. Here, apparently, the entire Sura was read. Two other Suras—Victory (xlviii.) and She who is tried (lx.)—are also used before battle, as containing warlike passages; and the practice is kept up in Moslem campaigns to the present day.