Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (Arabic: خالد بن الوليد بن المغيرة المخزومي, romanized: Khālid ibn al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra al-Makhzūmī; died 642) was an Arab Muslim commander in the service of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the caliphs Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) and Umar (r. 634–644) who played a leading role in the Ridda wars against rebel tribes in Arabia in 632–633 and the early Muslim conquests of Sasanian Iraq in 633–634 and Byzantine Syria in 634–638. Battles/wars Against Muslims:
Battle of Badr (624)
Battle of Uhud (625)
Battle of the Trench (627)
For Muslims:
Battle of Mu'tah (629)
Conquest of Mecca (629/30)
Battle of Hunayn (630)
Ridda wars
Battle of Buzakha (632)
Battle of Aqraba (633)
Muslim conquest of Syria
Battle of Marj Rahit (634)
Siege of Bosra (634)
Battle of Ajnadayn (634)
Battle of Fahl (634)
Siege of Damascus (634–635)
Battle of Yarmouk (636)
Siege of Emesa (636/37)
Siege of Aleppo (637)
Battle of the Iron Bridge (637)
Battle of Qinnasrin (637/38)
A horseman of the Quraysh tribe's aristocratic Makhzum clan, which ardently opposed Muhammad, Khalid played the instrumental role in defeating the Muslims at the Battle of Uhud in 625. Following his conversion to Islam in 627 or 629, he was made a commander by Muhammad, who bestowed on him the title Sayf Allah (the Sword of God). Khalid coordinated the safe withdrawal of Muslim troops during the abortive expedition to Mu'ta against the Arab allies of the Byzantines in 629 and led the Bedouin contingents of the Muslim army during the capture of Mecca and the Battle of Hunayn in c. 630. After Muhammad's death, Khalid was appointed to suppress or subjugate Arab tribes in Najd and the Yamama (both regions in central Arabia) opposed to the nascent Muslim state, defeating the rebel leaders Tulayha at the Battle of Buzakha in 632 and Musaylima at the Battle of Aqraba in 633. Khalid subsequently moved against the largely Christian Arab tribes and the Sasanian Persian garrisons of the Euphrates valley in Iraq. He was reassigned by Abu Bakr to command the Muslim armies in Syria and he led his men there on an unconventional march across a long, waterless stretch of the Syrian Desert, boosting his reputation as a military strategist. As a result of decisive victories against the Byzantines at Ajnadayn (634), Fahl (634), Damascus (634–635) and Yarmouk (636), the Muslims under Khalid conquered much of Syria. He was afterward demoted from the high command by Umar for a range of causes cited by traditional Islamic and modern sources. Khalid continued service as the key lieutenant of his successor Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah in the sieges of Homs and Aleppo and the Battle of Qinnasrin, all in 637–638, which collectively precipitated the retreat from Syria of imperial Byzantine troops under Emperor Heraclius. Umar dismissed Khalid from his governorship of Qinnasrin afterward and he died in Medina or Homs in 642. Khalid is generally considered by historians to be one of early Islam's most seasoned and accomplished generals and he is commemorated throughout the Arab world until the present day. The Islamic tradition credits Khalid for his battlefield tactics and effective leadership of the early Muslim conquests, but accuses him of illicitly executing Arab tribesmen who had accepted Islam, namely members of the Banu Jadhima during the lifetime of Muhammad and Malik ibn Nuwayra during the Ridda wars, and moral and fiscal misconduct in Syria. His military fame disturbed some of the pious, early Muslim converts, including Umar, who feared it could develop into a personality cult. Origins and early military career
Khalid's father was al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, an arbitrator of local disputes in Mecca in the Hejaz (western Arabia).[1] Al-Walid is identified by the historians Ibn Hisham (d. 833), Ibn Habib (d. 859) and Ibn Durayd (d. 837) as the "derider" of the Islamic prophet Muhammad mentioned in the Meccan suras (chapters) of the Qur'an.[1] He belonged to the Banu Makhzum, a leading clan of the Quraysh tribe and Mecca's pre-Islamic aristocracy.[2] The Makhzum are credited for introducing Meccan commerce to foreign markets,[3] particularly Yemen and Abyssinia (Ethiopia),[2] and developed a reputation among the Quraysh for their intellect, nobility and wealth.[3] Their prominence was owed to the leadership of Khalid's paternal grandfather al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah.[3] Khalid's paternal uncle Hisham was known as the "lord of Mecca" and the date of his death was used by the Quraysh as the start of their calendar.[4] The historian Muhammad Abdulhayy Shaban describes Khalid as "a man of considerable standing" within his clan and Mecca in general.[5]
Khalid's mother was al-Asma bint al-Harith ibn Hazn, commonly known as Lubaba al-Sughra ("Lubaba the Younger", to distinguish her from her elder half-sister Lubaba al-Kubra) of the nomadic Banu Hilal tribe.[6] Lubaba al-Sughra converted to Islam about c. 622 and her paternal half-sister Maymuna became a wife of Muhammad.[6] Through his maternal relations Khalid became highly familiarized with the Bedouin (nomadic Arab) lifestyle.
