ABSTRACT
In his last attempts to avert a great battle, the Persian supreme commander Rustam asked the Arab troops camped beyond the Euphrates to send over a delegation of negotiators. The Arab commander, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, did not want to do the enemy such an honour and sent an old Bedouin on a ragged mare. Rustam, seated on a throne, received the delegate with pomp and circumstance in a hall whose floor was covered with precious carpets. The old Arab, dressed in shabby clothes, was not intimidated and remained seated on his horse as long as possible. He walked the last few steps, leaning on a lance with which he carelessly pricked the precious carpets. When the guards made as if to seize him, he exclaimed, ‘I have not come to this place to be disarmed but because I was invited. It was not my wish to appear. If you disarm me I will turn on my heels.’ Rustam ordered his men to retreat and asked for the Arab's list of demands. His reply was that there were only three options for the Persians: conversion to Islam, becoming tributary to the Arabs, or war. After Rustam's refusal to comply, in the days that followed other delegates were sent with the same message. The supreme commander, realizing that further negotiation was useless, decided to open hostilities. It is the year 636, 2 and we are on the threshold of the Arab victory at the battle of Qadisiyya.
