ABSTRACT
If one of the wings were removed, the ‘Persian bird’ could still keep itself alive, but if the head were cut off, the wings would be useless as well: Isfahan, the head, would be the obvious choice as the target. The Muslim messenger in the enemy camp and champion of the cause of Islam is a most popular and much varied motif in the futuh literature. The correspondence between ?Umar and the Muslim armies is part of the greater context of the later systematic arrangement of events from the early years of Islam. In some instances the messenger adds the call to convert to Islam to his mention of the Prophet’s mission; after this the negotiations are cut short and the battle begins. It is even possible that the messenger story contains not only a theoretical definition of the relationship between Islam and heathenism, but that it presents an opinion concerning an internal Muslim problem.
