Tulayha

Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi was a wealthy Arab clan chief and military commander during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad; he belonged to the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe.

In 625 he was defeated in the Expedition of Qatan, a Muslim expedition against him. He also took part in the Battle of the Trench in 627 against Muhammad and in Battle of Buzakha and Battle of Ghamra in 632 against the Rashidun caliphate. He later submitted to the caliphate and participated in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, Battle of Jalula, and the Battle of Nahavand on the Muslim side.

He along with Amr ibn Ma'adi Yakrib were praised by Umar for their strength in battlefield and military wisdom during the Muslim conquest of Persia.

Biography In 631, Tulayha claimed to be a prophet and the recipient of divine revelation and rebelled against Muhammad. Many tribes acknowledged him as a prophet, which made him sufficiently strong and powerful to lead a confederacy of numerous tribes against the Muslims. Ali ibn Abi Talib, Talha ibn Ubaidullah and Zubair ibn al-Awam, were each appointed as commander of one-third of the newly organized force. They fought the Battle of Zhu Qissa against the forces of Tulayha and his followers as they prepared to launch an attack on Medina during the Ridda wars. The Rashidun commanders held until they were reinforced by Abu Bakr. Tulayha was defeated and his forces were driven back to Zhu Hussa.

Thereafter, Khalid ibn al-Walid was sent to crush him and his confederacy. The armies of Khalid and Tulayha met at a place named Buzakha in 632. In this engagement, the army of Tulayha was defeated in the Battle of Buzakha. Following this battle, many of the rebellious tribes surrendered and converted to Islam. However, Tulayha escaped from Buzakha and sought refuge in Syria. But when Syria was conquered by the Muslims, Tulayha converted to Islam.

In 634, he personally paid homage to Umar after the latter’s assumption of the position of Caliph. Later on, Tulayha enthusiastically took part in the campaign against the Sassanid Empire in the Battle of Jalula,

At one time it is recorded that he single-handedly rushed enemy ranks in the dark of night and came back with a prisoner of war, Tabari particularly detailed in one chain of narrations the circumstances in which being that Tulayha infiltrated the Sassanid camps under the cover of darkness, singlehandedly wreaking havoc in their camps, killing two Sassanid soldiers, taking two horses and then brought back one captive to Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. .

Muhammad Husayn Haykal in his book of Umar's biography, also borrowed the same circumstances and wrote the aftermath of the raid as following: Sa'd asking the Sassanid captive about what happened, the latter answered:

The Sassanid prisoner later converted to Islam and gave valuable information to the Muslim army.

Another record from the notoriously dubious account of Ya'qubi recorded that Tulayha was among the ones who found the corpse of Rostam Farrokhzād.

Later he fought his last battle in the Battle of Nahāvand alongside the Muslim armies and later died as Shahid in that battle.

Death Tulayha was slain at the last battle in Nahavand.