The Battle of Thamud was fought in November 634 AD between the Arab armies of the Rashidun Caliphate and the rebellious Kindite tribe of southern Arabia. The battle resulted in the quelling of a major anti-Rashidun rebellion which occurred in the aftermath of the Ridda Wars.
Background[]
While the Ridda Wars had ended in 633, the Rashidun Caliphate was still unable to command the absolute loyalty of Arabia's tribes in the coming years. By 634 AD, the region of Arabia Felix (present-day Yemen and Oman) was 79% Muslim, but its 15% pagan and 6% Jewish minorities were militantly resistant to Islamization. In addition, the outbreak of a devastating famine in late 634 exacerbated tensions between the Muslim Rashidun administration and their dhimmi (non-Muslim) subjects. When it became clear that public order would continue to plummet, the Caliph Umar appointed Ali to raise a 1,500-strong army in Sanaa and prepare to crush a resurgence of anti-Rashidun resistance from Arabia's non-Muslim tribes. In October 634, the rebels gathered under the leadership of the Jewish chieftain Ilsharah, and Ali strategically allowed the rebellion to fester for a month so that the dissidents from Sanaa and the countryside could flock to join the uprising and thus reveal themselves. Once the rebellion had acquired sufficient, yet manageable strength, Ali decided to march out of Sanaa to meet them to the east at Marib. Ilsharah and his outnumbered army attempted to retreat further into the desert, only for Ali to pursue him to Thamud in Hadhramaut.
Battle[]
The fighting at Thamud
The Rashidun army deployed in multiple lines, and it was forced to attack the rebel army due to Ilsharah's insistence on holding his ground. Ali's plan was to deploy his skirmishers in the front row, his foot soldiers in the second row, and his cavalry on the flanks, with he and his bodyguards bringing up the rear. However, the Kindites attacked before the Rashidun archers could take their positions, forcing the Rashiduns to launch a counter-charge. Their regiments charged each individual Kindite regiment in an organized slaughter, while the Rashidun cavalry charged around the Kindites' rear with the objective of slaughtering their missile troops. While the Kindite infantry were routed after being outflanked and hemmed in on from multiple sides, Ilsharah's black-clad Zafar Sentinels fought on and smote scores of Rashidun soldiers. Eventually, the Rashidun cavalry cut the Kindite slingers to ribbons and then charged Ilsharah's unit from the rear, relieving the burden placed on the poorly-armored Rashidun spearmen and swordsmen. Ilsharah and almost all of his bodyguards were massacred in the ensuing battle, and the Kindite army fell apart.
Aftermath[]
The Rashidun soldiers celebrating their victory
The Rashiduns slaughtered the Kindite rebels, killing 646 of them and capturing 75. These prisoners were allowed to revert to Islam and serve the Rashidun army to replace the faithful Muslims who had been slain in the battle. 14 of the Arabian horsemen in Insharah's army regrouped under the command of Sharam al-Kindi, and they would later be taken over by Jafnah al-Kindi as the army grew in size once again with help from the local tribespeople. The defeat of the Kindite rebels at Thamud repressed the local population into tacitly supporting the Rashidun Caliphate, although Judaism continued to attract new converts (at the expense of paganism), Islam only grew by .2% each month after the battle, and Jafnah's army continued to pose a threat to Yemen's stability.