Nine swords were broken in the hand of one man in a single day.

And three thousand fighters found themselves face to face with two hundred thousand warriors, fully armored and armed, and on top of that, their leaders were martyred.

The three reinforcements supplied them so that the army was on the verge of collapse, so how did this army survive? Welcome.

In the full story of the Battle of Mu'tah.

In the eighth year after the Hijra, and after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the young Islamic state opened the doors of communication with the kings and rulers of the world through peaceful diplomatic letters.

But on the outskirts of al-Sham, something happened that broke all international norms.

The Companion al-Harith ibn Umair al-Azdi, may Allah be pleased with him, set out with a letter from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to the ruler of Busra.

When he reached the region of al-Balqa', he was intercepted by Shurahbil ibn Amr al-Ghassani, the governor under the Byzantine Empire.

Shurahbil committed an unforgivable crime: he detained the ambassador and killed him in cold blood.

He became the first envoy to be killed in the history of Islam, which, according to political customs, was considered a clear declaration of war that could not be ignored.

The decisive prophetic response did not take long: he prepared an army of three thousand fighters, the largest force the Muslims had ever sent out in a detachment or expedition up to that time.

There, the Prophet ﷺ set an exceptional three-leader command plan that had never happened before, and he said:

The leader of the people is Zayd ibn Haritha. If Zayd is killed, then Ja'far ibn Abi Talib. If Ja'far is killed, then Abdullah ibn Rawaha.

The sahaba immediately realized they were facing an extraordinary confrontation, and the Prophet ﷺ saw them off with his timeless advice that established the foundations of humanitarian law in warfare.

Do not kill a child, nor a woman, nor an elderly man. Do not cut down trees, and do not destroy buildings.

The army set out as the Prophet ﷺ commanded, and continued its march until it reached the land of Ma'an in southern Jordan. There, the intelligence shock occurred.

Heraclius, the emperor of the Romans, had gathered one hundred thousand.

A thousand Byzantine fighters landed in Ma'ab, and they were joined by another hundred thousand Christian Arabs allied with the Romans, making a total of two hundred thousand fighters.

Soldiers with legions and heavy armor against only three thousand.

The Muslims stopped for two nights to consult: should they send to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asking for reinforcements, or should they stand firm?

Here, the poet and leader Abdullah ibn Rawaha resolved the hesitation with words that history has recorded, saying:

My people, by Allah, what you dislike is what you came out seeking: martyrdom.

We do not fight people with numbers, nor with strength, nor with abundance. We only fight them with this religion with which Allah has honored us.

So go forth, for it is only one of the two good outcomes: either victory or martyrdom.

The Muslims moved forward until they met the massive army in the village of Mu'tah, and a military epic began that defied all the laws of human logic.

The first commander, Zayd ibn Haritha, advanced carrying the banner and fought bravely until he fell as a martyr by the enemy's spears. Then Ja'far ibn Abi Talib picked up the banner and hamstrung his horse to show his resolve.

His right hand was cut off, so he held the banner with his left. His left was cut off, so he embraced the banner with his upper arms, until he was martyred, having about ninety wounds from sword strikes and spear thrusts.

All of them were on the front of his body, and none on his back. This is proof that he never turned his back to the enemy, but was always courageous and bold, may Allah be pleased with him.

Just like all the sahaba, may Allah's pleasure be upon them all.

Abdullah ibn Rawaha rushed forward, took the banner, and fought with the bravery of heroes.

Until he joined his two companions as a martyr, leaving the army without a leader and the banner lying on the ground in the midst of a crushing siege during those critical moments.

The ranks of the Muslims were threatened with complete collapse under the massive Roman assault after the martyrdom of the three leaders.

But the courage of the fighters and their steadfast faith formed a desperate defensive wall that prevented a massacre.

Not a single soldier retreated; instead, the archers and sword-bearers joined forces, turning the army into a solid unit.

They fought in every direction, taking advantage of the narrow passages and the location of the village of Mu'tah to hinder the spread of the Roman cavalry and prevent them from encircling the rear.

The Romans realized they were facing a different kind of fighters, who do not flee when their leader is killed.

This forced the Byzantine forces to retreat and reorganize their ranks in anticipation of any sudden attack, which gave the Muslims those precious moments that saved the situation.

And allowed them to seize the banner before it was too late.

Thabit ibn Aqram rushed and grabbed the banner, and asked the Muslims to agree on a man to lead them, then handed it directly to Khalid ibn al-Walid.

At that time, Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him, was new to Islam, but he was an exceptional military leader.

Khalid took command, and the situation seemed impossible, so he led a direct battle in which the Muslims fought fiercely until nightfall.

And during this day, nine swords broke in his hand.

Only a Yemeni blade remained. As darkness fell, Khalid realized that a direct, organized confrontation would mean annihilation the next day.

So he immediately began to carry out the greatest psychological warfare trick.

He completely switched the army's ranks, moving the right flank to the left and the left to the right, putting the front in the rear and the rear in the front.

He sent cavalry to stir up dust at the back while shouting takbir at dawn.

At daybreak, the Roman commanders were surprised to see completely new faces.

And banners different from what they saw yesterday, and behind them they saw clouds of dust, and the sounds of takbir rising on the horizon.

So they thought that a huge reinforcement had arrived from Medina.

Here, Khalid began his tactical maneuver by withdrawing in an organized way, step by step to the rear, while maintaining the cohesion of the ranks.

The Romans thought that this retreat was nothing but a trap and an ambush to lure them into the desert.

So they hesitated and were afraid to advance, and they completely stopped the pursuit.

Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him, took advantage of this hesitation.

He withdrew the entire army safely without any significant losses.

He ended the battle with a retreat that is still studied today in military science as one of the greatest tactical escape plans in history.

And before the army reached Medina, the revelation had already conveyed all the details of the battle to the Prophet ﷺ.

He ascended the pulpit with tears streaming from his eyes and said to the sahaba: Zayd took the banner and was struck down.

Then Ja'far took it and was struck down, then Ibn Rawaha took it and was struck down, until a sword from the swords of Allah took it, and Allah granted them victory.

From that day, the Prophet ﷺ gave Khalid ibn al-Walid his lasting title: the unsheathed sword of Allah.

When the army returned, some people thought that this withdrawal was a defeat, but the Prophet ﷺ responded firmly and with words of comfort that raised their status.

They are not those who flee, but rather those who return to the fight, if Allah wills.

Mu'tah was not just an unequal battle in which the Muslims survived.

Rather, it was a military earthquake that broke the prestige of the Roman Empire.

And it was the first direct tactical test against major regular armies, which practically paved the way for the later conquests of the Levant and the decisive Battle of Yarmouk.

And the question for you now: if you were in the place of Khalid ibn al-Walid that night.

Would you have chosen to fight until the end, or the genius of withdrawal to save the lives of the army?

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