Unknown Unknown Start date 644 AD | Unknown Unknown Result Rashidun victory | |
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Similar Early Muslim conquests, Battle of Miani, Umayyad invasion of Gaul, Muslim conquest of Transoxiana, Battle of Hira | ||
The Battle of Rasil was fought between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Rai kingdom ruled by Raja Rasil in early 644. It was first encounter of Rashidun Caliphate in South Asia. The exact location of the battle is not known but historians suggest it was fought at the western bank of River Indus.
Contents
Suhail ibn Adi was given command of this expedition by Caliph Umar. Suhail marched from Busra in 643. He eventually reached Makran, what is now a part of present-day Pakistan. It was a traditional territory of Sassanids for centuries but was then a domain of the Rai Kingdom, who annexed it in 636-637 although they acted as a vassal of Sassanid Persians in past.
Battle
Raja Rasil, a local Hindu potentate of Kingdom of Sindh, concentrated huge armies in Makran to halt the advance of the Muslims. Suhail was reinforced by Uthman ibn Abi al-'As from Persepolis, and Hakam ibn Amr from Busra. The combined forces defeated Raja Rasil at a pitch Battle of Rasil, who retreated to the eastern bank of River Indus. Further east from Indus River laid Sindh, which was domain of Rai Kingdom. Umar, after learning that Sindh was a poor and relatively barran land, disapproved Suhail’s proposal to cross Indus River. For the time being, Umar declared the Indus River, a natural barrier, to be the easternmost frontier of his domain. This campaign came to an end in mid 644.
Aftermath
This was the first confrontation between Rashidun Caliphate and a Hindu kingdom of Sindh. The victorious Arab army returned to Persia along with booty and a war elephant. In response to Caliph Umar’s question about the land of Makran beyond the Indus river, the messenger replied:
Umar looked at the messenger and said: "Are you a messenger or a poet? He replied “Messenger”.
Thereupon Caliph Umar, after learning that Baluchistan was a barren land and the unfavorable for sending an army, instructed Hakim bin Amr al Taghlibi that for the time being Makran should be the easternmost frontier of the Rashidun Caliphate, and that no further attempt should be made to extend the conquests. This was mainly because of Umar's policy of consolidating the rule before conquering more land. The same year, in 644, Umar had already rejected the proposal by Ahnaf ibn Qais, conqueror of Khurasan, of crossing Oxus river in the north to invade Central Asia. In the west he similarly had called back 'Amr ibn al-'As who had marched to North Africa and had captured Tripoli.