Battle of Mu'tah
The Battle of Mu'tah (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة مُؤْتَة, romanized: Maʿrakat Muʿtah, or Arabic: غَزْوَة مُؤْتَة Ghazwat Muʿtah) took place in September 629 (1 Jumada al-Awwal 8 AH), between the forces of Muhammad and the army of the Byzantine Empire and their Ghassanid vassals. It took place in the village of Mu'tah in Palaestina Salutaris at the east of the Jordan River and modern-day Karak.
| Battle of Mu'tah غَزْوَة مُؤْتَة مَعْرَكَة مُؤْتَة | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Arab–Byzantine wars | |||||||
The tomb of Muslim commanders Zayd ibn Haritha, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, and Abd Allah ibn Rawahah in Al-Mazar near Mu'tah, Jordan | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Muslim Arabs |
Byzantine Empire Ghassanids | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Zayd ibn Haritha † Ja'far ibn Abi Talib † Abd Allah ibn Rawaha † Khalid ibn al-Walid |
Theodore Mālik ibn Zāfila † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 3,000 |
100,000 (Al-Waqidi) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 12 (Disputed) | Unknown | ||||||
Location within Jordan | |||||||
In Islamic historical sources, the battle is usually described as the Muslims' attempt to take retribution against a Ghassanid chief for taking the life of an emissary. According to Byzantine sources, the Muslims planned to launch their attack on a feast day. The local Byzantine Vicarius learned of their plans and collected the garrisons of the fortresses. Seeing the great number of the enemy forces, the Muslims withdrew to the south where the fighting started at the village of Mu'tah and they were either routed or retired without exacting a penalty on the Ghassanid chief. According to Muslim sources, after three of their leaders were killed, the command was given to Khalid ibn al-Walid and he succeeded in saving the rest of the force.
Three years later the Muslims would return to defeat the Byzantine forces in the Expedition of Usama bin Zayd.