afraid of Romans? . . . But the greatness of the troops are with victory and
the smallness of the troops are with defeat, not with the number of men, by
Allah I wish if the red ones (i.e. the camels and the horses) are cured from
their journey hurts, I will proceed to attack them (Romans) even if their number
is doubled. (The hooves of his horse had chafed and received hurt during its
coming from Iraq to Medina)" . . .
They used to endanger themselves, used to do wonders and extra-ordinary deeds
being sure of Allah's help, depending upon His Promise as it happened in the
Islamic army under the Commandership of S'ad Ibn Abi Waqqas . . . he stood in
front of the town "Al-Madian" 
and could not find any ship or boat (it
became completely impossible for him to find anything of that sort) and the
water of the river Tigris (Iraq) increased tremendously with overflooding (its
water became dark) and it overthrew its foam from excessive water in it. S'ad
addressed the people (troops) over its bank (saying): "I have resolved to
cross this great river in order to assault them (the enemy)." They (the
people) replied: "May Allah direct us and you to follow the right path. So
please do it." Then he (S'ad) rushed heedlessly into the (river) Tigris
with his horse and all the people (his troops) too rushed heedlessly into it
(Tigris) and not a single man remained behind from him; so they marched over
it as if they were marching over the surface of the earth, till they filled
it (the space) between its two banks and one could not see the water surface
from the cavalry and the foot-soldiers. The people spoke to one another over the
surface of water as they used to speak to one another over the surface of earth.
So when the Persians (army) saw them they said: "Diwan Diwan (i.e. mad
people . . . mad people). By Allah! You are not fighting against human-beings,
but against Jinns." On that S'ad started saying: "Allah is Sufficient
for us and He is the Best Disposer (for our affairs); By Allah! Surely Allah
will give victory to His friends; verily Allah will make superior His Religion,
and verily Allah will give defeat to His enemy as long as there are neither
adulterers nor committers of those (similar evil) sins in the army (S'ad's
troops), then the good deeds will overcome (the evil)." Yes! They (the
Muslims) used to be afraid: (1) of their sins (2) from the disobedience of
Allah, more than they used to be afraid of their enemy or their enemy's great
number and mighty weapons, as we find 'Umar Ibn Al-Khattab saying: (in his
letter to the Commander S'ad Ibn Abi Waqqas when he sent him for the conquest of
Persia): "Then after, I order you and all the troops that are along with
you to be obedient to Allah in all circumstances as this (being obedient to
Allah) is better than the weapons against the enemy and a strong stratagem
(device) in the War. I order you and the soldiers who are with you to be more
cautious and afraid of your own crimes and sins (and not to commit them) than
your enemy, as the crimes and sins of the soldiers are more dangerous to them
than their enemy. The Muslims are victorious only because of the disobedience of
their enemy to Allah, and had it not been so, we have no power over them,
because neither our number is like their number, nor our weapons are like
theirs. If we commit crimes and sins as they do, then they (our enemies) will
have superiority over us in power and we will not gain victory over them. We do
not overpower them by our strength. And you should also know that in this
marching of yours (for Allah's cause) there are guards
