Al-Qadisiyyah (historical city)

31°45′N 44°08′E

Al-Qadisiyah near of the desert, Euphrates and the Qadisiyah River from above, nearby towns Ghammas and Ash-Shinafiyah

Al-Qādisiyyah (Arabic: القادسية) is a historical city in southern Mesopotamia, southwest of al-Hillah and al-Kūfah in Iraq. It is most famous as the site of the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah in c. 636, in which an Arab Muslim army defeated a larger Sasanian army.

Commercial importance

Prior to the Arab conquest, al-Qādisiyyah was but a small village on the western side of the Euphrates River, near an old castle at `Udhayb, and was possibly part of the Wall of the Arabs.^[1] However, during the centuries that followed, al-Qādisiyyah grew in size and importance and was a noted stop along very important highways of commerce that led to Baghdād and Mecca.^[2]

History

Main article: Battle of al-Qadisiyyah

Al-Qādisiyyah was the scene of a decisive battle in the conquest of Persia by the Arabs around 636.^[3] The Muslim troops of the caliph `Omar led by Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās despite their outnumbered forces defeated the army of the Sassanid emperor Yazdgard III, led by Rostam Farrokhzād. The battle of Al-Qādisiyyah would later be depicted in a manuscript of Shahnameh, a national epic authorized by the Persian poet Ferdowsi.

Another historical Qādisiyyah

Another Qādisiyyah existed on the Tigris River, off the road between Baghdād and Sāmarrā', not very far from the Euphrates city. Both cities are recorded in the geographies of Ibn Khordadbeh.^[4]

Further reading

• Deadman, William M.; Jotheri, Jaafar; Hopper, Kristen; Almayali, Rajwan; al-Luhaibi, Ahmed A.; Crane, Anthea (2025). "Locating al-Qadisiyyah: mapping Iraq's most famous early Islamic conquest site". Antiquity

References

Citations

1. Encyclopedia Iranica, s.v. "Al-Qadisiyyah".
2. Alavi, p. 100.
3. Unclear date: Tabarî, The Chronicle (Volume II, `Omar, son of Khattâb) , Actes-Sud ISBN 978-2-7427-3318-7, p. 153 indicates "during the fourteenth year of the Hegira" therefore in 635 or at the beginning of 636. Janine and Dominique Sourdel, "The historical dictionary of Islam", Ed. PUF, ISBN 978-2-13-054536-1 indicate "March 636 or 637"
4. Barthold, p. 202.

Bibliography

• Alavi, S.M. Ziauddin (1965), Arab Geography in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, Aligarh: Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University.
• Barthold, Wilhelm (1984), An Historical Geography of Iran, translated by Svat Soucek, Princeton: Princeton University Press.