[7] "Quadesyeh--A place celebrated for the battles fought there between the Mussulmans and the Persians. (The town of Elkadder, not far from Kerbela, marks the old site of Kadesia. As to Koufah a collection of ruins marks the site of the capital of the Caliphate, which is said to have been as great as Babylon.) It is about fifteen farsakhs from Koufah and four miles from Ozhaib; longitude, 69 deg.; latitude, 31 deg. 2' 3''. It was in the year 16 of the Hejira, under the Caliphate of Omar ben Khatthab, that the Mussulmans, commanded by Sa'd ben Abi Waqqas, fought against the infidels. During the action, Sa'd had withdrawn into the castle ("There was at Ozhaib a castle belonging to the Persians called Qodais, whence, it is said, the name Quadesyeh. Sa'd occupied it with his harem, as he was suffering from gout, and could neither sit nor ride. Lying on the top of this fortress he watched his army, and some men posted below transmitted his military orders and arrangements" (Merasid) (See Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabes by Caussin de Perceval, iii. 481-485, and Weil, Gesch. der Chal. i. pp. 65 et seq.) to watch the movements of his troops. This step was regarded as a proof of cowardice, and a Mussulman in the army composed the following verses against him (thawil metre):-- "Seest thou not that God has sent us the victory, whilst Sa'd is hiding behind the gates of Quadesyeh? He was thinking then of increasing his family and of making his wives mothers, for the wives of Sa'd know not the privations of celibacy." Another poet, Bischer ben Rebi'ah, has spoken of the battle of Quadesyeh in these terms (same metre):-- "My camel stopped at the gates of Quadesyeh; my chief was Sa'd ben (Abi) Waqqas. Remember (may God guide thee) our prowess near Qodais, and the blindness of our perfidious enemies. That evening many of us would willingly have borrowed the wings of the birds to fly away, When their battalions advanced one after another against us, like unto moving mountains. With my sword I threw their ranks into disorder, and my lance dispersed them; for I am a man worthy of wielding the lance, I and my companions: Amr, father of Thawr, the martyr, Haschem, Qais, No'man the brave, and Djerir."