Kitab Al-I'tibar - Warfare

Warfare

Usāmah gives us a record of how warfare was conducted. One of the main themes of the book is that the outcome of warfare is pre-determined: 'Victory in warfare is from Allah...and is not due to organisation and planning nor to the number of troops and supporters., He describes how discipline was maintained while marching through enemy territory:

...making our stops at the call of the bugle and starting again at the call of the bugle.

Siege warfare was much more common than open battles; Usāmah describes the practice of mining, digging a tunnel under a castle and then setting light to the wooden supports so the tunnel would collapse taking the tower of the castle with it.

Usāmah also gives us information on the sort of armour and arms that were used. The lance was a very important weapon; Usāmah describes using lances in the battle of Kafartab:

We dislodged from them eighteen knights, of whom some received lance blows and died, others received lance blows and fell off their horses and died, and still others received lance blows which fell on their horses and became footmen.

The sword was also a high status weapon. Usāmah describes how his father's sword cut through his groom's outfit while it was still in its sheath:

The sword cut through the outfit, the silver sandal, a mantle and a wooden shawl which the groom had on, and then cut through the bone of his elbow. The whole forearm fell off.

The sword was subsequently named after his father's groom.