Khalid ibn al-Walid: Uhud Victor Turned Sword of God, Then Dismissed

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Khalid ibn al-Walid was born into the Banu Makhzum, the clan of the Quraysh that bred Mecca's war horses and ran its caravans. In 625 at the Battle of Uhud he commanded the Meccan cavalry on the right, waited while Muslim archers left their hill to loot the Meccan camp, then struck the exposed flank and handed Muhammad his only major military defeat. A few years later he rode to Medina and converted. At Mu'tah, after the senior commanders fell against a larger Byzantine force, he swapped his wings and vanguard overnight so the enemy saw new banners at dawn, and used their hesitation to withdraw. Muhammad named him Saifullah, the Sword of God.

After Muhammad's death in 632, Caliph Abu Bakr sent Khalid against rebel tribes in the Ridda Wars. He won at Buzakha and destroyed Musaylima at Yamama in the walled orchard remembered as the Garden of Death. His execution of Malik ibn Nuwayra and marriage to Malik's widow outraged Umar and divides Sunni and Shia memory to this day. In 633 he took al-Hira in Sasanian Iraq, then crossed the Syrian desert to reach the Byzantine front, took Damascus, and broke the imperial army at Yarmuk in 636. Umar, now caliph, demoted him, then dismissed him around 638. Khalid died at Homs around 642.

• To cross the waterless desert, Khalid had older camels drink heavily, sealed their mouths, and slaughtered them daily for the water in their stomachs.
• At Yamama the defenders dressed women in armor along the walls to suggest a fresh garrison, and Khalid accepted a truce.
• Abu Bakr pardoned Khalid over the Malik ibn Nuwayra affair despite Umar's demand for punishment.
• Umar feared a personality cult around Khalid and objected to his lavish handouts of spoils to tribal nobles.
• Khalid accepted his demotion and served under Abu Ubaidah in northern Syria rather than revolt.