Muthanna ibn Harithah Shaybani and the First Islamic Conquests in Iraq

Studying the first Islamic conquests without knowing the personalities who led these conquests will not be complete. One such personality is Muthanna ibn Harithah who entered history with the beginning of Islamic conquests and with the study of whose actions many ambiguous points about early Islamic conquests are clarified. Muthanna who has not been dealt with fully by early Islamic historiographers has often been the subject of dual and contradictory stances in Muslim historical sources. One reason for the great attention paid to Sawad and Persia by the Muslim leaders in Medina was the vast and accurate information passed on to them by Muthanna. Potential psychological capacities and historical records in relations between the Arabs and the Persians would give the Arabs the incentive to embark on purposeful actions aimed at satisfying their short and long term objectives and constantly provoked Muthanna to think about invading Iraq and Sawad. Although the cooperation between Muthanna and Muslim forces was mixed with a certain amount of individual and tribal self-interest, it had an enormous effect on the Muslim conquest of the East. Through understanding the chaotic condition of the Sasanian Empire and the necessity of the formation of an alliance with the Muslim Arabs who possessed a new logical and powerful ideology Muthanna joined forces with Medina with the following important the facilitation of Islamic conquests especially east of the Islamic Caliphate; the timely understanding of the disintegration of the Sassanid Empire and seizing the opportunity to take over that Empire; clever utilization of the existing opportunities and capacities to achieve his dreams and objectives; belittling individual and ethnic interests and highlighting and strengthening the national morale and Islamic spirits of the Muslims instead.