Rusana: Difference between revisions

Ibn Harun spent all of 813 conquering the now disunited urban centers of Lakdu. He added the territory into the wilayat of Alsar, tried to supress local paganism and endowed new mosques to help propagate the new faith. Unlike other Audonian nobles, Ibn Harun was an enthusiastic supporter of conversion of local populations despite the diminishment in taxation from dhimmi sources. Ibn Harun next sent spies north and east to ascertain the most advantageous route of expansion for the Caliphate. To the east his spies reported a large empire named ''Korun'', with well guarded border forts and very large armies. To them he sent an embassy promising peaceful intent and offered to continue the yearly tribute that Lakdu had provided, an offer that was accepted. To the north his spies reported a peaceful,pastoral society who lived in small cities with palisades or in temples in the mountains, the agents reported the name of the country as Rungseras. Malik Ibn Harun determined to attack the 'Rungseras tribes' to his north first and dispatched letters back to Bulkawan asking for reinforcements with which to attack Korun after.  

Wali Musa Al Ghanim took command of all Oduniyyad forces and began the campaign with roughly 36,000 troops although he left behind around five thousand cavalry under Khamis Muminir to suppress a pagan uprising in Lakdu. Marching north he defeated several forces of Rungseras, amounting to merely a few mid sized warbands. As he marched around the countryside he found no large army to fight but was instead constantly being ambushed and harassed by small groups. Getting word that local monks reported on the movements of his army to his enemies, Al Ghanim directed his force to the White Peak Monastery, which was rumored to house several holy relics revered by the Rungseras people. Al Ghanim approached on the monastery and after finding its gates closed to him, laid siege to it. Al Ghanim ordered the setting of mangonels on a nearby hilltop and commenced a bombardment that lasted for three days. Two direct attacks on the gates were repulsed by the monks. A week into the siege the Muslims were informed by spies they had left behind on their march that a large force of at least forty thousand warriors was quickly moving  towards White Peak and would be upon the besiegers within a week. Unwilling to abandon the siege Musa Al Ghanim ordered that the pass leading to the monastery be fortified with a palisade while at the same time sending his swiftest riders to alert Khamis Muminir of his pressing need. On March 30th of 823 the tribal army under Ataliqan arrived at the mountain pass to see his way blocked by the wooden palisade erected by the Muslims. With the tables turned and the besieger now being the besieged, Ataliqan ordered his army to storm the palisade, beginning the Battle of Rauran Pass. Ataliqan's troops tried to bring down the wall with makeshift rams, hacking into it with axes and climbing it by hand or with ladders. Each time they were repulsed by a combination of the efforts of the muslim defenders and the mangonels Al Ghanim had repositioned to overlook the pass. The monastery defenders also began routinely sallying forth to put pressure on the muslim rear. On the second day of the battle the palisade was first breached and then brought down with hooks and ropes. A fierce melee ensued in the confined space of the pass, with Musa Al Ghanim being speared through the neck by one of Ataliqan's bodyguards. Just as the morale of the Muslims was wavering, the cavalry of Kaamis Muminir arrived and proceeded to charge straight into the back of Ataliqan's army. The surprise arrival of the cavalry and the repeated charges sent the enemy into a panic as they were squeezed between the two Muslim forces. Ataliqan tried to rally his forces but was cut down in the melee and his army was completely routed.

Musa Al Ghanim would not live to see the surrender of the monastery the next day, dying on the field of battle from the wound to his neck. The monastery of the White Peak would later be converted into the Ghazi Al Ghanim Mosque. He was succeded in command by Khamis Muminir, commander of the cavalry. The Muslim victory at Rauran Pass crippled the military power of the tribes of Rungseras, the loss of men too high for any hopes of further resistance. Muminir spent a further five months imposing the Caliph's rule. He separated part of the Alsar wilayat and united it with the new territory to create the Rusana wilayat, named after the Caliph's mother.