100,000 (Al-Waqidi)[6]200,000 (Ibn Ishaq)[7](both exaggerated)[8][9][4] The Levant Egypt North Africa Anatolia & Constantinople Border conflicts Sicily and Southern Italy Naval warfare Byzantine reconquest Ridda Wars Conquest of Sasanian Persia Conquest of Byzantine Syria Campaigns in Africa Campaigns in Armenia and Anatolia The Battle of Mu'tah (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة مُؤْتَة, romanized: Maʿrakat Muʿtah, or Arabic: غَزْوَة مُؤْتَة Ghazwat Muʿtah) took place in September 629 (1 Jumada al-Awwal 8 AH),[1] between the forces of Muhammad and the army of the Byzantine Empire and their Ghassanid vassals.

Seeing the great number of the enemy forces, the Muslims withdrew to the south where the fighting started at the village of Mu'tah and they were either routed or retired without exacting a penalty on the Ghassanid chief.

[14][4][2] According to Muslim sources, after three of their leaders were killed, the command was given to Khalid ibn al-Walid and he succeeded in saving the rest of the force.

[17] Muhammad dispatched 3,000 of his troops in the month of Jumada al-Awwal 7 (AH), 629 (CE), for a quick expedition to attack and punish the tribes for the murder of his emissary by the Ghassanids.

[11] When the Muslim troops arrived at the area to the east of Jordan and learned of the size of the Byzantine army, they wanted to wait and send for reinforcements from Medina.

Thabit ibn Aqram, seeing the desperate state of the Muslim forces, took up the banner and rallied his comrades, thus saving the army from complete destruction.

Daniel C. Peterson, Professor of Islamic Studies at Brigham Young University, finds the ratio of casualties among the leaders suspiciously high compared to the losses suffered by ordinary soldiers.

[13] Montgomery Watt argues that a low casualty count is possible if the nature of this encounter was a skirmish or if the Muslims completely routed the enemy.

[19] According to Watt, most of these accounts were intended to vilify Khalid and his decision to return to Medina, as well as to glorify the part played by members of one's family.