To a contingent dispatched to engage the enemy

Instructions given to Ma‘qil ibn Qays ar-Riyāḥī when he was dispatched to Syria at the head of a vanguard contingent three thousand strong.

Fear Allāh before Whom attendance is inevitable, and with other than Whom there is no meeting. Do not fight except with those who fight you. Travel in the two cool periods (i.e., morning and evening). Let the men have a…

If and when you face the enemy stand in the midst of your comrades. Do not get too near the foe like one who wants to commence the fighting, nor remain too distant like one who is afraid of action, till you receive my…