Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Khalid ibn al-Walid/archive1

Khalid ibn al-Walid (died 642) was an Arab Muslim commander who served the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Prior to his conversion to Islam in 627 or 629, Khalid helped defeat the Muslims at the Battle of Uhud in 625. Once he became a Muslim, he was made a commander by Muhammad, who bestowed on him the title Sayf Allah ('the Sword of God'). After Muhammad's death, Khalid was appointed to suppress or subjugate Arab tribes in Najd and the Yamama (both regions in central Arabia) opposed to the nascent Muslim state, serving the Rashidun caliphs Abu Bakr ((r. 632 – 634)) and Umar ((r. 634 – 644)). He played the leading military role in the Ridda wars against rebel tribes in Arabia in 632–633, the initial campaigns in Sasanian Iraq in 633–634 and the conquest of Byzantine Syria in 634–638. Umar dismissed Khalid from his governorship of Qinnasrin and he died in Medina or Homs in 642. His military fame disturbed some early Muslims, including Umar, who feared it could develop into a personality cult.