When Omar Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas marched with an immense Arab host to wage war against the King of Kings, Yazdegerd III gathered warriors from every corner of the realm. The King commanded Rostam Farrokhzad—son of Hormozd, a renowned champion, master astrologer, and trusted advisor to the High Priests—to lead the grand army of Iran toward the plains of Qadisiyyah.
For thirty long days, a ferocious battle raged at Qadisiyyah. Neither army yielded ground, and the field was strewn with the fallen of both sides. In a moment of respite, Rostam set up his astrolabe and cast his gaze toward the heavens. As he calculated the alignment of the stars—beholding the Sun in the fourth house, the ill-omened conjunction of Saturn and Mercury, and the positions of Mars and Venus—his heart sank. The celestial spheres proclaimed that the Royal Glory of the Sasanians was departing and that fortune had turned its face away from Iran.
Filled with grief, the general wrote a poignant letter to his brother. Beginning with praise for the Almighty, he lamented the treacherous turning of the sky and how he was trapped in a destiny orchestrated by dark fates. Rostam prophesied that this battle would mark the rise of the Arab conquerors and that for four hundred years, the noble lineage of Iran would be cast into oblivion. Though Arab emissaries had brought offers of peace, land partition, and tribute, Rostam knew these were but illusions; the fierce Iranian chieftains—such as Miroi of Tabaristan, Golboy-e Suri, and the Armenian warlords—refused submission, trusting only in their maces and blades.
Rostam instructed his brother to gather all family wealth, treasures, servants, and warhorses, and move them swiftly to the safety of Azarbaijan and the royal treasury of the Adur Gushnasp temple. He urged him to comfort their mother and dedicate his life entirely to safeguarding King Yazdegerd, the last precious heir of the Sasanian dynasty. In a chilling prophecy of the centuries to come, Rostam foresaw a world where honor, noble lineage, and justice would fade, replaced by greed, deceit, and social upheaval. Concluding his letter, Rostam accepted his fate, declaring that Qadisiyyah would be his grave, his armor his shroud, and his own blood his crown.