Ibn Saud led his recently motorized forces north, from Makkah to Riyadh and on northwards and eastwards to the home of the rebels in al-Hasa. But there was to be no final confrontation between Ibn Saud and Faisal Ad-Dawish on the battlefield. Before they could meet, Abdul Mohsin Al-Firm, chief of theHarb tribe and loyal to Ibn Saud, aided by Ajmi bin Siwait of the Dhufir, led his men against Faisal Ad-Dawish, sweeping down on the Ikhwan camp as dawn broke. The engagement, the battle of Hafr Al-Batin, was a rout. Taken unawares, the Ikhwan were either killed or fled. Faisal Ad-Dawish, now an old man, escaped with his life but his dreams of rebellion and Ikhwan victory, together with his camels and his goods, faded into the silence of the desert.
Of the three principal Ikhwan leaders, Sultan bin Bijad bin Humaid, chief of the Utaibah, languished in Ibn Saud's prisons and Dhidan bin Hithlain of the Ajman was dead. Only Faisal Ad-Dawish, chief of the Mutair, remained at large and he, burdened with years, profoundly distressed by the loss of his son and the manner of his death, was no longer the redoubtable warrior of earlier years.