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The Conquest of Ra's al-Ayn

فتح رأس العين

c. 640 CE · c. 20 AH

Ra's al-Ayn

In al-Baladhuri through al-Hajjaj ibn Abi Mani' from his grandfather: Ra's al-Ayn — that is Ayn al-Warda — resisted Iyad ibn Ghanm and Umayr ibn Sa'd took it while Umar's governor over the Jazira, after its people fought the Muslims bitterly; the Muslims entered it by force then compounded with them, the land assigned them and jizya laid on their heads at four dinars each without captives of women or children; in al-Waqidi's report Umar wrote to Iyad ordering him to send Umayr against Ayn al-Warda — the advance guard took peasants and enemy herds, the citizens shut the gates and set up mangonels, Muslims were killed by stones and arrows, and a patrician mocked them 'we are not like those you have met' — then it fell afterwards by treaty; elders of the city recount that when Umayr entered he called 'no harm, no harm — to me, to me', and that was their aman; Haytham ibn Adi claimed Umar sent Abu Musa al-Ash'ari who took it with the Jazira's army after Iyad's death, but the sound report is Umayr took it by force without enslavement, laying kharaj and jizya — none but Haytham says otherwise; a body of Ra's al-Ayn's people departed and the Muslims worked their fields, sowing them by land-grants.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Rashidun Caliphate
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

In time

630640650 c.
The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate

Overview

al-Baladhuri relates, on the authority of al-Hajjaj ibn Abi Mani', that Ras al-Ayn, which is the spring of the rose (Ayn al-Warda), resisted Iyad ibn Ghanm. It was taken by Umayr ibn Sa'd, Umar's governor over al-Jazira, after its people had fought the Muslims very fiercely. 1

The terms

The Muslims entered the city by force and then made peace with them. The land was handed over to them, and the jizya was placed on their heads, four dinars on each head. Their women and children were not taken captive. 1

Other accounts

On the authority of al-Waqidi, Umar wrote to Iyad to send Umayr to Ayn al-Warda, and that it was taken by treaty. al-Haytham ibn Adi claimed that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari was the one who raided it, but al-Baladhuri holds that the more firmly established account is that Umayr took it by force, and says that no one other than al-Haytham has said otherwise. 2

The conquest is part of the conquest of al-Jazira. The date is approximate and derived.

Connections

Explore the connections

Part of
The Conquest of the Jazira
Occurred at
Ra's al-Ayn
Had participant
Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari· Umar ibn al-Khattab· Abu Musa al-Ashari

People and things also explored

The Conquest of Hit and the Euphrates Forts· The Conquest of Syria· Muwatta 7· Muwatta 8· Muwatta 2007· Muwatta 2152· Muwatta 2768· The Jazira

Sources

  1. Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition) , p.242
  2. Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition) , p.243
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Conquest of Ra's al-Ayn”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/conquest-of-ras-al-ayn/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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The Conquest of Hit and the Euphrates Forts

In al-Baladhuri through Abu Ayyub the Raqqa tutor from Ali ibn Abdullah al-Qarqisani from his shaykhs: Umayr ibn Sa'd, after taking Ra's al-Ayn, worked the Khabur and its reaches until he came to Qarqisiya — whose people had broken faith — re-compounding with them on their first treaty, then took the Euphrates forts one by one on Qarqisiya's terms with little fighting, some throwing stones; finishing with Talbus and Anat he reached al-Na'usa, al-Lusa and Hit, where he found that Ammar ibn Yasir — then Umar's governor of Kufa — had sent an army raiding above al-Anbar under Sa'd ibn Amr ibn Haram al-Ansari, and the people of these forts had come to him seeking aman, which he granted, reserving half of Hit's church — whereupon Umayr returned to al-Raqqa; some scholars say the one who went against Hit and the forts beyond from Kufa was Midlaj ibn Amr al-Sulami, a confederate of Banu Abd Shams and a man of companionship, who took it and built al-Haditha on the Euphrates, his descendants at Hit including a man known as Abu Harun still remembered there — or, it is said, Midlaj acted under Sa'd ibn Amr ibn Haram; God knows best.