The First Crossing of the Darb

أول قطع الدرب

In al-Baladhuri: they differ on who first cut the Darb — the Baghras pass — some saying it was Maysara ibn Masruq al-Absi, sent by Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah (may God be pleased with him), who met a Byzantine gathering with musta'riba of Ghassan, Tanukh and Iyad making to join Heraclius, fell on them and killed a great slaughter, after which Malik al-Ashtar al-Nakha'i joined him as reinforcement from Abu Ubayda at Antioch; others say the first to cut it was Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari when he went out on the matter of Jabala ibn al-Ayham; and Abu al-Khattab al-Azdi heard that Abu Ubayda himself led the summer raid, passing Masisa and Tarsus — their people having evacuated with the forts beyond — and crossed the pass reaching Zanda, while others say he merely sent Maysara ibn Masruq who reached Zanda.

Overview

The narrators differ over who first crossed the Pass of Baghras. Al-Baladhuri gives three opinions. ¹

The opinions

Some said: Maysara ibn Masruq al-Abbasi was sent by Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah. He met a host of the Romans with Arabs of Ghassan, Tanukh and Iyad among them, and overcame them. Then Malik al-Ashtar al-Nakha'i joined him as reinforcement. ¹

Others said: the first to cross it was Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari, when he set out on the matter of Jabala ibn al-Ayham. ¹

Abu al-Khattab al-Azdi said: it reached him that Abu Ubayda himself raided in summer, passing Massisa and Tarsus, and reached Zunda. Another said: he sent Maysara, and he reached Zunda. ¹

The event is part of the conquest of Syria.

Battle of the Yarmuk

A great battle between the Muslims and the Byzantines at the Yarmuk river. After the defeat Abu Ubayda called for withdrawal, and the Muslims moved until they set their camps at Marj al-Suffar, then encamped at Damascus. Al-Waqidi reported that it was in 15 AH; al-Tabari's report of the account of Sayf places it in 13 AH. According to al-Baladhuri: Heraclius gathered a host of Byzantines, Syrians, people of al-Jazira and Armenia numbering some two hundred thousand, put one of his intimates in command, and sent Jabala ibn al-Ayham al-Ghassani at its vanguard, with the Arabized Syrians of Lakhm and Judham. The Muslims numbered twenty-four thousand. The Byzantines and their followers were chained together so that they would not be tempted to flee. They fought at the Yarmuk with the fiercest of battles; God slew some seventy thousand of them, and their remnant fled to Palestine, Antioch, Aleppo, al-Jazira and Armenia. Muslim women also fought hard on the day of the Yarmuk, and Hind bint Utba, mother of Mu'awiya, kept calling out: bite the sheaths with your swords. On that day the eye of al-Ash'ath ibn Qays was lost, as were the eye of Hashim ibn Utba ibn Abi Waqqas al-Zuhri, called al-Mirqal, and the eye of Qays ibn Maksuh. Amir ibn Abi Waqqas, who had carried Umar's letter to Abu Ubayda confirming his governorship of Syria, was martyred; it is also said that he died in the plague, or at Ajnadayn, but this is not established. Abu Ubayda appointed Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri over the pursuing cavalry, to kill whoever they overtook. Jabala ibn al-Ayham sided with the Ansar and said: you are our brothers and the sons of our father; he showed Islam, then apostatised and entered Byzantine lands when Umar sought retaliation from him. In another account, Umar found him still a Christian; he refused the jizya out of pride and entered Byzantine lands with thirty thousand men. Umar regretted it, and Ubada ibn al-Samit reproached him that had he accepted his alms, he would have become a Muslim. So Umar sent Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari with an army in 21 AH and ordered him to coax Jabala and bring him back, on condition that he pay what he had offered in alms and keep his religion; but Jabala refused except to stay, and Umayr reached a place known as al-Himar, fell upon its people and laid it waste. On the day of the Yarmuk the Muslims returned to the people of Homs the tribute they had taken from them, saying they had been too occupied to aid them. The people of Homs replied that the justice of their rule was dearer to them than the oppression they had suffered, and that they would repel Heraclius's troops from the city alongside their governor. The Jews rose and said: by the Torah, Heraclius's governor shall not enter the city of Homs unless we are overcome and worn out; they shut the gates and guarded them, and the Christians and Jews of the other cities under treaty did likewise. When news of the Yarmuk reached Heraclius he fled from Antioch to Constantinople, and when he crossed the pass he said: farewell, O Syria. The battle was in Rajab of 15 AH.

The First Crossing of the Darb

At a glance

Overview

The opinions

Connections

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Sources

Time

Battle of the Yarmuk