The Siege of Ayn al-Tamr and Its Church Captives

حصار عين التمر وسبي كنيستها

c. 633 CE · c. 12 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

Ayn al-Tamr

In al-Baladhuri: Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him) came to Ayn al-Tamr, pressed against its fortress holding a great Persian garrison; its people fought then shut themselves in; Khalid besieged them till they asked safety — he refused to grant it, opened the fortress by force, killed and took captive, finding in a church there a band he took captive. Among that captivity: Humran ibn Aban ibn Khalid al-Tamri, Uthman's mawla; Sirin, father of Muhammad ibn Sirin, and his brothers Yahya, Anas and Ma'bad — the eldest — mawali of Anas ibn Malik (may God be pleased with him); Abu Amra, grandfather of the poet Abdallah ibn Abd al-A'la; Yasar, grandfather of Muhammad ibn Ishaq author of the sira, mawla of Qays ibn Makhrama ibn al-Muttalib; Murra abu Ubayd, grandfather of Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn Ubayd ibn Murra and Nafis ibn Muhammad ibn Zayd, lords of the palace by al-Harra; and Nusayr, father of Musa ibn Nusayr the Maghreb's conqueror, mawla of the Umayyads. Al-Kalbi said Abu Farwa Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Aswad and Nusayr were two Arab men of Arasha of Bali captured in Abu Bakr's days from Syria's Jabal al-Jalil; Nusayr's name was Nasr, diminutivized — an Umayyad freed him, he returned to Syria and Musa was born to him at Kafr Mari village; he was lame. It was also said they were brothers of Ayn al-Tamr's captives whose wala' lay with Banu Dubba; al-Mada'ini: Na'im al-Asadi bought Abu Farwa, then Uthman bought him for grave-digging; when the people rose on Uthman he was with them against him, Uthman saying 'repel the wrongs' — he answered 'you are first among them: I bought you from alms-money to dig graves and you abandoned it'; Abu Farwa was named for the fur garment on him when captured. It was also said Khalid made peace with Ayn al-Tamr's fortress people and these captives were found in a church in some canal-district, and that Sirin was of Jarjaraya's people visiting kin when taken. Via al-Sha'bi: Khalid made peace with Hira's and Ayn al-Tamr's people and wrote Abu Bakr who approved — something on them, nothing on their lands. Hilal ibn Uqqa ibn Qays ibn al-Bushr al-Namiri was over al-Namar ibn Saqit at Ayn al-Tamr; he gathered for Khalid and fought him, was overcome, killed and crucified — al-Kalbi: it was Uqqa ibn Qays himself. Bashir ibn Sa'd al-Ansari's wound relapsed and he died, buried at Ayn al-Tamr, and beside him was buried Umayr ibn Ri'ab ibn Muhashshim ibn Sa'id ibn Sahm ibn Amr, martyred by an arrow there.