Umar ibn al-Khattab

Abu Ubayd's Dispatch to Iraq

In al-Baladhuri: when Umar succeeded he sent Abu Ubayd ibn Mas'ud ibn Amr ibn Umayr ibn Awf ibn Uqda ibn Ghiyara ibn Awf ibn Thaqif — being Abu al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd — to Iraq in a thousand, writing al-Muthanna to receive, hear and obey him, and sent with him Salit ibn Qays ibn Amr al-Ansari, telling him 'but for the haste in you I'd have appointed you — war is cunning, only the patient man suits it.' Abu Ubayd came on urging every Arab tribe to jihad and booty till a host joined him; at al-Mudhayyib he heard Jaban the Persian was at Tustar in a great host — met him, routed his host and took captives; then to Durna whose Persian host he routed to Kaskar; then to the Jalinus at Barusma where Ibn al-Andarzghar made peace at four dirhams a head on withdrawing; he sent al-Muthanna to Zandaward — found repudiated, fought, prevailed and captured — and Urwa ibn Zayd al-Khayl al-Ta'i to al-Zawabi whose dihqan he pacified on Barusma's terms.

al-Nusayr and Hudhayfa's Raid toward Tikrit

In al-Baladhuri: al-Tusayr ibn Daysam ibn Thawr was sent from Ayn al-Tamr against a water of Banu Taghlib — he surprised them by night, killed and captured; a captive freed for guiding him to a Rabi'a clan led him to night-strike them for booty and captives, then he went to Tikrit's landward side and the Muslims took booty. Via Abu Mas'ud al-Kufi: he came to Ukbara' — its people safe-conducted, bringing food and fodder for his men — then passed al-Baradan whose people ran before the Muslims; he told them 'no harm' and that was their safe-conduct; then to al-Mukharrim — not yet called Mukharrim, only named after some descendant of Mukarram ibn Hazn ibn Ziyad ibn Anas al-Dayyan al-Harithi settled it, per al-Kalbi — then they crossed a bridge bound at Qasr Sabur, known today as Qasr Isa ibn Ali; Khurzad ibn Mahibandadh its garrisoned warden fought them and was routed, and they withdrew to Ayn al-Tamr. Al-Waqidi said: al-Muthanna ibn Haritha sent al-Nusayr and Hudhayfa ibn Mihsan after the Day of the Bridge and his withdrawal with the Muslims to Khaffan, in Umar's caliphate, with horse — they fell on some of Banu Taghlib, crossed to Tikrit and took cattle and sheep. Attab ibn Ibrahim via Abu Mas'ud: al-Tusayr and Hudhayfa safe-conducted Tikrit's people and wrote them a document which Utba ibn Farqad al-Sulami enforced for them when opening al-Tirhan and Mosul; it is also said al-Nusayr was sent by Khalid ibn al-Walid raiding villages at Maskin and Qatarrabul for a fine booty.

Ali's counsel in Umar's judgments

During Umar's caliphate Ali repeatedly corrected or advised the judgments: he stopped the stoning of a woman with a mental affliction, asked Umar what authority he had over the unborn child of a confessing pregnant woman, showed by a test that a woman's claim of assault was false, and said that the innovated marriage should be returned to the Sunna. Umar is reported to have said that he sought refuge from a problem Abu al-Hasan could not solve.

Ali carries out the drinking penalty on al-Walid ibn Uqba

Alqama ibn Mujazziz's expedition against Abyssinia (20 AH)

'Umar sent Alqama ibn Mujazziz al-Mudliji by sea against Abyssinia after its raids on the coast; the Muslims were struck hard, and 'Umar bound himself never again to carry a raider by sea.

The Battle of Ajnadayn

In al-Baladhuri: then came the battle of Ajnadayn — also Ajtadayn — attended by near a hundred thousand Romans, Heraclius chaining most of them and their bravest gathering from the districts, Heraclius then residing at Hims; the Muslims fought them fiercely, Khalid ibn al-Walid showing fine valour that day, then God defeated His enemies and scattered them utterly, killing many; martyred that day were Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As ibn Umayya and his brother Aban (some say Aban died in year 29), Tulayb ibn Umayr ibn Wahb ibn Qusayy — a Byzantine champion challenged him and severed his right hand so his sword fell with his palm, then covered and killed him, his mother Arwa bint al-Muttalib the Prophet's aunt, his kunya Abu Adi — Salama ibn Hisham ibn al-Mughira (some say he fell at Marj al-Suffar), Ikrama ibn Abi Jahl ibn Hisham al-Makhzumi (some say at Mu'ta), Nu'aym ibn Abdullah al-Nahham al-Adawi (some say at the Yarmuk), Hisham ibn al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi (some say at the Yarmuk), Amr ibn al-Tuqayl ibn Amr al-Dawsi (some say at the Yarmuk), Jundub ibn Amr al-Dawsi, and Sa'id, al-Harith and al-Hajjaj sons of al-Harith ibn Qays ibn Adi al-Sahmi — Hisham ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi placing al-Na'am at Mu'ta, Sa'id at the Yarmuk, Tamim at Ajnadayn and his brother Ubaydullah ibn Abd al-Asad at the Yarmuk — and al-Harith ibn Hisham ibn al-Mughira fell at Ajnadayn; when the report reached Heraclius his heart sank, his hand failed and he was filled with terror, fleeing from Hims to Antioch — some say his flight came at the Muslims' very arrival in Syria; the battle fell on Monday twelve nights remaining of Jumada I year 13 — some say two nights into Jumada II, some say two remaining of it; the Romans then massed at al-Yaqusa — a valley whose mouth is al-Fawwara — where the Muslims met, exposed and routed them killing many, their remnant reaching Syria's towns; Abu Bakr died in Jumada II year 13, his obituary reaching the Muslims at al-Yaqusa.

The Battle of al-Araba

In al-Baladhuri: Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, pursuing the patrician of Gaza, learned of a Roman gathering at al-Araba in the land of Filastin and sent against them Abu Umama al-Sudayy ibn Ajlan al-Bahili, who fell upon them, killed their chief and withdrew; Abu Mikhnaf reports of the day of al-Araba that six Roman commanders descended on al-Araba with three thousand, whereupon Abu Umama marched on them with a band of Muslims, defeated them and killed one of the commanders, then pursued them to al-Dabiyya and defeated them there, the Muslims taking good spoil; the elders of Syria hold the day of al-Araba was the Muslims' first engagement.

Battle of al-Kiryawn

Fighting between the Muslims and the Romans at al-Kiryawn on the road to Alexandria for ten-odd days, with Abd Allah ibn Amr leading the vanguard and Wardan, Amr's client, carrying the standard; Amr led the prayer of fear there.

The Battle of Dathin

In al-Baladhuri: the first engagement between the Muslims and their enemy at a village of Gaza's district called Dathin, against the patrician of Gaza; they fought hard, then God gave victory to His friends, defeated His enemies and scattered their gathering — this before Khalid ibn al-Walid's arrival in Syria; Abu Hafs al-Shami reports from the elders of Syria that the Muslims' first engagement was rather that of al-Araba, they having fought nothing since leaving the Hijaz and subdued every land between the Hijaz and its site without battle.

Battle of Fahl

Draft card for the Battle of Fahl (Baysan) in 13/635, the Muslim victory over the Byzantines in the Jordan valley during the conquest of al-Sham; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

The Battle of Fihl

In al-Baladhuri: the battle of Fihl of al-Urdunn fell two nights remaining of Dhu al-Qa'da, five months after Umar ibn al-Khattab's accession, the people's commander being Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah — Umar having written to him investing him with Syria and the commanders concurring, together with Amir ibn Abi Waqqas, Sa'd's brother; some say Abu Ubayda's command reached him while the people were besieging Damascus and he concealed it from Khalid for days since Khalid commanded in war, telling him when asked 'I disliked to break you and weaken your standing while you were upon heights'; the battle's cause was Heraclius, come to Antioch, summoning the Romans and the people of the Jazira and setting over them a man of his intimates and trusted men, who met the Muslims at Fihl and fought them hardest until God gave them victory, their patrician and near ten thousand with him falling, the rest scattering through Syria's towns or joining Heraclius; Fihl's people fortified themselves and the Muslims besieged them until they asked safety on paying jizya for their heads and kharaj for their land, securing themselves and their wealth with their walls not to be demolished — Abu Ubayda concluding the compact, some say Shurahbil ibn Hasana.

Battle of Heliopolis

Draft card for the Battle of Heliopolis in 640, Amr ibn al-As's victory that opened the road into Egypt after Babylon; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Battle of Kom Sharik

An encounter between Amr ibn al-As's army and the assembled Romans on his road from al-Fustat to Alexandria, lasting three days at the mound later called Kom Sharik after Sharik ibn Sumayy, ending in a Roman rout.

Battle of Marj al-Rum (15 AH)

At Marj al-Rum west of Damascus, Heraclius sent the patrician Theodorus against the Muslims' march on Hims, backed by Shans's cavalry. When Theodorus broke off toward Damascus, Khalid shadowed him in a flying column; Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan met him head-on and Khalid took him from behind — none escaped but the scattered, Theodorus killed, the spoils shared between the two armies. Abu 'Ubayda then crushed Shans on the field and chased the remnant to Hims while Heraclius withdrew to Edessa.

The Battle of Marj al-Suffar

In al-Baladhuri: the Romans massed a great gathering, Heraclius reinforcing them, and the Muslims met them at Marj al-Suffar as they made for Damascus at the new moon of al-Muharram year 14; they fought fiercely until blood ran in the water and drove the mill, some four thousand Muslims being wounded, then the unbelievers turned broken and scattered making for Damascus and Bayt al-Maqdis; martyred that day was Khalid ibn Sa'id ibn al-As ibn Umayya, kunya Abu Sa'id, who had celebrated his wedding the night before the battle with Umm Hakim bint al-Harith ibn Hisham al-Makhzumiyya, the wife of Ikrama ibn Abi Jahl — when she heard of his fall she tore out the tent-pole and fought with it, said to have killed seven men that day with ragged clothes on her; in Abu Mikhnaf's report the battle of the Marj came twenty nights after Ajnadayn with Damascus's conquest after it and Fihl thereafter — al-Waqidi's ordering being sounder; on that day Khalid ibn Sa'id says 'who is the knight who hates the thrust, lending me a spear when they slip at Marj al-Suffar', and Hisham ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi records his martyrdom with the Samsama sword at his neck — the sword Amr ibn Ma'di Karib al-Zubaydi had given him when he was the Prophet's agent over Yemen — which Mu'awiya took from his neck when he fell, then Sa'id ibn al-As disputed it with him and Uthman judged it to him, the Umayyads inheriting it until Ayyub ibn Abi Ayyub sold it to al-Mahdi for eighty-odd thousand, al-Mahdi returning its ornament to him, Musa al-Hadi delighting in it and having the poet Abu al-Hawl describe it, then al-Wathiq calling for a sword-polisher who fattened it and changed it.

Battle of al-Namarq (13 AH)

At al-Namarq near Kufa, Abu 'Ubayd ibn Mas'ud — reinforced by the pardoned ridda converts of al-Muthanna — met Jaban's Persians and routed them. Jaban was taken by Matar ibn Fidda, then talked him into safe-conduct and was released; when the captors brought him before Abu 'Ubayd demanding execution he answered: 'I fear God — a Muslim gave him protection, and the Muslims are one body: what binds one of them binds them all.' Jaban went free; Mardanshah, seized by Aktal ibn Shammakh, was not so fortunate.

The Battle of Nihawand (Fath al-Futuh)

In al-Baladhuri: when Yazdgard fled Hulwan in year 19, Persians of Rayy, Qumis, Isbahan, Hamadhan and the Mahayn gathered to him in year 20 under Mardanshah Dhu al-Hajib behind the Dirafsh-i Kabiyan — sixty thousand, some say a hundred thousand. Ammar had written Umar, who meant to march himself, then ordered two-thirds of Kufa out with a Basra detachment and charged al-Nu'man ibn Muqarrin — 'not as tax-gatherer, but as ghazi' — with succession running Hudhayfa, Jarir, al-Mughira, al-Ash'ath; al-Hurmuzan had counseled 'Isbahan is the head, Adharbayjan the wings.' The Muslims chained themselves in tens and fives lest they flee; Persian arrows wounded some before battle. Al-Nu'man announced three banner-shakes — ablution, then swords and shoes, then charge with none turning to another — and fought, his armor heavy, the first martyr, the Persian splitting his mule's belly; Ma'qil found him breathing, washed his face, gave him the tidings of victory — 'praise God; write to Umar.' Hudhayfa took the banner and the conquest was named Fath al-Futuh. Abu Uthman al-Nahdi bore the news to Umar, who wept, hand on head. Al-Sa'ib ibn al-Aqra' held the spoils — 'raise no falsehood, withhold no right' — climbed the fortress on Dhu al-Muwaynatayn's word to the Nukhayrkan treasure, two baskets of unmatched jewels sold at Umar's order to the Qurashi youth Amr ibn Harith for the warriors' shares, who resold one at al-Hira for the whole price and kept the other — his first capital. The conquest fell a Wednesday of year 19, or 20, and via Abu Ma'shar 21; al-Nu'man had camped at al-Isbidhar, al-Ash'ath on the right, al-Mughira the left.

Battle of al-Saqatiyya at Kaskar (13 AH)

At al-Saqatiyya below Kaskar, Abu 'Ubayd smashed Narsi — the shah's cousin — and his joined levies. In the captured camp was the narsiyyan, a date the Kaisars reserved for the royal table alone and none else might plant; the Muslims fed it to the farmers, sent its fifth to 'Umar with the letter: 'God fed us food the Kaisars hoarded — we wished you to see it, to thank God's grace.' Behind the battle stood Buran, crowned after Rustam put out Azarmidukht's eyes, on a ten-year pact to restore the House of Kisra.

The Battle of Yamama

In al-Baladhuri — who reports it in the first part of his book — Abu Bakr sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to al-Yamama ordering him to fight Musaylima the Liar; the first to meet the Muslims, al-Rajjal ibn Unfuwa, was killed, the foremost Muslims and the Quran-reciters fell as martyrs, then the Muslims returned and stood firm and God sent down His aid; Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr shot Muhakkim ibn al-Tufayl — called 'the arbiter of al-Yamama' — with an arrow and killed him, and the unbelievers were driven into the Garden, that day named the Garden of Death, formerly called Ubad; Musaylima was killed in the Garden and they disputed his slayer: Banu Amir ibn Lu'ayy say Khidash ibn Bashir, some Ansar Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Tha'laba who was shown the adhan, some Abu Dujana Simak ibn Kharasha who then fell, some Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Asim brother of Habib ibn Zayd whose hands and feet Musaylima had cut off, Wahshi ibn Harb — Hamza's slayer — used to claim it saying 'I killed the best of men and the worst', some held they all shared in it, and Mu'awiya and the Umayyads claimed it for him until Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan told a Hanafi who described the killer 'by God I have judged it for Mu'awiya'; the Muslims' cry was 'O companions of Sura al-Baqara'; some Ansar reproached Khalid's lone resolve to butt Musaylima then followed him; al-Sa'ib ibn al-Awwam stood the men at their baggage: 'no man may flee beyond his saddle'; when the war wore the Muslims down Mujja'a ibn Murara told Khalid most of Yamama's people had not come out to fight and offered peace for half the captives and half the gold, silver, armour and mounts, then armed the old men, boys and women on the fortresses, returned claiming they refused, and beat the terms down to a quarter of the captives and half the wealth — settled thus, until Khalid entered, saw who remained and said 'you deceived me, Mujja'a'; the people of al-Yamama embraced Islam and the alms were taken from them, Abu Bakr's letter reached Khalid ordering him to aid al-Ala ibn al-Hadrami so he marched to Bahrain leaving Samura ibn Amr al-Anbari over al-Yamama; its conquest was in year 12; they disputed the martyrs' count — least said seven hundred, most seventeen hundred, some twelve hundred — among them Zayd ibn al-Khattab, Umar's brother (killed by Abu Maryam al-Hanafi or per Ibn al-Kalbi Labid ibn Burghuth), Thabit ibn Qays the Prophet's orator commanding the Ansar that day, Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba and his mawla Salim, Abu Dujana, Abbad ibn Bishr and Salim; and Nusayba bint Ka'b — mother of Habib and Abdullah the sons of Zayd ibn Asim — fought that day and came away wounded, Musaylima having cut off her son Habib's hands and feet when the Prophet sent him with Abdullah ibn Wahb al-Aslami, whom he left unharmed. The battle of al-Yamama was a battle of the Ridda wars in which Khalid ibn al-Walid led the army Abu Bakr sent against Musaylima, leader of the Banu Hanifa. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam it was fought at al-Akraba' around a walled garden called the garden of death, and the Muslims won but lost many Qur'an reciters. In the classical account Musaylima renounced Islam and claimed prophethood, while the encyclopaedia's academic reading sees a bid for a principality with a genuine religious basis after the death of Hawdha ibn Ali; the year is 12 AH in al-Baladhuri and 11 AH in the article on al-Yamama.

Battle of Yeghbark Sarak (643)

Draft card for Battle of Yeghbark Sarak (643); its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Bay'a of Uthman ibn Affan

Uthman was given the bay'a three nights after Umar's burial. Before dying, Umar had sent Abu Talha al-Ansari to stand with fifty Ansar at the door of the house where the six-man shura met, letting none enter and giving them three days to name one of themselves. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, who had withdrawn his own candidacy, sounded each candidate in private — Uthman named Ali, Ali named Uthman, al-Zubayr named 'Ali or Uthman', Sa'd named Uthman — then consulted the notables and found most inclined to Uthman. He first offered Ali the bay'a on the Book, the Sunna and the conduct of Abu Bakr and Umar; Ali answered 'to the best of my ability', while Uthman answered 'yes'; so Abd al-Rahman took Uthman's hand and pledged, and the Muhajirun and Ansar pledged. Ibn Mas'ud said when Uthman was pledged: 'we have invested the best of those remaining, and we did not fall short'.

Building of the Giza fortress

Amr ibn al-As built a fortress at Giza from the Muslims' fay' for Hamdan and their allies, on Umar's order, when they refused to move to al-Fustat; he began it in the year 21 and finished it in the year 22.

Conquest of al-Ahwaz, Manadhir and Nahr Tiri (16 AH)

Al-Ahwaz fell at «the market of Ahwaz«; Hurmuzan fled, Hurqus ibn Zuhayr and Jaz' ibn Mu'awiya hunted the rout to al-Shaghar, and Jaz' turned to Dawraq — city of the sacristans — and took it bloodlessly. He repaired the country, dug the canals, brought dead land back to life, and 'Umar confirmed the peace: whatever the Muslims had taken stayed in their hands.

The conquest of al-Bahnasa (as told in Futuh al-Sham)

A long account that closes the Futuh al-Sham ascribed to al-Waqidi: after the conquest of Egypt and the Delta, Umar writes to Amr ibn al-As not to approach Upper Egypt until Ahnas and al-Bahnasa are taken; Khalid ibn al-Walid is given command of ten thousand horsemen; they besiege the patrician al-Batlius, lord of al-Bahnasa, and enter by night when forty men climb a ladder and open the gate. The book dates the gathering of the commanders at Misr for the campaign to Wednesday 10 Rabi' I 21 AH, 'and it is said 22', and places five thousand Companions in its cemetery.

Conquest of Aleppo (15 AH)

Aleppo: Abu 'Ubayda sent 'Iyad ibn Ghanim ahead; the Aleppans held their fortress briefly, then asked for peace and aman over themselves, their children, city, churches and citadel — granted, with a site for the mosque stipulated; one tradition has them sharing houses and churches, another that they had decamped to Antioch and negotiated their return by treaty.

The Conquest of Alexandria

In al-Baladhuri on Ibn Lahia's chain from Yazid ibn Abi Habib: the Muqawqis compounded with Amr ibn al-As — that those Romans who wished might depart, those wishing to stay remain on a stated footing, and two dinars be laid on the Copts; when word reached the king of the Romans he grew most wroth, sent hosts who shut Alexandria's gate and declared war on Amr, whereupon the Muqawqis came out to him saying 'I ask three things of you: offer the Romans nothing like what you offered me, for they have deceived me; do not break with the Copts, for the breach came not from them; and if I die, have me buried in a church in Alexandria that he named' — and Amr answered 'it is yours'. Amr then took Alexandria by force, writing to Umar ibn al-Khattab: 'To proceed — God has opened Alexandria to us by force, violently, with neither covenant nor contract' — though in Yazid ibn Abi Habib's reading it was all treaty.

The Conquest of Antioch

In al-Baladhuri: Abu Ubayda went from Aleppo to Antioch, where a body of the people of the Qinnasrin jund had fortified themselves; at Haruba — near two farsakhs from the city — an enemy gathering met him and he scattered them back into the city, besieging it at all its gates, the bulk of the army at Bab Faris and the gate called Bab al-Bahr; they then compounded for jizya and evacuation, some departing and some staying, and he secured them setting on each adult a dinar and a jarib; when they broke the covenant he sent Iyad ibn Ghanm and Habib ibn Maslama, who retook it on the first treaty — others say they broke it after he returned to Filastin and Amr ibn al-As was sent from Iliya' to take it; Umar wrote to Abu Ubayda to station at Antioch a company of Muslims of right intent and scruple as murabita, withholding no mounts from them, and Mu'awiya received the same when in office while Uthman ordered him to settle men there and grant land — which he did; Mu'awiya transferred to Antioch in year 42 companies of Persians and people of Ba'labakk, Hims and the two Misrs, and al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik granted troops land at Saluqiyya by the coast rating the filthir at a dinar and two mudds of wheat — they cultivated it and he built Hisn Saluqiyya; among the transferees was Muslim ibn Abdullah — grandfather of Abdullah ibn Habib ibn al-Nu'man al-Antaki — whom a Byzantine killed with a stone on the wall, a gate of Antioch being named Bab Muslim after him.

The Conquest of Busra

In al-Baladhuri: when Khalid ibn al-Walid reached the Muslims at Busra — the city of Hawran — they joined upon it and commissioned Khalid for its war, then pressed against it and fought its patrician until they forced it (some say Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan was the one undertaking the war, its governorship being his as it belonged to Dimashq); its people then made terms to be secured for their lives, wealth and children upon paying the jizya — some transmitters say they compounded for a dinar and a jarib of wheat per adult; the Muslims conquered all the land of the Hawran district and mastered it; Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah then went with a dense company of the commanders' men joined to him and came to Ma'ab in the land of al-Balqa' holding a gathering of the enemy, and conquered it by treaty on the like of Busra's terms — some say Ma'ab's conquest preceded Busra's, others that Abu Ubayda took it as commander of all Syria in Umar's days.

The Conquest of Caesarea

In al-Baladhuri: the conquest of Caesarea is disputed — some ascribe it to Mu'awiya, others to Iyad ibn Ghanm after Abu Ubayda's death, others to Amr ibn al-As or his son Abdullah; what the scholars agree is that the first to besiege it was Amr ibn al-As, camping against it in Jumada I year 13 and staying as long as he did, marching off whenever the Muslims massed against an enemy — attending Ajnadayn, Fihl, the Marj, Damascus and the Yarmuk — then returning to Filastin to besiege it after Iliya', before leaving from Caesarea for Egypt; Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, succeeding Abu Ubayda, charged his brother Mu'awiya with the siege and went plague-stricken to Damascus, dying there at the end of year 18, leaving Mu'awiya over Caesarea, who took it and wrote of it to Yazid who wrote to Umar; al-Waqidi reports that when Umar gave Mu'awiya Syria he besieged it until he took it — it had been besieged near seven years — its conquest falling in Shawwal year 19, some say the opening of year 20; the cause of its fall was a Jew named Yusuf who came to the Muslims by night and guided them to a way through a conduit with water to a man's waist, on condition of safety for himself and his house — Mu'awiya carried it out and the Muslims entered by night and magnified God, the Byzantines fleeing toward the conduit finding the Muslims upon it, and the gate being opened Mu'awiya entered with his men; it is said he found in it seven hundred thousand apostates, thirty thousand Samaritans and two hundred thousand Jews, three hundred functioning markets and a hundred thousand guarding its wall each night; its captives reached four thousand heads whom Mu'awiya sent to Umar, who had them quartered at al-Jurf and divided among the orphans of the Ansar, putting some to the script and the Muslims' labours — Abu Bakr had given the daughters of Abu Umama As'ad ibn Zurara two servants of Ayn al-Tamr's captives who died, and Umar gave them their like of Caesarea's; Mu'awiya sent the victory news with two men of Judham, then fearing their weakness sent a man of Khath'am who outpaced them and came to Umar, who magnified God; in it is said to have been Shaqa'iq, of whom Hassan ibn Thabit says 'Shaqa'iq says: had you woken from the wine you would have risen enriched in number'.

Conquest of Damascus

Draft card for the siege and conquest of Damascus in 13/634–635, the city's surrender to the armies of Khalid ibn al-Walid and Abu Ubayda; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

The Conquest of Damascus

In al-Baladhuri: when the Muslims finished fighting those who had gathered at the Marj they stayed fifteen nights, then returned to Damascus fourteen nights remaining of al-Muharram year 14, taking the Futa and its churches by force while the townsfolk fortified themselves and shut their gate; Khalid camped at the eastern gate with some five thousand joined to him by Abu Ubayda (some say Khalid was commander and his deposition reached them while besieging), the monastery at his side being named Dayr Khalid; Amr ibn al-As camped at Bab Tuma, Shurahbil at Bab al-Faradis, Abu Ubayda at Bab al-Jabiya, and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan at the small gate to Bab Kaysan, Abu al-Darda' posting Uwaymir ibn Amir al-Khazraji on a watch at Barza; the bishop who had hosted Khalid would call and converse with him, saying one day 'Abu Sulayman, your affair ascends — I hold a pledge over you, so make terms with me for this city', and Khalid wrote his famous charter: 'In God's name, this is what Khalid ibn al-Walid grants the people of Damascus when he enters it: safety for themselves, their wealth, their churches and their city wall — it shall not be demolished nor any of their houses dwelt in; they have for it God's covenant and the protection of His messenger, the caliphs and the believers, and nothing but good shall befall them if they pay the jizya'; one of the bishop's men then told him it was a feast-night for the town, the eastern gate being blocked with stones, and advised a ladder — men of the monastery brought two ladders and a company of Muslims climbed the wall, descended on the gate held by a man or two, overpowered it and opened it at sunrise; Abu Ubayda meanwhile had struggled at Bab al-Jabiya, raised men on its wall, the Roman fighters inclining to him until they broke — he forced it open and entered, and he and Khalid met at the Maqsilat, the coppersmiths' quarter, the Baris of Hassan ibn Thabit's verse 'they give to drink whoever comes to Baris — Barada clapping with sweet wine'; Maytham ibn Adi claimed Damascenes compounded for half their houses and churches, but al-Waqidi says he read Khalid's charter and found no halves in it; many Damascenes joined Heraclius at Antioch leaving surplus houses the Muslims occupied; al-Waqidi dates the conquest to Rajab year 14, Khalid's charter being dated Rabi' al-Akhir 15 because he wrote it undated and it was renewed at the Yarmuk; the volume's editor judges the sound account to be Khalid entering the eastern gate by force and Abu Ubayda entering peacefully by Bab al-Jabiya, reasoning that the Muslims held only the mosque's eastern side before its rebuilding and the church stood west of it until al-Walid demolished it; afterwards the Muslims chose churches for which no jizya was paid and kept the church of John until the Christians surrendered all the churches of the Futa, Mu'awiya writing to Umar who was pleased and ratified it.

The conquest of Damietta and Tinnis as told in the Futuh al-Sham ascribed to al-Waqidi

In the Futuh al-Sham ascribed to al-Waqidi, Amr ibn al-As sends al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad with forty horsemen to Damietta, held by al-Bamrak, uncle of the Muqawqis, with twelve thousand men; they enter through a breach opened by the son of a sage al-Bamrak had executed, and Shata son of al-Bamrak embraces Islam, then his father. Shata calls Abu Thawb, lord of Tinnis, to Islam; he refuses and gathers an army, and Shata is killed fighting him on the night of mid-Sha'ban 20 AH, as the book tells it; Abu Thawb is captured by Yazid ibn Amir and later accepts Islam, and that night becomes a yearly season of visiting Shata's grave.

Conquest of Dinawar and al-Saymara (21 AH)

Dinawar and al-Saymara taken in the sweep after Nahavand, when 'Umar ordered the Muslims to range through the Persian lands.

Conquest of Homs

Draft card for the conquest of Homs in 636, the Byzantine city's capitulation to the Rashidun after Yarmuk; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Conquest of Hamadan and Waj Rudh (22 AH)

Nu'aym ibn al-Muqarrin held Hamadan with twelve thousand when the Daylam, Rayy and Azerbaijan armies converged — at Waj Rudh he fought a battle reckoned the equal of Nahavand and broke them utterly. In another telling Jarir ibn 'Abdallah took an arrow in the eye before the walls and said: «I count it with God, who adorned my face with it and gave me light as long as He willed, then took it back in His path«; Hamadan capitulated on the Nahavand terms.

The Conquest of Harran

In al-Baladhuri: Iyad marched on Harran, halting at Ajda and sending his vanguard ahead — its people shut the gates against them, and when he invested it the Harranian faction among them sent word that they held part of the city and asked him to make for al-Ruha so they could compound with him secretly and leave him and the Christians apart; the Christians heard, consented to what the Harranians offered and outbid it, so he went to al-Ruha whose people had gathered, shot at the Muslims a while, sent out their fighters whom the Muslims routed back into the city, and soon sued for peace and aman; another report has Iyad finding Harran empty — its people removed to al-Ruha — so when al-Ruha fell they compounded for their city from within it on the like of its treaty; he compounded with Harran on the like of al-Ruha's terms, they opened its gates, he set a man over it and went on to Sumaysat where Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal and Habib ibn Maslama held villages and forts, its people compounding likewise — Sumaysat later apostatised and he returned and besieged it till he took it — and he came to Saruj, Ra's Kayfa and the White Land, mastering its land and compounding with its fort-dwellers on al-Ruha's terms.

The Conquest of Hims

In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah finished with Damascus he put before him Khalid ibn al-Walid and Milhan ibn Zayyar al-Ta'i, then followed them; passing Ba'labakk, whose people sought safety and terms, he compounded with them securing themselves, their wealth, churches and houses inside and outside the city and their mills, the Byzantines to graze their flocks between them and fifteen miles without settling a peopled village, free to depart where they would after Rabia and Jumada I passed, whoever converted having our rights and duties, their merchants free to travel through the treaty lands, and jizya and kharaj upon whoever stayed; per al-Waqidi, while the Muslims stood at Damascus's gates a dense cavalry of the enemy approached and a company met them between Bayt Lahya and al-Thaniyya, routing them toward Hims on the Qara road and pursuing them to find they had passed it by — the people of Hims, already shaken by Heraclius's flight and by reports of the Muslims' might, offered their hands and sued for safety, which was granted, bringing out supplies and food while the Muslims stayed on the Asi under al-Simt ibn al-Aswad al-Jundi; when Abu Ubayda finished with Damascus he left Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan over it and came to Hims by way of Ba'labakk, camping at Bab al-Rastan, and its people compounded for safety of themselves, wealth, city wall, churches and mills, a quarter of the church of John being excepted for the mosque — compounding for a hundred and seventy thousand dinars; afterwards Hims and Qinnasrin became one.

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.

Conquest of Isfahan (21 AH)

Isfahan fell to 'Abdallah ibn 'Abdallah ibn 'Utban, the Ansari ally of the Hubla clan, reinforced by Abu Musa. Its vanguard commander Shahriyar ibn Jadhawiya, an aged shaykh, called for a duel and was killed by 'Abdallah ibn Warqa' al-Riyahi; the army broke, Jayy was besieged, and the Fadhusfan capitulated on jizya terms — those who stayed kept their property, the lands of those who fled became the Muslims'.

The Conquest of the Jazira

In al-Baladhuri through the Raqqa judge Dawud ibn Abd al-Hamid's family from Maymun ibn Mihran: 'the whole Jazira is Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest, after Abu Ubayda's death — Umar appointed him to it, Abu Ubayda having left him over Syria; Umar gave Syria to Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan then Mu'awiya after him and ordered Iyad to raid the Jazira'; Sulayman ibn Ata says Abu Ubayda dispatched him to the Jazira and died while he was there, Umar then confirming him; al-Waqidi's report — the soundest they had on him — is that Abu Ubayda died in the Amwas plague of year 18 having appointed Iyad, and Umar's letter reached him giving him Hims, Qinnasrin and the Jazira, so he marched for the Jazira on Thursday the middle of Sha'ban year 18 in five thousand, Maysara ibn Masruq al-Absi on the vanguard, Sa'id ibn Amir ibn Hudhaym al-Jumahi on the right wing and Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami on the left — some say Khalid ibn al-Walid held his left wing, some that Khalid marched under no banner after Abu Ubayda, staying at Hims till his death in year 21, or dying at Medina.

the Capitulation of Jundishapur (17 AH)

Jundishapur capitulated to Zirr ibn 'Abdallah, joined after Sus by al-Muqtarib ibn Rabi'a — the city that held out through the whole Khuzestan campaign accepted terms.

The Conquest of al-Ladhiqiyya

In al-Baladhuri: Abu Ubayda left Ubada ibn al-Samit al-Ansari over Hims, and he came to al-Ladhiqiyya whose people fought him — it had a great gate a host of men could not open; seeing the difficulty he camped at a distance, ordered trenches dug like souterrains each hiding a man and his horse, the Muslims labouring at guarding them till finished, then feigned withdrawal to Hims; under cover of night they returned to their camp and trenches while the Ladhiqiyyans went out each morning thinking them gone, and at dawn opened their gate and sent out their flocks — whereupon the Muslims surprised them and entered through the city gate, taking it by force; Ubada entered the citadel, climbed its wall and magnified God upon it; a group of its Christians fled to al-Yasayid, then asked safety to return to their land, being cut a kharaj to pay few or many, their church left them, and the Muslims built a congregational mosque at al-Ladhiqiyya at Ubada's order, enlarged afterwards; the Byzantines later raided its coast from the sea, demolishing the city and taking captives in Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz's caliphate in year 100, and he ordered it rebuilt and fortified, sending to the tyrant to ransom the Muslim prisoners — it was unfinished when he died in 101, and Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik completed and garrisoned it; Ubada and the Muslims also took Antartus, a fortress its people abandoned, which Mu'awiya built and made an amsar with land-grants, doing likewise with Maraqiyya and Bulunyas, and they took the town called Balda two farsakhs from Jabala by force — it fell ruined and its people left, and Mu'awiya founded Jabala and garrisoned it.

Conquest of al-Mada'in: Bahurasir (15 AH)

Bahurasir, the lower city of al-Mada'in: Sa'd sent Zuhra ahead — Shirazad, the dihqan of Sabat, came to terms on the jizya, while Hashim ibn 'Utba, Sa'd's nephew, shattered Kisra's own 'Buran' cohort who swore daily Persia's rule would never pass while they lived, and killed the Muqarrat — a lion Kisra had tamed. Sa'd kissed Hashim's head, Hashim kissed Sa'd's foot, and was sent on in the van. When the Muslims reached the city and saw the iwan, Dirar ibn al-Khattab cried: 'Allahu akbar — Kisra's white palace! This is what God and His messenger promised,' and the army kept takbiring as each company arrived; they came down on the city in Dhu'l-Hijja.

The Taking and Settling of Mar'ash

In al-Baladhuri: Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah — he being at Manbij — sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to the Mar'ash region, and he took its fortress on condition its people evacuate, then demolished it; when Sufyan ibn Awf al-Ghamidi raided the Byzantines in year 30 he set out from before Mar'ash and ranged their lands; Mu'awiya built the city of Mar'ash and garrisoned it, but at Yazid ibn Mu'awiya's death Byzantine raids multiplied and its people left, and Abd al-Malik — after his father Marwan ibn al-Hakam's death — compounded with the Byzantines for tribute while seeking the caliphate; in year 74 Muhammad ibn Marwan raided and the truce broke, and in year 75 he again led the summer expedition, the Romans coming out in Jumada I by way of Mar'ash into the depths, where the Muslims under Aban ibn al-Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt — with him Dinar ibn Dinar, mawla of Abd al-Malik and governor of Qinnasrin and its districts — met them at Amq Mar'ash in a hard battle, routed them and pursued killing and capturing — Dinar having that same year met a Roman body at Jisr Yaghra, some ten miles from Shimshat, and overcome them; then al-Abbas ibn al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik went to Mar'ash, rebuilt and fortified it, transferred people to it, built its congregational mosque and levied an annual contingent on Qinnasrin; in Marwan ibn Muhammad's days — he busy fighting Hims — the Romans besieged Mar'ash until its people compounded to evacuate toward the Jazira with the Qinnasrin troops and their families, then demolished it — Marwan's governor being al-Kawthar ibn Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi, the tyrant being Constantine son of Leo; when Marwan had finished with Hims and razed its wall he sent an army to rebuild Mar'ash, and built it was and made a city — but in his civil war the Romans wrecked it again; Salih ibn Ali rebuilt and fortified it in al-Mansur's caliphate, calling people to it with increased pay, and al-Mahdi enlarged its garrison and strengthened its people.

Conquest of Qarqisiya (16 AH)

Qarqisiya on the Euphrates taken in year 16, in the wake of Masabadhan within the Jazira campaign.

Conquest of Qazvin and Zanjan (22 AH)

Al-Bara' ibn 'Azib took Abhar after its garrison sued for peace, then marched on Qazvin, whose people had sent to the Daylam for aid; the Daylam came and stood idle on the mountain — seeing them refuse to strike, Qazvin surrendered on Abhar's terms. Al-Bara' raided Daylam until it paid tribute, entered Gilan and the Tailsan, and took Zanjan by storm.

The Conquest of Qinnasrin

In al-Baladhuri: Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, after finishing with the Yarmuk, went to Hims and secured it, then came to Qinnasrin with Khalid ibn al-Walid on his vanguard; the people of the city fought him then took refuge in their fortress and sued for terms, which he granted on the like of Hims's treaty, the Muslims mastering its land and villages — its hadir (camp-town) belonging to Tanukh since their first settling in Syria, when they dwelt in hair tents before building houses, and he called them to Islam, some converting while Banu Salih ibn Hulwan of Quda'a remained Christian, some of their descendants converting in al-Mahdi's caliphate; as Abu Ubayda marched on Aleppo word came that Qinnasrin's people had broken faith, so he sent al-Simt ibn al-Aswad al-Kindi who besieged and took it; the hadir of Tayyi' was of old, settled after the war of corruption among them when those of the Jabalayn settled and the rest scattered through the lands, and near Aleppo stood the hadir called Hadir Halab gathering kinds of Arabs from Tanukh and others — Abu Ubayda compounded with them for jizya and they later converted, remaining there with their descendants until long after al-Rashid's death.

The Conquest of al-Raqqa

In al-Baladhuri: Iyad ibn Ghanm camped on al-Raqqa and its people fought until some Muslims were wounded, so he drew back out of their stones and arrows, rode a circuit of the city posting guards on its gates and loosed raiding parties bringing captives and abundant provisions from the villages, the crops standing ripe; after five or six days of this the city's patrician sent to Iyad seeking aman, and he compounded on safety for all its people's lives, children, wealth and city — saying 'the land is ours, we have trodden and seized it' — leaving it in their hands on kharaj, what of it the dhimmis declined reverting to the Muslims at the tithe, laying jizya on their necks at a dinar a man yearly — women and boys exempt — with measures of wheat and portions of oil, vinegar and honey charged with it, which Mu'awiya later made their jizya; they opened the gates and kept a Muslims' market at the Ruha gate, and Iyad wrote them: 'In God's name — this is what Iyad ibn Ghanm gave the people of al-Raqqa the day he entered it: safety for their lives, wealth and churches, which shall not be ruined nor left uninhabited, provided they pay the jizya upon them and contrive no treachery, and that they raise no church or synagogue, display no clapper, paschal or cross; God witnesses and suffices as witness' — and he sealed it; some say he bound each adult at four dinars, the sounder report being that Umar later wrote to Umayr ibn Sa'd, his governor, to bind each man at four dinars like the gold-tier.

The Conquest of 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.

Conquest of Rayy (22 AH)

Rayy fell by stratagem: al-Zaynabi Abu'l-Farrakhan defected from its marzban Siyawakhsh and offered to lead a cavalry detachment through a gate the defenders could not see; al-Mundhir ibn 'Amr's horse was slipped in by night, Nu'aym fixed the allied host before the walls, and when the takbir rose behind them the Persian line dissolved — the dead were counted with fathoms. The plunder rivaled al-Mada'in's; Nu'aym razed the old city and had al-Zaynabi build «New Rayy,« whose sheriffship stayed in his family.

The Conquest of Edessa (al-Ruha)

In al-Baladhuri through al-Nufayli from Sulayman ibn Ata: when Iyad ibn Ghanm took al-Ruha — Abu Ubayda had sent him — he stood at its gate on a chestnut horse and they compounded with him on the terms that their great church and its surroundings were theirs, that they raise no new church beyond what they had, and that they aid the Muslims against their enemy — any of these left unkept and they had no dhimma; and the people of the Jazira entered into what Edessa's people entered into.

Conquest of al-Sus (17 AH)

At al-Sus the monks and priests called down from the walls: our learned men left word that none shall open Sus but the Dajjal or an army containing him — when Safi ibn Sayyad strode to the gate in a rage, kicked it and cried «Infitah bi-zar!«, the chains snapped, the locks broke, and the army poured in. Told that Daniel's body lay in the city, Abu Sabra answered: «What is that to me!« and left it in their hands.

Conquest of Takrit (16 AH)

Takrit on the Tigris taken in Jumada of year 16, within the eastern-Iraq conquests.

Muslim conquest of the Levant

Draft card for the Muslim conquest of the Levant, the Rashidun campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid, Abu Ubayda and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan from Ajnadayn to Yarmouk and the surrender of Jerusalem, 634–638; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Conquest of Tripoli and Barqa (22 AH)

Amr ibn al-'As took Barqa on a 13,000-dinar jizya — its people stipulating the sale of such children as they wished against their tax — then sat a month before Tripoli. A hunting party of the Banu Mudlij, hugging the shore, found a gap where the wall never reached the sea, slipped in and raised the takbir; the Romans thought the city stormed and fled to their ships, and Amr's army walked in. Then Sabra was surprised at dawn and Lawata of the Berbers had their terms.

Conquest of Tustar and the capture of al-Hurmuzan

Tustar: Yazdegerd, safe at Marw, kept stinging the Persians over their lost kingdom until they and the Ahwaz folk bound themselves to mutual aid. 'Umar ordered Sa'd to send a dense army with al-Nu'man ibn al-Muqarrin to pin al-Hurmuzan, and Abu Musa to send another under Sahl ibn 'Adi with al-Bara' ibn Malik, Majza'a ibn Thawr and 'Arfaja ibn Harthama — the campaign that ended with Ramhurmuz and Tustar taken and al-Hurmuzan a prisoner.

Umar's Expulsion of the Christians of Najran

In al-Baladhuri: under Umar the people of Najran took usury and multiplied, so he feared them for Islam and exiled them to al-Najraniyya by Kufa — the settlement named after them — buying up their estates and writing for them that wherever they settled in Syria or Iraq they were to be granted arable land in place of their land in Yemen; the Jews of Najran had entered the treaty with the Christians as their followers; in Salim ibn Abi al-Ja'd's report the people of Najran reached forty thousand, quarrelled among themselves, asked Umar 'exile us' — which he did, already fearing them for the Muslims — then regretted it and sought reversal which he refused, and when Ali ibn Abi Talib took office they came to him and he said 'Umar was of sound judgement and I dislike opposing him'; the rulings then ran on: Uthman remitted two hundred hullas by letter to his Kufa governor al-Walid ibn Uqba after Uthman ibn Hunayf told him their exile had harmed the dihqans by driving them off their land; Mu'awiya or Yazid completed them to four hundred hullas; al-Hajjaj restored eighteen hundred after Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt, accusing them of backing it; Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz set them at two hundred hullas worth eight thousand dirhams on finding them at a tithe of their former number — 'I see this treaty is a jizya on their heads, not a treaty on their lands, and the jizya of the dead and the Muslim lapses'; Yusuf ibn Umar restored them under al-Walid ibn Yazid out of solidarity with al-Hajjaj; Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah confirmed two hundred hullas after they scattered basil on his procession at Kufa and Abdullah ibn al-Rabi' al-Harithi interceded for their kinship claim through Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b his maternal uncles, seconded by al-Hajjaj ibn Arta; and Harun al-Rashid confirmed it by a letter the transmitters saw, ordering them freed from dealing with the tax agents to pay directly to the treasury at the capital.

The Joint Conquests of Fars

Late in Umar's caliphate Abu Musa and Uthman ibn Abi al-As joined: Arrajan by sulh on jizya and kharaj; Shiraz of Ardashir-Khurra — dhimma paying kharaj, free exodus for who wished, no killing no enslaving; Siniz whose folk stayed land-workers; Uthman took Hisn Jannaba by aman, and Jarra, Kazarun and Nawbandajan of Sabur; Harim ibn Hayyan took Qal'at Shabir by force after siege and fighting.

'Umar institutes the Hijri calendar (16 AH)

In this year 'Umar instituted the calendar on 'Ali's advice, dating the Islamic era from the Hijra — the convention the umma still keeps.

Iyad's Incursion toward Khilat

In al-Baladhuri: Iyad took Amid without fighting on the like of al-Ruha's treaty, Mayyafariqin likewise, the fortress of Kafr Tuta, Nasibin after fighting on the like of al-Ruha's terms, Tur Abdin and the fortress of Mardin with Dara likewise, and Qarda and Bazabda on the like of Nasibin's terms — and the patrician of al-Zawzan came to him compounding for his land at a tribute, all in year 19 and days of Muharram year 20; then he marched to Arzan, taking it on Nasibin's terms, entered the pass to Badlis, crossed to Khilat and compounded with its patrician, reached al-Ayn al-Hamida of Armenia which he did not cross, and returning held Badlis's lord guarantor for the kharaj of Khilat, its dependencies and its patrician's lands, then withdrew to al-Raqqa and went to Hims — Umar having given it to him — where he died in year 20.

Jarir's Stipulation of a Quarter of What He Conquered

In al-Baladhuri: Umar went a year not mentioning Iraq for the disaster of Abu Ubayd and Salit, al-Muthanna stationed near Ulays calling the Arabs to jihad; then Umar summoned the people to Iraq and they kept dodging and declining until he meant to raid himself — when a party of Azd came wanting to raid Syria, he called them to Iraq and made Khosrow's house's spoils desirable, so they left the choice to him and he ordered their departure. Jarir ibn Abdallah came from al-Sarat among Bajila asking to go to Iraq on condition he and his people be given a quarter of what they conquered — Umar agreed, and he marched toward Iraq; some allege he passed by Basra's road and fought the Madhar marzban, defeating him, others that he fought the marzban while with Khalid ibn al-Walid, and some say he took the road over Fayd and al-Ta'labiyya to al-Mudhayyib.

Khalid ibn al-Walid's March to Syria

In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr's letter reached him at al-Hira he left al-Muthanna ibn Haritha al-Shaybani over the Kufa side and marched in Rabi' al-Akhir of year 13 with eight hundred — some say five hundred — taking Ayn al-Tamr by force (others say the letter reached him there after its conquest), then Sandawda', held by Kinda, Iyad and Persians, whose people fought and were overcome — he left Sa'd ibn Amr ibn Haram al-Ansari over it, whose descendants dwell there today; hearing of an apostate gathering of Banu Taghlib at al-Mudayyih and al-Musayyid under Rabi'a ibn Bujayr he defeated them, took captives and spoil and sent them to Abu Bakr — among them Umm Habib al-Sahba' bint Habib ibn Bujayr, mother of Umar ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib; he raided Qaraqir, a Kalbi watering-place, then traversed the desert to Suwa, likewise Kalbi, where Bahra' were with them, killing Hurqus ibn al-Nu'man al-Bahrani of Quda'a and sweeping up their wealth; entering the waterless stretch he watered the camels, slit their lips and made them drool so they would not ruminate and thirst, carrying abundant water which ran out on the way — so he slaughtered the camels one by one, drinking with his men the water of their bellies, his guide Rafi' ibn Umayra al-Ta'i earning the poet's verse 'God bless Rafi' — how he guided, traversing from Qaraqir to Suwa'; from Suwa to al-Kawa'il, then Qarqisiya whose lord abandoned it for Byzantine lands, then Arak whose people he besieged until it fell by treaty for a payment to the Muslims, then Dumat al-Jandal which he took, then Qusam whose Banu Mashja'a ibn al-Taym of Quda'a made peace for a written aman, then Tadmur whose people resisted and fortified themselves then asked safety — granted on being dhimma, quartering the Muslims and submitting to them — then al-Qaryatayn whose people fought and were overcome with spoil, then Hawwarin of Sanir whose people fought with reinforcements from Ba'labakk and Busra and were overcome with captives and killing, then Marj Rahit where he raided the Ghassan on their Easter taking captives and killing; he sent Busr ibn Abi Artat al-Amiri of Quraysh and Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri to the Ghouta of Damascus to raid its villages, stood at the pass known as Thaniyyat al-Uqab by Damascus unfurling his banner — a black banner that had been the Prophet's — whence its name that day, camped at the eastern gate of Damascus — some say Bab al-Jabiya — whose bishop brought him hospitality and service receiving a promise to keep the covenant, then marched to join the Muslims at the canal of Busra.

the Khaybar partition and the expulsion of Najran's Jews (20 AH)

'Umar divided Khaybar among the Muslims, removed its Jews, divided Wadi'l-Qura, and moved the Jews of Najran to Kufa.

'Umar's expansion of al-Masjid al-Haram (17 AH)

In year 17 'Umar performed 'umra, rebuilt al-Masjid al-Haram and enlarged it — the first caliphal expansion of the sanctuary.

The Dispatch of the Armies to Syria

In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr had finished with the apostates he resolved to direct the armies to Syria, writing to the people of Mecca, al-Ta'if, Yemen and all the Arabs of Najd and the Hijaz summoning them to jihad and stirring their desire for Byzantine spoil, and they hastened from every quarter; he bound three banners for three men — Khalid ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, Shurahbil ibn Hasana (per al-Waqidi son of Abdullah ibn al-Mutta' al-Kindi with Hasana his mother, per al-Kalbi son of Rabi'a ibn al-Mutta' of the children of Sufa) and Amr ibn al-As al-Sahmi — the binding being on Thursday at the opening of Safar year 13, after the armies had camped at al-Jurf the whole of al-Muharram, with Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah leading their prayers; Abu Bakr had wanted to bind a banner for Abu Ubayda who begged off — some report he did bind it, which is not established — and Abu Yakhnaf records Abu Bakr telling the commanders 'if you join in battle your commander is Abu Ubayda, otherwise Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan', while Amr is said to have been only a reinforcement and commander over those joined to him; when he bound Khalid ibn Sa'id's banner Umar disliked it and spoke to Abu Bakr of deposing him — 'he is a proud man who carries his charge with contentiousness and partisanship' — so he deposed him and sent Abu Adwa' al-Dawsi to take his banner, who met him at Dhu al-Marwa and took it, and it was given to Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, who marched with his brother Mu'awiya bearing it before him — others say it was handed to him at Dhu al-Marwa and he took over Khalid's army, Khalid ibn Sa'id marching on as a volunteer in Shurahbil's army; he ordered Amr to take the Ayla road toward Filastin, Yazid the Tabuk road and Shurahbil likewise; each commander set out with three thousand men, then he kept sending reinforcements until each had seven thousand five hundred, and their total completed at twenty-four thousand; al-Waqidi reports Abu Bakr gave Amr Filastin, Shurahbil al-Urdunn and Yazid Dimashq — 'if you have fighting, your commander is the one in whose charge you stand' — and that he ordered Amr verbally to lead the people in prayer.

Liberation and Persian Rule of Yemen

In 575 the Yemenis under Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan, aided by Persia, expelled the Abyssinians and won independence; but Sayf’s assassination by his own Abyssinian guard ended the royal house, and Khosrow made Yemen a Persian province whose governors ruled until the last, Badhan, embraced Islam in 638.

The Plague of Amwas

In al-Baladhuri: the plague of Amwas came in year 18 and carried off a multitude of the Muslims, among them Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah — dying commander at fifty-eight — and Mu'adh ibn Jabal of Banu Salama of the Khazraj, kunya Abu Abd al-Rahman, dying at al-Aqhwana of al-Urdunn at thirty-eight; on his deathbed Abu Ubayda had named his successor — some say Iyad ibn Ghanm al-Fihri, others that he named Amr ibn al-As who named his own son; Abdullah ibn Qays reports being among those welcoming Umar with Abu Ubayda on his coming to Syria, when the muqallisin of Adhri'at met him with swords and basil — Umar saying 'keep them off' and Abu Ubayda answering 'commander of the faithful, this is their custom, and if you bar them from it they will think you intend to break their covenant', so he said 'let them be'.

Conquest of Aleppo

Draft card for the conquest of Aleppo in 637, the city's surrender to Abu Ubayda after its citadel in the conquest of al-Sham; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Siege of Babylon Fortress

Amr ibn al-As's siege of the fortress called Babylon, the Qasr that later stood at the heart of al-Fustat. Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports that the Persians began it and the Romans completed it, that Amr sat at its gate for seven months in one account and a month in another, until al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam climbed a ladder, cried the takbir and opened the gate, while al-Muqawqis and the Coptic notables withdrew to the Island.

Siege of Dvin (640)

Draft card for Siege of Dvin (640); its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Siege of Jerusalem (637)

Draft card for the siege and surrender of Jerusalem in 15/637, when Patriarch Sophronius delivered the city to the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Peace between Amr ibn al-As and the Copts

The peace Amr ibn al-As made with al-Muqawqis after the siege of the fortress: two dinars on every adult Copt, three days' hospitality for Muslims, and their land and property left to them. Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports that the headmen counted more than six million persons, giving twelve million dinars a year; another report says eight million were counted.

The Treaty with the Jarajima

In al-Baladhuri from shaykhs of Antioch: the Jarajima are of a city on Jabal al-Lukkam by the vitriol mine between Bayyas and Buqa called al-Jurjuma; in the days of Byzantine rule over Syria they answered to the patrician and governor of Antioch, and when Abu Ubayda took it they stayed in their city, meaning to join the Byzantines for fear of their lives but unreported; when Antioch's people broke faith he sent Habib ibn Maslama who retook it, then came to al-Jurjuma whose people hastened to ask for aman, compounding to be auxiliaries, scouts and watchmen for the Muslims in Jabal al-Lukkam, exempted from jizya and granted the spoils of those they killed when attending the Muslims' wars — the treaty taking in the traders, hirelings, Nabataean clients and villagers among them who were called the Rawadif for following after them; they would keep faith with the governors one while and veer another, corresponding with and favouring the Byzantines, until in Ibn al-Zubayr's days a Byzantine cavalry came to Jabal al-Lukkam then moved to Lebanon, drawing to it a great company of Jarajima, Nabataeans and runaway slaves of the Muslims, forcing Abd al-Malik to compound with them for a thousand dinars every Friday and with the Byzantine tyrant for a payment to keep him occupied — after Mu'awiya's example when preoccupied with Iraq; then Abd al-Malik sent Suhaym ibn al-Muhajir to the Byzantine leader, who wormed his way in by feigned favour until trusted, then fell on him and his company and killed them, proclaiming aman so the Jarajima scattered through the villages of Hims and Damascus, most returning to their city and the slaves to their masters.

The Treaty with the Samaritans

In al-Baladhuri through the Syrian chain of Hisham ibn Ammar from al-Walid ibn Muslim from Safwan ibn Amr: Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah compounded with the Samaritans of the Jordan and Filastin districts — they being mixed with the other covenant-holders — on the terms that they serve as scouts and guides for the Muslims, against jizya on their heads with their lands exempted; the Muslims once raided them and took captives until they returned to abiding by their first affair, when they were left in peace, their standing continuing to the author's time on their ancient treaty; in Yazid ibn Mu'awiya's day kharaj was laid on their land with five dinars on each man's head — the Samaritans being Jews of two sects, the Dustan and the Kushan; in al-Rashid's early caliphate a sweeping plague struck Filastin, sometimes taking whole households, whose lands fell waste and idle until the sultan charged their cultivation and assembled tenants and farmers to them, making them crown estates including the Samaritans', and in year 246 a portion of their kharaj was remitted.

The Treaty with the Christian Taghlib

In al-Baladhuri through multiple chains: Umar ibn al-Khattab meant to take jizya from the Christian Taghlib, who fled — a body crossing the Euphrates for Byzantine lands — until al-Nu'man ibn Zur'a — or Zur'a ibn al-Nu'man — adjured him: 'Banu Taghlib are Arabs who would scorn the jizya and are a people of stout valour; let not your enemy gain strength against you by them'; Umar sent after them, brought them back and compounded with them for a doubling of the sadaqa taken from the Muslims on every grazing herd and acre — another chain has Umar ordering they be fought till destroyed or converted if they refused — and they accepted, saying 'since it is no jizya like the jizya of foreigners, we accept and keep our religion'; the treaty bound them not to baptize a child nor coerce one into their faith — Dawud ibn Kurdus holding they therefore had no dhimma, meaning they baptized in their faith — and Ali would say 'were I free to deal with Banu Taghlib I should have my way: kill their fighters and take their children captive, for they broke the covenant, their dhimma lapsing when they Christianized their children'; Umar sent Ziyad ibn Hudayr al-Asadi to take of them a half-tithe of their wealth, forbidding him to tithe a Muslim or a kharaj-paying dhimmi; Uthman ordered only gold and silver accepted of them until word came that Umar had taken double-sadaqa, whereupon he retracted; al-Zuhri held there is no sadaqa on the People of the Book's herds save the Christian Taghlib; and Sufyan al-Thawri, al-Awza'i, Malik ibn Anas, Ibn Abi Dhi'b, Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf all hold that the Taghlibi pays double what a Muslim pays on his land, livestock and wealth — the Iraqis taking double-sadaqa from the minor and the incompetent's land but nothing of their livestock, the Hijazis from both — all agreeing that what is taken of Taghlib's wealth is disposed as kharaj-money, being a substitute for jizya.

Ubada ibn al-Samit's embassy to al-Muqawqis

Amr ibn al-As sent ten men to al-Muqawqis on the Island, with Ubada ibn al-Samit as their spokesman, ordered to accept only one of three options. Al-Muqawqis asked that Ubada be moved back for his dark skin; they answered that he was the best of them in judgement and knowledge, and Ubada then refused the money al-Muqawqis offered.

Umar adopts the Hijra as the starting point of the calendar

Umar gathered the Companions to fix a settled date for administering the young state. Ali said the calendar should begin from the year the Prophet emigrated and left the land of polytheism, and Umar adopted it.

Umar's covenant with the people of Jerusalem

The covenant of safe-conduct that Umar ibn al-Khattab gave the people of Iliya when they surrendered the city, as the book quotes it from al-Tabari: safety for persons, property, churches and crosses; no church to be taken or destroyed; no compulsion in religion; no Jew to live in Iliya; the jizya to be paid. The book places it in 15 AH with four named witnesses.

Umar dismisses al-Nu'man ibn Adi from Maysan

Ibn Ishaq relates that Umar ibn al-Khattab appointed al-Nu'man ibn Adi over Maysan in the Basra region, then dismissed him when verses attributed to him reached Umar. Al-Nu'man excused himself that he was a poet saying what poets say, and Umar answered that he would never employ him again as long as he lived.

Umar sets the penalty for wine at eighty on Ali's counsel

When wine-drinking spread in the newly conquered lands, Umar took Ali's counsel to flog the drinker eighty lashes, the lightest of the fixed penalties, arguing that a drunk man raves and one who raves slanders, and the slanderer gets eighty. Jurists differ on whether the fixed penalty is forty or eighty; Sallabi sets out the schools.

Umar's Expulsion of the Jews of Khaybar and Fadak

In al-Baladhuri: the Jews of Khaybar stayed on their lands under the half-share arrangement through the Prophet's life and Abu Bakr's and into the early part of Umar's caliphate, until Abdullah ibn Umar came to them on an errand and they set upon him by night — whereupon Umar removed them, dividing Khaybar among the Muslims present and allotting a share to the Prophet's wives with the choice between the produce and the estate; Umar cited the Prophet's saying 'two religions shall not coexist in the Arabian peninsula' in expelling Khaybar's Jews; as for Fadak, when Umar exiled the Jews of the Hijaz he sent Abu al-Haytham Malik ibn al-Tayyihan, Sahl ibn Abi Haythama and Zayd ibn Thabit, who valued half its soil at a fair price paid out to the Jews, and exiled them to Syria.

Umar judges the dispute of al-Abbas and Ali over the Prophet's property

Mu'adh's Counsel on the Land of Syria at al-Jabiya

In al-Baladhuri from Abdullah ibn Qays al-Hamdani: Umar ibn al-Khattab came to al-Jabiya and meant to divide the land among the Muslims, it having been taken by force; Mu'adh ibn Jabal told him 'by God if you divide it, what we dislike will come of it — the abundance passes into the hands of a people who then perish, leaving it to one, then after them come people who stand in Islam's stead and find nothing — so look to an affair that suffices their first and their last', and Umar adopted Mu'adh's counsel; on it he founded the kharaj regime of the Syrian sawad, leaving the land in its people's hands against jizya on heads and kharaj on land.

Umar's last pilgrimage and Ali left as deputy in Medina

The last pilgrimage Umar led in 23 AH, taking the Prophet's wives with their guardians who did not cover from him; Ali ibn Abi Talib was left as deputy over Medina. The book also records Umar appointing Ali as his deputy in Medina during the campaign of Ajnadayn and Jabiya.

Umar's marriage to Umm Kulthum bint Ali

Umar asked Ali for his daughter Umm Kulthum, the child of Ali and Fatima. Ali agreed, and Umar went to the Muhajirun saying 'congratulate me', and gave as his reason words he heard from the Prophet about kinship. Sallabi notes the high regard Umar had for the household of the Prophet.