بسر بن أبي أرطاة

Overview

Busr ibn Abi Artat, a commander whom Mu'awiya sent in the events of the civil strife; the sources mention his role in Basra, Medina, Mecca and Yemen. ¹ ²

Basra

Mu'awiya sent him to Basra in Rajab 41 AH after the peace with al-Hasan, when Ziyad had fortified himself in Fars. ¹

Medina and Yemen

Al-Mas'udi says that Mu'awiya sent him in 40 AH with three thousand men to Medina, where he threatened the people from the pulpit until they gave the allegiance. Then he went on to Mecca and Yemen. He says that he killed a number of people in Medina, between the two mosques, at al-Jurf and in Sana'a, and that among the dead were the two sons of Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas, Abd al-Rahman and Qutham. ²

His end

Al-Mas'udi relates that Ali prayed against him until his mind was gone, and that he died in the caliphate of al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik in 86 AH, and gives the report in its words. ³

Notes

The two reports differ on the dates of the two missions (40 AH and 41 AH); this needs an additional source.

Sources

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari (ed. Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim) , j.5 p.168

Al-Mas'udi, Muruj al-dhahab wa-ma'adin al-jawhar, ed. Kamal Hasan Mar'i (al-Maktaba al-'Asriyya, 2005) , juz p.25

Al-Mas'udi, Muruj al-dhahab wa-ma'adin al-jawhar, ed. Kamal Hasan Mar'i (al-Maktaba al-'Asriyya, 2005) , juz p.135

The Umayyad State — Bakr Muhammad Ibrahim Bakr (1st ed., Markaz al-Raya lil-Nashr wal-I'lam, Cairo 2002)

Asma al-Matalib fi Sirat Ali ibn Abi Talib, vol. 1 — Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi

The Conquest of Syria

In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr finished with the apostates he dispatched the armies to Syria, binding three banners — for Khalid ibn Sa'id (whom he deposed), Shurahbil ibn Hasana and Amr ibn al-As — directing them and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan by the Ayla and Tabuk roads until their number completed at twenty-four thousand; their first fighting came at Dathin and al-Araba, and al-Waqidi's account assigns Amr Filastin, Shurahbil al-Urdunn and Yazid Dimashq; Khalid ibn al-Walid then marched from Iraq reaching them in Rabi' al-Akhir year 13, and they made him commander in every battle; the great battle of Ajnadayn fell on Monday twelve nights remaining of Jumada I year 13, Busra fell by treaty, Shurahbil conquered al-Urdunn by force save Tabariyya, the battle of Fihl came five months into Umar's caliphate with Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah commanding by Umar's investiture, the day of Marj al-Suffar at the new moon of al-Muharram year 14, and then the conquest of Damascus and Bayt al-Maqdis.