Busra

Busra: a town counted among al-Sham, and the capital of Hawran. In the time of the Sira it was the capital of the Arab lands under Roman rule. There the caravan of Abu Talib arrived, and there the boy Muhammad met the monk Bahira (the meeting with Bahira). ^{1 2}. It was the first of the great cities of al-Sham to be conquered by treaty, in the caliphate of Abu Bakr, around the year 13 AH. ³.

The author describes it, when the caravan of Abu Talib arrived there, as counted among al-Sham and the capital of Hawran, and as the capital at that time of the Arab lands under Roman rule. In it was the monk Bahira, who went out to the caravan and honoured it. ^{1 4}.

Its people made peace for safe-conduct for their lives, property and children, on condition of paying the poll-tax; it is said one dinar for every adult man and a measure of wheat. It was conquered by the hand of Khalid ibn al-Walid, and it is said by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, since it was in his governorship. The land of the district of Hawran was conquered along with it. ³.

The Sealed Nectar does not mention the history of the town before that, nor its Nabataean and Roman remains; these come from other sources.