The Battle of al-Araba

وقعة العربة

c. 634 CE · c. 13 AH

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.

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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 Battle of al-Araba

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The Conquest of Busra