The Conquest of Shimshat

فتح شمشاط

c. 647 CE · c. 27 AH

In al-Baladhuri: when Uthman ibn Affan acceded he wrote to Mu'awiya with Syria's governorship and gave Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari the Jazira, then removed him and joined Syria, the Jazira and their frontier to Mu'awiya, ordering him to raid Shimshat — the fourth Armenia — so he sent Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri and Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami, who took it days after arriving on the like of al-Ruha's treaty; Safwan settled it and died there late in Mu'awiya's caliphate — some say Mu'awiya himself raided it with the two and appointed Safwan, who made it home; Constantine the tyrant later camped on it after alighting at Malatya in year 133, gained nothing there, raided its environs and withdrew; Shimshat stayed kharaj-land until al-Mutawakkil made it tithe-land like the rest of the frontier.

The long-form text for this entry has not been written yet. The facts and connections below come from the museum's data.

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 Shimshat

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The Conquest of Harran