The Conquest of Damascus

All stops in this story

1. The Conquest of Damascus — c. 19 March 635 CE · Jumada I 14 AH

   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.

2. Battle of Marj al-Rum (15 AH) — 636 CE · 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 .

3. The Death of Habib ibn Maslama at Damascus — 662 CE · 42 AH

   In al-Baladhuri: when Habib had taken what he took of Armenia's land he wrote of it to Uthman ibn Affan, whose answer reached him with Salman's death reported — Uthman near giving him all Armenia, then judging it better to make him a raider of the Syrian and Jaziran frontier for his worth in such service, and gave Armenia's march to Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman al-Absi, who repaired to Bardha'a posting his agents over what lay between it and Qaliqala and to Khizan, until Uthman's writ came ordering his return and the leaving behind of Sila ibn Zufar al-Absi who was with him — and he left him; Habib marched back to Syria raiding the Romans, camped at Hims, and Mu'awiya moved him to Damascus where he died in year 42, being thirty-five years old; Mu'awiya had earlier sent Habib at the head of an army to Uthman's aid when he was besieged, but at Wadi al-Qura word of Uthman's killing reached him and he turned back.

4. Death of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan — c. April 680 CE · Rajab 60 AH

   Mu'awiya died in Rajab of year 60 and was buried between Bab al-Jabiya and Bab al-Saghir at Damascus; he is said to have lived seventy-seven years. Keeping hairs and nail-parings of the Prophet, he willed they be placed in his mouth and eyes — 'do that, and leave me with the Most Merciful of the merciful'. He had been governor of Syria twenty years and caliph twenty more .

5. Building of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus — c. 706 CE · 87 AH

   In year 87 al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik began building the congregational mosque of Damascus and ordered the enlargement and rebuilding of the Prophet's Mosque; Ibn Abi Abla couples the conquests of India and al-Andalus with 'he built the mosque of Damascus', and recalls the silver basins al-Walid gave him to distribute among the qurra' of the Jerusalem mosque .