User:Mohammad adil/sandbox15

The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria. Arab forces had appeared on the southern borders even before the death of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in 632, such as the Battle of Mu'tah in 629, but the real invasion began in 634 under his successors, the Rashidun Caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar ibn Khattab, with Khalid ibn al-Walid as its most important military leader.

Byzantine Syria
Syria had been under Roman rule for seven centuries prior to the Arab conquest and had been invaded by the Sassanid Persians on a number of occasions during the third, sixth and seventh centuries; it had also been subject to raids by the Sassanids Arab allies the Lakhmids. During the last of the Roman-Persian Wars, beginning in 603, the Persians under Khosrau II had succeeded in occupying Syria, Palestine and Egypt for over a decade before being forced by the victories of Heraclius to make peace in 628 and withdraw from these provinces. Thus, on the eve of the Muslim conquests the Romans were still in the process of rebuilding their authority in these territories, which in some areas had been lost to them for almost twenty years. Politically, the Syrian region consisted of two provinces. Syria proper stretched from Antioch and Aleppo in the north to the top of the Dead Sea. West and south of the Dead Sea lay the province of Palestine, which included the holy places of three great faiths and cities no less rich and sophisticated than any in the world. Syria, was partly an Arab land, especially in its eastern and southern parts. The Arabs had been there since pre-Roman times; and had embraced Christianity when Emperor Constantine declared it a state religion in fourth century A.D. Arabs of Syria were people of no consequence until the migration of the powerful Ghassan tribe from the Yemen to Syria, who thereafter ruled a semi-autonomous state with their own king under the Romans. The Ghassan Dynasty became one of the honoured princely dynasties of the Empire, with the Ghassan king ruling over the Arabs in Jordan and Southern Syria from his capital at Bosra. The last of the Ghassan kings, who ruled at the time of Muslim's invasion, was Jabla bin Al Aiham. Emperor Heraclius, after re-capturing Syria from Sassanids set up new defense lines from Ghazzah to the south end of dead sea, these lines were only designed to protect communications from bandits and bulk of Byzantine defences were concentrated in northern Syria facing the traditional foes, the Sassanids Persians. This defence line had a draw back that enabled the Muslims, that emerged from the desert in the south, to reach as north as Ghazzah before meeting regular Byzantine troops. 7th century A.D, was a time of quickening military changes in Byzantine empire. The empire was certainly not in state of collaspe when it faced the new challange from Arabia after being exhausted by recent Roman-Persian Wars, but failed completely to tackle the challange effectively.

Rise of Caliphate
Prophet Mohammad died in June 632, and Abu Bakr was appointed Caliph and his political successor. Troubles emerged soon after Abu Bakr's succession. Several Arabic tribes revolted against Abu Bakr. This was the start of the Ridda wars (Arabic for the Wars of Apostasy). Abu Bakr declared war against the rebels and apostates and send his armies brilliantly all over arbia and after series of successful campaigns, Khalid ibn al-Walid, Abu Bakr's main military commander finally defeated Musaylimah, a self proclaimed prophet and the most powerful of all the rebels, in the Battle of Yamama. The Campaign of the Apostasy was fought and completed during the eleventh year of the Hijri. The year 12 Hijri dawned, on March 18, 633, with Arabia united under the central authority of the Caliph at Medina. Once the rebellions had been put down, Abu Bakr began a war of conquest. Whether or not he intended a full-out imperial conquest is hard to say; he did, however, set in motion a historical trajectory that in just a few short decades would lead to one of the largest empires in history. Abu Bakr began with Iraq, the richest province of Persian Empire. He sent his most brilliant general Khalid ibn al-Walid to invade the Sassanid Persian Empire.

Prepration for Invasion of Syria
After successful campaigns against Sassanid Persians and conquest of Iraq, Abu Bakr's confidence built up, once Khalid stablished his stronghold on Iraq, Abu Bakr issued a call to arms for the invasion of Syria in Febuary 634 on his return from Hajj. Tribal contingents responded eagerly to the call from Madinah from all over the peninsula, from as far away as Oman and the Yemen. Only those who had apostatised during Ridda wars were excluded from the summons, they remained exluded from Rashidun army untill in 636 when Caliph Umar fall short of manpower piour to Battle of Yarmouk and Battle of al-Qādisiyyah. The concentration of army was completed in March 634. This tradition of raising armies from tribal contingents remained in use untill 636, when Caliph Umar organised army as a state department. Abu Bakr organised the army in to four corps, each with its own commander and objective.
 * Amr ibn al-A'as: Objective Palestine. Move on Eila route, then across Valley of Arabah.
 * Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan: Objective Damascus. Move on Tabuk route.
 * Shurahbil bin hassana: Objective Jordan. Move on Tabuk route after Yazid.
 * Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah: Objective Emesa. Move on Tabuk route after Shurahbil.

Being unawear of details of dispositions of Byzantine army, Caliph Abu Bakr ordered that all corps should remain in touch with each other so that they could help each other as Byzantines can concentrate there army in any sector of operation. In case the corps had to concentrate for one major battle, Abu ubaidah was appointed commander in Cheif of entire army. In the first week of April 634, the Muslim forces began to move from there camps out side Madina. The first to leave was Yazid's corps, followed by Shurahbil, Abu Ubaidah and Amr. Each a day's march from the other. Caliph Abu Bakr walked for a short distance by side of each corps commander. His parting words he repeated to the each corps commanders, were as follows: In your march be not hard on yourself or your army. Be not harsh with your men or your officers, whom you should consult in all matters. Be just and abjure evil and tyranny, for no nation which is unjust prospers or achieves victory over its enemies.When you meet the enemy turn not your back on him; for whoever turns his back, except to manoeuvre for battle or to regroup, earns the wrath of Allah. His abode shall be hell, and what a terrible place it is!. And when you have won a victory over your. enemies, kill not women or children or the aged and. slaughter not beasts except for eating. And break not the pacts which you make. You will come upon a people who live like hermits in monasteries, believing that they have given up all for God. Let them be and destroy not their monasteries. And you will meet other people who are partisans of Satan and worshippers of the Cross, who shave the centre of their heads so that you can see the scalp. Assail them with your swords until they submit to Islam or pay the Jizya. I entrust you to the care of Allah.

Muslim invasion of Syria
Yazid's corps maving to there assigned target, beyond Tabouk, made contact with a small Christian Arab force that retreated after brush from Muslim's advance guard. After which Yazid made for the Valley of Araba where it meets the southern end of the Dead Sea. As the main Byzantine defence line started from coastal regions near Ghazahh, Yazid arrived at the Valley of Araba at about the same time as Amr bin Al Aas reached Eila and faced a little resistance from two detachment sent farward by the Byzantine army to prevent entry of Yazid's and Amr's corps into Palestine respectively, the detachments were defeated easily although it abstained them from reaching there assigned objective. Meanwhile Abu Ubaidah and Shurhabil continued there march and by early May 634 they had got to the region between Bosra and Jabiya. Emperor Heraculis had already recieved intelligence of movement of Muslim armies from Christian Arabs and was planning countermeasures against the Muslims, meanwhile he had heard of crushing defeat of Sassanid Persians in and Lost of there province of Iraq to the invading Muslims. On Heraculis's orders Byzantine army from different garrisions in north started maving towards Ayjnadyn from where they could operate against Amr's corps and could maneuvor against the flank or rear of rest of the Muslim corps that were nearly in the same region, Jordan and Southern Syria. The strength of the army according to Muslim's rough eastimates was going to be around 100,000. Abu Ubaidah informed Caliph about the preprations made by the Byzantines in third week of May 634. as Abu Ubaida's lack of experience in the command of military forces in major operations, Abu Bakr had serious misgivings about his ability to lead the entire Muslim army in a serious clash with the powerful and sophisticated army of Eastern Rome. Abu Bakr thus decided to send Khalid ibn Walid to Syrian front to command the Muslim army. According to early Muslim chronicals Abu Bakr said: "By Allah, I shall destroy the Romans and the friends of Satan with Khalid bin Al Waleed"

Conquest of Syria under Caliph Abu Bakr
Khalid, a military genius, who had already stablished his stronghold on Persian province of Iraq, was ordered to move to Syrian front as soon as possible to take the command of Muslim troops and conquere Syria. Khalid set out for Syria from Hira in Iraq in early June 634, taking his half army about 8000 strong according to orders of Abu Bakr. Instead of taking a traditional rout to Syria via Domat ul Jandal (in norther Arabia), Khalid decided to reach Syria from the most least expected and short rout to Syria, The Syrian desert. Thus appeared on Syrian front at Tadmur in central Syria in early June after 5 march through Syrian desert.

Conquest of southern Syria
After only one day of his arrival, Khalid set out for conquest of Syria. He reached the town of Sawa, and defiant forces present there resisted a bit but later in the evening surrendered the city and agreed to pay tribute. He moved to Arak city in the same day, and this city too surrendered and agreed to pay tribute. The next day Khalid moved to Tadmur, which surrendered as well. He moved further and cities of As Sukhnah and Qadma also surrendered and agree to pay tribute. The next day city of Qaryatayn and Hawwareen were captured after small Battle of Qaryatayn and Battle of Hawareen. After dealing with all these cities, Khalid moved towards Damascus, after three days journey he reached a mountain pass, 20 miles from Damascus which is now known as Sanita-al-Uqab(Eagle pass) after the name of Khalid's army standard. From here he moved away from Damascus towards rest of the Islamic armies which were still near the Syrian-Arabia border. At Maraj-al-Rahab, Khalid defeated a Ghassanid army of Christian Arabs in a short Battle of Marj-al-Rahit. By now he was moving away from Damascus, the stronghold of Byzantines, and towards the city of Bosra. Khalid reached Basra after 3 days at a time when Shurhabil's 4000 men were besiegeing the city and were nearly encircled by the outnumbered Byzantine army when Khalid reached there with his cavalry, the Roman army retreated and fortified themselves in the castle. After few days they came out and were defeated and again retreated to castle. Bosra surrendered in mid of July 634 A.D. All the corps of Muslim army joined Khalid at Ajnadayn on 24 July 634 and defeated Byzantine on 30th July 634 A.D in Battle of Ajnadayn. After one week Khalid moved to Damascus, and on his way there he defeated a small Roman army in the Battle of Yakosa in mid-August 634 A.D which was presumably an advance guard to delay the Muslim advance so that necessary measures could be undertaken to defend Damascus mean while some detachments joined the defence force at Damascus, which were routed at battle of Ajnadyn. Tomur, the son-in-law of Emperor Heraclius and commander of the garrison at Damascus, sent an army to stop Khalid but they too were defeated in the Battle of Maraj-al-Safar on 19 August 634 A.D and retreated back to Damascus. Damascus was besieged for 30 days and was conquered on 18th Spetember 634 A.D, during its siege Heraculis sent a reinforcement from Antioch to break the siege that was defeated at Battle of Sanita-al-Uqab 20 miles from Damascus. In an agreement the Roman army was given a deadline of 3 days to go as far as they can, with their families and treasure. After the three days deadline was over, the Muslim cavalry under Khalid's command attacked the Roman army by catching up to them using an unknown shortcut at Battle of Maraj-al-Debaj. On 22 August 634, Caliph Abu Bakr died making Umar his successor. As Umar became caliph, he relieved Khalid from commanding the Islamic armies and appointed Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah as the new commander of the army. The news of Abu Bakr's death and appointment letter reached Abu Ubaida during the siege of Damascus but he didn't revealed it untill after the Battle of Maraj-al-Debaj.

Conquest Under Caliph Umar
With this new change in command, the campaign of Syria was slow down as Abu Ubaida, unlike Khalid would move slowly and steadly. Abu Ubaida being admirer of Khalid and made him commander of Muslim's cavalry and relied heavily on his advise. In south the bulk of servivers of Battle of Ajnadyn at Fahal were a contant threat for Muslims as they could attack Muslims from rear, Muslim army accordingly moved to Fahal and defeated and routed them at Battle of Fahal on the 23rd of January 635 they retreated to the northern Syria and Antioch.

Conquest of Palestine
After clearing the region of Fahal from the strong Roman garrison Muslim armies resumed there conquest in north and south of the Levant. Shurhabil and Amr went deeper in to Palestine. Baisan surrendered after a little resistance followed by the surrendered of Tabariya in Febuary 635. Caliph Umar, after getting the intelligence of disposition and strength of Byzantine army in Palestine, wrote ad etail instructions to corps commanders in Palestine and also ordered Yazid to capture Mediterranean coast. Corps of Amr and Shurhabil accordingly marched against the strongest Byzantine garrison in Ajnadyn and defeated them in 2nd Battle of Ajnadyn. Thereafter the two corps separated and Amr went on to capture Nablus, Amawas, Gaza and Yubna, thus occupying all Palestine, while Shurahbil thrust against the coastal towns of Acre and Tyre, which capitulated to him. Yazid advanced from Damascus and captured the ports of Sidon, Arqa, Jabail and Beirut. By 635 A.D, Palestine, Jordan and Southern Syria, with the exception of Jerusalem and Caesarea, were in Muslims hands. On the orders of Caliph Umar Yazid laid the siege of Caesarea but siege was lifted prior to Battle of Yarmouk but was resumed after that battle and continued until the port fell in 640.

Conquest of northern Syria
Meanwhile muslim army under Abu Ubaida and Khalid moved towards Emesa in northern Syria. Emperor Heraclius sent General Theodras to Damascus to recapture it, as there was only a weak defensive army in the city. Theodras met the Muslim army at Maraj al Rum, and moved with half of his army towards Damascus at night, while Abu Ubaida and Khalid were engaged with the remaining Byzantine army. Soon muslims came to know about the Byzantine army's maneuvor and Abu Ubaida send Khalid with cavalry towards Damascus. Khalid defeated the Byzantine army out side Damascus meanwhile Abu Ubaidah defeated the remianing roman army at Maraj al rum. A week later, Abu Ubaida himself moved towards Balaq an important garrison in central Syria, which surrendered peacefully, while an other detachment under Khalid was sent straight towards Emesa. Emesa and Qinnasrin thus signed a one year peace treaty, which was infact to wait untill help come from the Emperor. In November 635, Khalid and Abu Ubaida moved towards Hamma, which surrendered and agreed to pay tribute. Later, Abu Ubaida sent Khalid to Shairzer, Afamia and Matar-al-Hamz, that all surrendered. Meanwhile Qinasareen and Emesa broke the peace treaty. In response, Abu Ubaida decided to conquer Emesa first and sent Khalid who defeated the advance guard of the garrison out side Emesa and laid the siege of the city and was soon joined by Abu Ubaida with the main army. After two months of the siege. Emesa was conquered in March 636.

Battle of Yarmouk
While Muslims were on there way to conquere the northern Syria, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius decided to assemble a grand army in Syria to roll back the Arab invasion. Preparations started in late 635, and by May 636 a force was put under arms and was concentrated at Antioch and northern Syria. This force was organized into five armies, Mahan was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the entire Imperial army. The Imperial Army was launched from Antioch and Northern Syria some time in the middle of June 636. It was at Shaizar, through Roman prisoners, that the Muslims first came to know of the preparations being made by Heraclius. Alert to the possibility of being caught with separated forces that could be destroyed in detail, as Heraclius indeed planned, Khalid ibn al-Walid advised Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah to pull back from North and Central Syria, as well as from Palestine, and concentrate the whole army so that a strong, united force could be fielded against the Byzantine armies, and in case of retreat the Arabian Desert will not be too far. all Muslim armies retreated accordingly to wards the plain of Yarmouk. The command of army was partially transfered to Khalid ibn Walid by Abu Ubaidah, who acted as a military commander in the Battle of Yarmouk that took place in thrid week of August 636. Muslims won a crushing victory of Byzantines in the battle. Followed the battle, Byzantine army no longer appeared effectively in Syria except for the garrisons that resisted hard like Aleppo, other surrendered peacefully and agreed to pay Jaziya.

Conquest of Jerusalem
After Battle of Yarmouk, Abu Ubaida was ordered by Caliph to capture Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem lasted four months after which the city agreed to surrender, but only to caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab in person. Caliph Umar came and the city surrendered in April 637 CE. Abu Ubaida sent the commanders Amr bin al-As, Yazid bin Abu Sufyan, and Shurhabil bin Hassana to reconquer Palestine which they left prior to Battle of Yarmouk. Most of the areas submitted without a fight.

Conquest of remaining strongholds
Abu Ubaida himself along with Khalid moved to northern Syria once again to conquer them with a 17,000 strong army. Khalid along with his cavalry was sent to Hazir and Abu Ubaidah moved to Qinnasrin. Khalid defeated a strong Byzantine army in the Battle of Hazir at Hazir near the fort of Qinnasrin the thus city surrendered to Khalid. Aleppo surrendered, as there left a little hope of reinforcement from the emperor, after a long siege in October 637. Antioch was the next city to fall to the invaders, after the fort of Azaz in the north was captured in mid of October 637. Antioch was conquered on 30th October 637. The remining greek dominating cities along the Mediterranean coast, Latakia, Jablah and Tartus which were guarded from the natural barriers of Anti-Lebonan hills, were conquered thereafter from north. Abu Ubaidah sent Khalid to conquer north eastern Syria. All the areas up to Manbij were conquered, and all resistance suppressed up to the Euphrates.

Heraclius last attempt
By 637, three years after the invasion, whole of the Levant was under conquered the only city that was still resisting was the coastal city of Caesarea that was finally captured in 640. The various Muslim commanders settled down to their duties as governors of provinces: Amr bin Al Aas in Palestine, Sharhabeel in Jordan, Yazid in Damascus, Abu Ubaidah in Emesa and Khalid as administrator of northern Garrison of Qinnasrin from were he would keep watch over the northern territories. Heraclius was no longer able to attempt a military comeback in Syria. In fact after the destruction of his army at Yarmuk and Antioch, the empire was extremely vulnerable to Muslim invasion. He had few military resources left with which to defend his domains against the now invincible army of Caliph Umar under the most experience and brilliant commanders. To gain time for the preparation of his defences it was essential to keep the Muslims occupied in Syria, and he did this by inciting the Christian Arabs of the Jazira to take the offensive against the Muslims. Bound to him by ties of religion, they began preparations to cross the Euphrates and invade Northern Syria from the east. Christian Arabs laid the siege of Emesa in early 638. The situation was brilliantly tackled by Caliph Umar, while the Muslim army under Abu Ubaida and Khalid was at defensive at Emesa, he ordered the Muslim commander in cheif in Iraq to sent the coulmns to Jazirah from three different sides and a column to Emesa to reinforce the muslim army there, soon Christian Arabs relized that they are trapped as there home land was being invaded by the Muslims and reinforcement was on its way to Emesa, they thus retreated back to Jazirah. This act of Christian Arabs of Jazirah was followed by a fierce measures from the Caliphate, and Jazirah, the last base of Eastern roman empire in middle east was invaded and captured the same year. On the orders of Caliph Umar, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, commander of Muslim army in Iraq sent an army under Ayadh bin Ghanam to conquere the region between Tigris and the Euphrates up to Urfa. To secure Syria from any future aggression it was necessary to clear neighbouring lands from all hostile elements, thus in summer 638 further conquest were made in Anatolia upto as west as Tarsus and as north as Marash and Malatya, malatya was later burned to ground by the orders of Heraculis to punish its inhabitats for submitting to muslims. After conquest of Marsh in 638, with the completion of conquest of region, Khalid was dismissed from army by Caliph Umar, presumeably because of his growing power and influence. By 638 most of south western Anatolia was under the control of the Caliphate. About 40% of the Byzantine empire was conquered and byzantine army was now shattered, with no longer resources to recover there lost territory they evacuated there fortifications from south western Anatolia on the orders of Heraculis in order to creat a no man land or an empty zone between there strongholds in western Anatolia and Islamic Empire. Any further operation in Anatolia was abstained due to drought in 638 and plague in Syria in 639. In December 639 Muslims invaded Egypt from Syria.

Under Caliph Uthman's reign
During the reign of Caliph Uthman, Constantine III, decided to re-capture the Levant, which had been lost to the Muslims during Umar’s reign. A full-scale invasion was planned and a large force was sent to re-conquer Syria. Muawiyah I, the governor of Syria, called for reinforcements and Uthman ordered the governor of Kufa to send a contingent, which together with the garrison of Syria defeated the Byzantine army in northern Syria. Uthman gave permission to Muawiyah, the governor of Syria to built navy. From there base in Syria, Muslims invaded Cyprus in 649 and Crete and then Rhodes. The annual raids in western Anatolia abstained Byzantines from any further attempt to recapture Syria. In 654-655, Uthman ordered preperation of an expedition to capture the capital of Eastern Roman empire, the Constantinople, thanks to unrest in empire that grew in 655 and resulted in assasination of Caliph Uthman, that the expedition was delayed for decades only to be undertaken under the next dynasty of Ummayad rulers, that resulted in failier.

Administration under Rashidun Caliphate
The new rulers divided Syria into four districts (junds): Damascus, Hims, Jordan, and Palestine (to which a fifth, Qinnasrin, was later added) and the Arab garrisons were kept apart in camps, and life went on much as before for the local population. The Muslim's adopted policy of tolerance towards other religions, resulting in a positive effect on the new subject people, especially the Christians Nestorian and Jacobite Christians and Jews (People of the Book), who had been previously persecuted under Byzantine rule. The loyalty of his new subjects was paramount to the success of Muslim rule in the region, therefore excessive taxation or oppression was avoided. The taxes instituted were the kharaj - a tax that landowners and peasants paid according to the productivity of their fields - as well as the jizya - paid by non-Muslims in return for protection under the Muslim state and exemption from military service. The Byzantine civil service was retained until a new system could be instituted; therefore, Greek remained the administrative language in the new Muslim territories for over 50 years after the conquests.

Syriac Christian Views
Islamicist historians tend to claim that Monophysites welcomed the Arab invasions, however these claims are primarily based on Arabic Muslim sources and sometimes Syriac literature of later writers that base these claims on assumed reactions to Byzantine persecution. However, the only surviving Syriac texts from the 7th century are all hostile towards Arabs, contradicting later Syriac and Arab literature.

When the Arabs heard of the festival which took place at the monastery of S. Simeon the Stylite in the region of Antioch, they appeared there and took captive a large number of men and women and innumerable boys and girls. The Christians who were left no longer knew what to believe. Some of them said "Why does God allow this to happen?"

The Rise of the Umayyads
When the first civil war broke out in the Muslim empire, as a result of the murder of 'Uthman and the nomination of 'Ali as caliph. Rashidun Caliphate was succedded by the new dynasty of Umayyad with Syria as its core and Damascus its capital, for the next century.