Sayf b. ʿUmar said: Abū ʿUbayda set out from Yarmūk and encamped with his army at Marj al-Sufr. He had decided to besiege Shām (Damascus). At that time, he also received news that reinforcements had been sent to them from Ḥimṣ (Homs), and that a large Byzantine force had gathered in the region of Fiḥl in Palestine. He could not decide whether to proceed to Shām or to Fiḥl first. He therefore wrote a letter to ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him). In his reply, ʿUmar instructed him to begin by conquering Shām, as it was the region's fortress and administrative center; to keep the cavalry at Fiḥl occupied so they could not oppose him; to march to Fiḥl after conquering Shām; and, after Fiḥl was taken, to proceed with Khālid to Ḥimṣ, leaving Shurahbīl b. Ḥasana and ʿAmr in Palestine.
Abū ʿUbayda sent ten commanders to Fiḥl, each of whom had five sub-commanders under his authority. He appointed the Companion (ṣaḥābī) ʿAmmāra b. Makḥshī as the overall commander of these units. They set out from Marj al-Sufr and reached Fiḥl, where they found the Byzantines to be around 80,000 strong. The Byzantines had flooded the area around them, so that all the land was submerged and turned to mud. For this reason, they named the place "Redgha," meaning "muddy ground." Allah, the Exalted, granted the Muslims victory there. As will be detailed later, this was the first fortress to be conquered before the conquest of Shām.
Abū ʿUbayda sent a military unit to be stationed between Shām and Palestine. He also sent Dhū al-Kilāʿ with a unit to be stationed between Shām and Ḥimṣ, so that they could repel any reinforcements sent by Heraclius to the people of Shām. Then Abū ʿUbayda turned towards Shām, setting out from Marj al-Sufr. He appointed Khālid b. al-Walīd as commander of the army's center, himself as commander of one flank, and ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ as commander of the other. ʿIyāḍ b. Ghanam was in charge of the cavalry, and Shurahbīl b. Ḥasana of the infantry. They reached Shām. The Byzantine commander of Shām was Nastās b. Nastūs. Khālid b. al-Walīd descended at the eastern gate, which he also oversaw, as well as the Kaysan gate. Abū ʿUbayda encamped by the Great Jābiya gate. Yazīd b. Abī Sufyān encamped by the Small Jābiya gate. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ and Shurahbīl b. Ḥasana took control of the other gates of the city. They set up mangonels and battering rams.
Abū ʿUbayda sent Abū al-Dardāʾ with a military unit to Barza for reinforcement, and this unit was also positioned between himself and Ḥimṣ. They placed Shām under a severe siege, which lasted seventy nights. According to one narration, it lasted four months; according to another, six months; and it is also said to have lasted fourteen months. Allah knows best.
The people of Shām resisted the siege with force. They sent word to their ruler, Heraclius, asking for help. At that time, Heraclius was in Ḥimṣ. However, if Heraclius were to send reinforcements, Dhū al-Kilāʿ would prevent them from reaching the people of Shām, as Abū ʿUbayda had stationed him as a lookout between Shām and Ḥimṣ. The place where Dhū al-Kilāʿ was stationed was a night's journey from both Shām and Ḥimṣ. When the people of Shām realized that reinforcements would not reach them, they lost hope and became bewildered. They weakened and slackened, while the Muslims grew stronger and intensified the siege. Winter came, the weather grew very cold, the situation became more difficult, and the fighting harder.
According to the decree of Allah, the Great and Most High, during those nights a child was born to the commander of Shām. In honor of his child's birth, the Byzantine commander held a banquet for his retinue. They ate and drank, then fell asleep, abandoning their posts. The seasoned warrior Khālid b. al-Walīd, however, did not sleep, nor did he allow any of his soldiers to sleep. He watched the enemy day and night, with scouts and spies reporting the situation to him morning and evening. That night, seeing that the lights and fires were dim and that no one was guarding the walls, he brought the rope ladders he had prepared in advance, along with his brave companions, to the walls and tied them. Among his companions were such renowned warriors as Qaʿqāʿ b. ʿAmr and Mazʾūr b. ʿAdī. He stationed his soldiers by the gate.
He said to them: "When you hear us proclaim the takbīr (Allāhu akbar), climb the walls and join us." Then, together with his companions, he climbed the rope ladders and ascended the walls. They tied their quivers to their bellies, swam across the moat, and climbed the ladders to the top of the walls, where they began loudly proclaiming the takbīr. The Muslim soldiers came and clung to the rope ladders, climbing up the walls. Khālid and his valiant companions descended from the walls and attacked the gatekeepers inside the fortress, killing them. Khālid and his companions broke the locks of the gates with their swords and forced the gate open. Khālid's soldiers entered through the eastern gate. When the townspeople heard the takbīr, they rose up and rushed to their positions on the walls, not knowing what was happening. Any of the eastern gate's guards who arrived were killed by Khālid's soldiers.
Thus Khālid entered the city by force, killing those he found there. The people from each gate district came and asked about their commanders at the gates. The Muslims invited them to discuss the situation, but they refused. When the Muslims invited them again, they responded positively. The remaining Companions (ṣaḥāba), unaware of what Khālid had done, entered the city from all sides and saw that Khālid was killing every man he found.
They said to him:
- We had granted these people amān (safe-conduct). Khālid replied:
- I entered the city by force. The other commanders of the Islamic army met Khālid and his companions near the Mīkaslāt church, close to what is today known as the Reyḥān road.
This is what Sayf b. ʿUmar and others have related. According to the well-known opinion, Khālid b. al-Walīd conquered Shām by force.
Others said: The commander who conquered Shām by force was Abū ʿUbayda. It is also said that the commander who conquered Shām was Yazīd b. Abī Sufyān. According to some, Khālid b. al-Walīd made a peace treaty with the people of Shām. Those who say this have expressed an opinion contrary to the well-known and established view. Allah knows best.
The Companions (ṣaḥāba) differed on this matter. Some said that Shām was conquered by treaty, that is, Abū ʿUbayda made peace with them and received the city's surrender. Others said that Shām was conquered by force, because Khālid—as we mentioned on the previous page—conquered it by the sword. When the people of Shām realized the situation, they went to the other commanders, including Abū ʿUbayda, and made peace, agreeing among themselves to surrender half the city by treaty and half by force. Thus, the people of Shām would retain half the city, and the Companions (ṣaḥāba) would take the other half. They agreed and made a pact. This is also confirmed by what Sayf b. ʿUmar related: the Companions (ṣaḥāba) called upon the people of Shām to give them half the city and make a treaty and peace.
However, the people of Shām did not accept this treaty. When they lost hope, they responded to the Companions' (ṣaḥāba) call, and the Companions accepted their response. However, the Companions were unaware of what Khālid had done to the people of Shām. Allah knows best. For this reason, the Companions took half of the great church in Shām known as the Church of John, making the eastern part a mosque and leaving the western part as a church. In addition, they left fourteen other churches to the people of Shām. The eastern half of the Church of John was made into a mosque, which is today open for worship as the Damascus Mosque. Khālid wrote a document to this effect for the people of Shām, which was also signed by Abū ʿUbayda, ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ, Yazīd, and Shurahbīl as witnesses. The fourteen churches left to the people of Shām are as follows:
1- Mīkaslāt Church:
The commanders of the Companions (ṣaḥāba) gathered near this church. It was built over the bridges of the Soapmakers' Market. Other bridges are located below this church. However, this church eventually fell into ruin, and its stones were used in other buildings.
2- The small church at the beginning of the Qurayshīs' road:
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir stated that part of this church has survived to this day, though it is in a dilapidated state.
3- The old church in Dār al-Baṭṭīḥ:
I say: This church is inside the city, near the palace. I think it is a mosque that predates the aforementioned site. Over time, it fell into ruin. Allah knows best.
4- The church on the Banū Naṣr road between the roads of Ḥibālīn and Tamīmī:
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir said: "I saw some of the buildings of this church, but most people have demolished it, and today no trace of it remains."
5- The Church of Paul:
Ibn ʿAsākir said: "This church is west of Qaṣariyya al-Fakhriyya. I saw the foundations of some of its buildings."
6- The church of Dār al-Wakāla:
Today it is known as the Qalānsiyīn Church. I say: The term Qalānsiyīn is now used as Ḥawāhīn.
7- The church on the road of Darb al-Saqīl:
This is known as the Ḥāmid b. Darra Church, because this road was granted as an iqṭāʿ (land grant) to Ḥāmid b. ʿAmr b. Musāḥiq al-Qurashī al-ʿĀmirī and his mother, Darra. Darra was the daughter of Hāshim b. ʿUtba b. Rabīʿa, and Hāshim was the maternal uncle of Muʿāwiya. Muʿāwiya granted this road as an iqṭāʿ to her father. For this reason, the church is attributed to her. She was a Muslim woman. Today, nothing remains of their property except this church.
8- The Church of the Jacobites:
This church is within the Tūrna gate, between Khālid Square and the road of Ṭalḥa b. ʿAmr b. Murra al-Juhanī.
9- Another Jacobite church:
This is between the road of Talawi and Sūq ʿAlī. Ibn ʿAsākir said: "Some of the buildings of this church have survived to this day, but most have been demolished over time."
10- The Crusaders' Church:
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir said: "This church has survived to this day. It is between the eastern gate and the Tūrna gate, near the wall by Niptūn. People pronounce Niptūn as Nitūn. However, most of this church has also fallen into ruin and been demolished." This church was demolished in the eighty-fifth year after the Hijra, after the death of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir, during the time of Salāḥ al-Dīn, the conqueror of Jerusalem.
11- The Church of Mary:
This is inside the eastern gate. Ibn ʿAsākir said: "This church is one of the largest remaining in the hands of the people of Shām."
I say: This church was demolished after the death of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir, during the reign of al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī.
12- The Jewish Church:
This church is near Jabr. Today, people call it Bustān al-Qiṭṭ.
13- The Jewish Church in Darb al-Balāgha:
The Jews had another church in the place called Darb al-Balāgha, but it was not included in the treaty text. It was later demolished and replaced by the mosque known as Ibn Suhrawardī Mosque. Today, people call the area the Jazūrī road.
14- The Church of Sāmira:
I say: There is another church not mentioned by the historians, Ibn ʿAsākir and others, which was also demolished in the year 717 AH. Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir never mentioned the Sāmira church, and later said: There is another church built by the Christians later, whose architect was Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr Banī Qaṭīṭa, located by the canal. It was later demolished and replaced by the mosque known as Abū al-Yumn Mosque (Jāmiʿ al-Janīk).
They also built two other churches known as the ʿIbād churches. One of them was next to the house of Ibn Mashʿalī and was later converted into a mosque. The other was at the beginning of Darb al-Naqqāshīn road and was also converted into a mosque.