CONQUEST OF PALESTINE.
A.H. XV. A.D. 636.
[Sidenote: Territorial division of Palestine.]
_Palestine_, according to the Arabs, is the tract that lies west
of the Dead Sea. If a line were drawn from the top of the sea obliquely
to Mount Carmel, all to the south of it would be Palestine. The zone
immediately to the north of the line, including the Ghôr, or valley
watered by the Jordan, is called _Ordonna_, or the province of the
_Jordan_. The country still farther north is _Syria_, and
that to the east of the Jordan the _Haurân_.[321]
[Sidenote: Palestine invaded.]
The first inroads of the Arabs were upon the province of the Jordan.
Issuing from Arabia, their beaten course, as we have seen, was the
highway to Damascus, along the pilgrim route of the present day, to
the east of the Dead Sea. The base of operations was, throughout
the Syrian campaign, at Jâbia, a town some little distance east of
the Sea of Tiberias; from whence, as a rendezvous, columns could be
forwarded, by the great military roads, either to Damascus, Báalbek,
and the north; or, again, to Tiberias, the Jordan, and Palestine. Soon
after the siege of Damascus and battle of Fihl, the greater part of
the province of the Jordan fell rapidly under the arms of Amru and
Shorahbîl. In Palestine proper, with Egypt in its rear, and Cæsarea
open to reinforcements by sea, the Roman power remained, for some time
longer, unbroken. The province was heavily garrisoned at Gaza, Ramleh,
Jerusalem, and other places. The Patrician Artabûn, commanding in
Palestine, divided his army into two parts. One guarded Jerusalem. With
the other, taking his stand at Ajnadein, some distance to the west,
he sought to hold the invaders advancing from Beisân, in check. This
foolhardy general is said to have invited Amru to a conference, having
laid an ambush by the way to slay him.[322] But he was outwitted by the
wily Arab, and, before long, found himself cut off all round from his
communications with Cæsarea, Jerusalem, and Ramleh. [Sidenote: Battle
of Ajnadein. A.H. XV. Spring, A.D. 636.] Amru then attacked the Roman
army; and a heavy and decisive engagement took place at Ajnadein. Of
its details we know little, for we are simply told that ‘the battle of
Ajnadein was fierce and bloody as the battle of Wacûsa.’ After great
slaughter, Artabûn was driven back upon Jerusalem. Amru encamped on
the battle-field, and the way was now clear to the Holy City. But he
took the precaution first to secure his rear, still bristling with
posts and garrisons. One after another--Gaza, Sebastia, Nablûs, Lydda,
Beit-Jibrîn, and Joppa--either fell before his arms, or, without a
blow, submitted to the Moslem yoke. Jerusalem and Ramleh alone held
out.[323]
[Sidenote: Capitulation of Jerusalem. A.H. XV. End of A.D. 636.]
Towards Jerusalem, a city surrounded by associations almost as sacred
as those of Mecca itself, Amru first directed his steps. On his
approach, Artabûn, dispirited by his late defeat, and unwilling to risk
the now desperate issue of a siege, retired with his army to Egypt. The
Patriarch, upon this, sued for peace. But one condition he made, that
Omar should come himself to the Holy City, and there, in person, settle
the capitulation.[324] The Caliph, nothing loth, braved the objections
of those about him, and at once set out for Syria.[325] Taking
the beaten track before described, he journeyed direct for Jâbia.
[Sidenote: Omar journeys to Jâbia;]It was a memorable occasion, being
the first progress of a Caliph beyond the limits of Arabia. Abu Obeida,
Yezîd, and Khâlid, came from the north in state, to welcome him. A
brilliant cavalcade, robed in Syrian brocade, and mounted on steeds
richly caparisoned, they rode forth as he approached. At the sight of
all their finery, Omar’s spirit was stirred within him. He stooped
down, and, gathering a handful of gravel, flung it at the astonished
chiefs. ‘Avaunt!’ he cried; ‘is it thus attired that ye come out to
meet me? All changed thus in the space of two short years! Verily,
had it been after two hundred, ye would have deserved to be degraded.’
‘Commander of the Faithful!’ they replied; ‘this that thou seest is but
the outside; beneath it (and they drew aside their robes) behold our
armour.’ ‘Enough,’ answered Omar, still much displeased; ‘go forward.’
So they fell in with his party, and alighted at Jâbia. Shortly after,
the camp was startled by the appearance of a troop of strange horse. It
was a deputation from Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.[326] Terms of
capitulation were soon agreed to, and the treaty, duly witnessed, was
carried by the visitors back to their master; whereupon the gates of
Jerusalem, and of Ramleh also, were thrown open to the Moslem leaders.
Amru and Shorahbîl, thus relieved from further opposition, left their
troops and presented themselves at Jâbia. Omar rode forth to meet them;
and they kissed his stirrup, while he, dismounting, affectionately
embraced them both.
[Sidenote: and visits Jerusalem.]
Dismissing the other generals to their respective commands, the Caliph,
carrying with him Amru and Shorahbîl, resumed his journey westward,
and, crossing the Jordan below the Lake of Tiberias, proceeded thus
to Jerusalem. They gave him a palfrey to ride on, which pranced with
jingling bells after the fashion of Syria. He disliked the motion.
‘What aileth the animal?’ he said; ‘I know not who hath taught thee
this strange gait.’ So he dismounted and rode upon his own horse
again.[327] Arrived at Jerusalem, the Caliph received the Patriarch
and citizens with kindness and condescension. He granted them the same
privileges as to the most favoured cities; imposed on the inhabitants
an easy tribute, and confirmed them in possession of all their
shrines and churches. Jerusalem was to the Moslem an object of intense
veneration, not only as the cradle of Judaism and Christianity, but
as the first _Kibla_ of Islam itself--that is, the sacred spot
to which the Faithful turn in prayer; and also as the place visited
by the Prophet on his mysterious journey by night to heaven.[328] At
the crest of the sacred mount there is a stony projection, which the
tradition of the day had marked as Jacob’s pillow. The fond imagination
of the Moslems has fixed upon this as the very point in the ‘Farther
Temple,’ from which the winged steed mounted by Mahomet took its upward
flight; and in a depression of the rock the eye, or the hand, of faith
still traces the outline of the Prophet’s foot imprinted there as he
sprang into his airy saddle. It was close to this that Omar laid the
foundation of the Mosque which, to this day, bears his name.[329]
[Sidenote: Christian tradition regarding Omar’s visit to Jerusalem.]
Mahometan tradition gives no further detail respecting this memorable
visit. But we are told by Christian writers that Omar accompanied
Sophronius over the city, visited the Jerusalem, various places
of pilgrimage, and graciously inquired into their history. As the
appointed hour came round, the Patriarch bade the Caliph to perform his
orisons on the spot where they chanced to be, namely, the Church of the
Resurrection. But he declined to pray either there or in the Church
of Constantine, where a carpet had been spread for him--alleging, as
the reason, that if he were to pray there, his followers would deem it
their duty to oust the Christians and take possession of the church for
ever afterwards, as a place where Moslem prayer had once been offered
up. He also visited Bethlehem. There, having prayed in the Church
of the Nativity, he gave nevertheless a rescript to the Patriarch
who accompanied him on the pious errand, securing the Christians in
possession of the building, with the condition that not more than one
Mussulman should ever enter at a time; but the stipulation, we are
told, was disregarded, and a Mosque was eventually erected there, as
well as on the site of the porch of the Church of Constantine.[330]
[Sidenote: Omar returns to Medîna.]
Whatever truth there may be in these traditions, Omar did not prolong
his visit to Jerusalem or its environs. Having settled the matter for
which he came, he proceeded to divide Palestine into two provinces; one
of which he assigned to the government of Jerusalem, and the other to
that of Ramleh. He then returned by the way that he came to Medîna.[331]
[Sidenote: Causes which facilitated the conquest of Syria.]
Thus was Syria, from the farthest north to the border of Egypt,
within the space of three years, lost to Christendom. One reflects
with wonder at the feeble resistance offered by the Byzantine power,
both military and naval, and by its many strongholds of antiquity and
renown, to this sudden inroad. The affinities of the Syrian Bedouins
to the Arabian nation facilitated no doubt the conquest. There was
also an element of weakness in the settled population; for luxurious
living had demoralised the effeminate race and rendered it unable to
resist the onset of the wild and fanatic invaders. Still worse, they
had no heart to fight. What patriotic vigour might have still survived,
was lost in religious strife. Sects rejoiced each in the humiliation
of the other; and, as is usual in such controversies, the finer the
distinction, the more inveterate the hatred thereby engendered. Loyalty
was thus smothered by bitter jealousies, and there are not wanting
instances even of active assistance rendered to the enemy.[332] There
may have been among some, even a sense of relief in the equal though
contemptuous licence given, by the toleration or haughty indifference
of the conquerors, to all alike. But there was a still deeper cause,
and that was the growing decrepitude of the Roman empire. No vigour
remained to drive back the shock of barbarian invaders. And while
northern hordes could by degrees amalgamate with the nations which they
overran, the exclusive faith and the intolerant teaching of Islam kept
the Arabs a race distinct and dominant.
[Sidenote: The Arabs did not settle in Syria to the same extent as in
Chaldæa.]
The conquerors did not spread themselves abroad in Syria, as in
Chaldæa. They founded no such Arabian towns and military settlements
as Bussorah and Kûfa. The country and climate were less congenial,
and the beautiful scenery, of the land of brooks of water and depths
springing out of valleys and hills, the land of vines and fig-trees
and pomegranates, the land of oil-olive and honey, offered fewer
attractions to the Arabian races than the heated sandy plains of the
Tigris and Euphrates, with their desert garb of tamarisk and groves
of the familiar date. They came to Syria as conquerors; and, as
conquerors, they settled largely, particularly the southern tribes, in
Damascus, Hims, and other centres of administration. But the body of
the native Syrians remained after the conquest substantially the same
as before; and through long centuries of degradation they clung, as to
some extent they still cling, to their ancestral faith.
[Sidenote: Humiliation of Jews and Christians.]
We read in later days of the _Ordinance of Omar_, to regulate the
conditions of Christian communities throughout Islam. But it would be
a libel on that tolerant Ruler to credit him with the greater part of
these observances. It is true that the stamp of inferiority--according
to the Divine injunction, _Fight against the people of the Book, Jews
and Christians, until they pay tribute with their hands and
are humbled_[333]--was branded upon them from the first; but the
worst disabilities of that intolerant Ordinance were not imposed till
a later period. Introduced by degrees, these gradually became, through
practice and precedent, the law of the land. At the first the exactions
of the conquerors, besides the universal tribute, were limited to
the demand of a yearly supply of oil-olive and other food, and the
obligation to entertain Moslem travellers on their journey for three
days at a time. But when the Caliphate was established at Damascus,
its pomp and pride could no longer brook the semblance even of social
equality, and hence the badge of an inferior race must be shown at
every step. The dress of both sexes and of their slaves must be
distinguished by broad stripes of yellow. They were forbidden to appear
on horseback; and if they rode on mule or ass, their stirrups must be
of wood, and the saddle known by knobs of the same material. Their
graves must be level with the ground, and the mark of the devil placed
on the lintel of their doors. Their children must be taught by Moslem
masters; and the race, however able or well qualified, was proscribed
from aspiring to any office of high emolument or trust. Besides the
existing churches spared at the conquest, no new building must be
erected for the purposes of worship; free entry into all their holy
places must be allowed at the pleasure of the Moslem; no cross must
remain in view outside, nor any church bells rung. They must refrain
from processions in the street at Easter and other solemn seasons;
and in short from anything, whether by outward symbol, word, or deed,
in rivalry or derogation of the royal faith. Such was the so-called
_Code of Omar_.[334] Enforced with less or greater stringency
in different lands and under different dynasties, it was, and still
remains, the law of Islam. One must admire the rare tenacity of the
subject faith, which, with but scanty light and hope, held its ground
through weary ages of insult and depression, and still survives to see,
as we now may hope, the dawning of a brighter day.
[Sidenote: The East cut off from the West.]
I have spoken of the loss of Syria as the dismemberment of a limb
from the Byzantine empire. In one respect it was something more. For
their own safety, the Romans dismantled a broad belt of country on
the borders of the now barbarian Syria. The towns and fortresses were
razed, and the inhabitants withdrawn. And so the neutral zone became
a barrier against travel to and fro. For all ordinary communication,
whether social, religious, or commercial, the road was closed. The East
was severed from the West.
[Sidenote: Silence of Byzantine historians.]
‘The abomination of desolation’ wept over by Sophronius stood in the
Holy Place. The cradle of Christianity, Zion the joy of the whole
earth, was trodden under foot, and utterly cut off from the sight of
its votaries. And all is told by the Byzantine writers in a few short
lines. The pen of the Christian annalist might well refuse to write the
story of cowardice and shame.