prisoners whom Jabalah Ebn Al Ayham had taken. Now it happened that
Mahan desired Abu Obeidah to send one of his officers to him for a
conference. This being complied with, Kaled proffered his services, and
being accepted by Abu Obeidah, by his advice he took along with him a
hundred men, chosen out of the best soldiers in the army. Being met and
examined by the out-guards, the chief of whom was Jabalah Ebn Al Ayham,
they were ordered to wait till the general's pleasure should be known.
Mahan would have had Kaled come to him alone and leave his men behind
him. But as Kaled refused to hear of this, they were commanded as soon
as they came near the general's tent to alight from their horses and
deliver their swords; and when they would not submit to this either,
they were at last permitted to enter as they pleased. They found Mahan
sitting upon a throne, and seats prepared for themselves. But they
refused to make use of them, and, removing them, sat down upon the
ground. Mahan asked them the reason of their doing so, and taxed them
with want of breeding. To which Kaled answered that that was the best
breeding which was from God, and what God has prepared for us to sit
down upon is purer than your tapestries, defending their practice from a
sentence of their prophet Mahomet, backed with this text of the _Koran_,
"Out of it [meaning the earth] we have created you, and to it we shall
return you, and out of it we shall bring you another time." Mahan began
then to expostulate with Kaled concerning their coming into Syria, and
all those hostilities which they had committed there. Mahan seemed
satisfied with Kaled's way of talking, and said that he had before that
time entertained a quite different opinion of the Arabs, having been
informed that they were a foolish, ignorant people. Kaled confessed that
that was the condition of most of them till God sent their prophet
Mahomet to lead them into the right way, and teach them to distinguish
good from evil, and truth from error. During this conference they would
argue very coolly for a while, and then again fly into a violent
passion. At last it happened that Kaled told Mahan that he should one
day see him led with a rope about his neck to Omar to be beheaded. Upon
this Mahan told him that the received law of all nations secured
ambassadors from violence, which he supposed had encouraged him to take
that indecent freedom; however, he was resolved to chastise his
insolence in the persons of his friends, the five prisoners, who should
instantly be beheaded. At this threat Kaled, bidding Mahan attend to
what he was about to say, swore by God, by Mahomet, and the holy temple
of Mecca, that if he killed them he should die by his hands, and that
every Saracen present should kill his man, be the consequences what they
might, and immediately rose from his place and drew his sword. The same
was done by the rest of the Saracens. But when Mahan told him that he
would not meddle with him for the aforesaid reasons, they sheathed their
swords and talked calmly again. And then Mahan made Kaled a present of
the prisoners, and begged of him his scarlet tent, which Kaled had
brought with him, and pitched hard by. Kaled freely gave it him, and
refused to take anything in return (though Mahan gave him his choice of
whatever he liked best), thinking his own gift abundantly repaid by the
liberation of the prisoners.
Both sides now prepared for that fight which was to determine the fate
of Syria. The particulars are too tedious to be related, for they
continued fighting for several days. Abu Obeidah resigned the whole
command of the army to Kaled, standing himself in the rear, under the
yellow flag which Abu-Bekr had given him at his first setting forth into
Syria, being the same which Mahomet himself had fought under at the
battle of Khaibar. Kaled judged this the most proper place for Abu
Obeidah, not only because he was no extraordinary soldier, but because
he hoped that the reverence for him would prevent the flight of the
Saracens, who were now like to be as hard put to it as at any time since
they first bore arms. For the same reason the women were placed in the
rear. The Greeks charged so courageously and with such vast numbers that
the right wing of the Saracen horse was quite borne down and cut off
from the main body of the army. But no sooner did they turn their backs
than they were attacked by the women, who used them so ill and loaded
them with such plenty of reproaches that they were glad to return every
man to his post, and chose rather to face the enemy than endure the
storm of the women. However, they with much difficulty bore up, and were
so hard pressed by the Greeks that occasionally they were fain to forget
what their generals had said a little before the fight, who told them
that paradise was before them and the devil and hell-fire behind them.
Even Abu Sofian, who had himself used that very expression, was forced
to retreat, and was received by one of the women with a hearty blow over
the face with a tent-pole. Night at last parted the two armies at the
very time when the victory began to incline to the Saracens, who had
been thrice beaten back, and as often forced to return by the women.
Then Abu Obeidah said at once those prayers which belonged to two
several hours. His reason for this was, I suppose, a wish that his men,
of whom he was very tender, should have the more time to rest.
Accordingly, walking about the camp he looked after the wounded men,
oftentimes binding up their wounds with his own hands, telling them that
their enemies suffered the same pain that they did, but had not that
reward to expect from God which they had.
Among other single combats, of which several were fought between the two
armies, it chanced that Serjabil Ebn Shahhnah was engaged with an
officer of the Christians, who was much too strong for him. The reason
which our author assigns for this is, because Serjabil was wholly given
up to watching and fasting. Derar, thinking he ought not to stand still
and see the prophet's secretary killed, drew his dagger, and while the
combatants were over head and ears in dust, came behind the Christian
and stabbed him to the heart. The Saracens gave Derar thanks for his
service, but he said that he would receive no thanks but from God alone.
Upon this a dispute arose between Serjabil and Derar concerning the
spoil of this officer. Derar claimed it as being the person that killed
him; Serjabil as having engaged him and tired him out first. The matter
being referred to Abu Obeidah, he proposed the case to the Caliph,
concealing the names of the persons concerned, who sent him word that
the spoil of any enemy was due to him that killed him. Upon which Abu
Obeidah took it from Serjabil and adjudged it to Derar.
Another day the Christian archers did such execution that besides those
Saracens which were killed and wounded in other parts there were seven
hundred which lost each of them one or both of their eyes, upon which
account the day in which that battle was fought is called Yaumo'ttewir,
"The Day of Blinding." And if any of those who lost their eyes that day
were afterward asked by what mischance he was blinded, he would answer
that it was not a mischance, but a token of favor from God, for they
gloried as much in those wounds they received in the defence of their
superstition as our enthusiasts do in what they call persecution, and
with much the same reason. Abdallah Ebn Kort, who was present in all the
wars in Syria, says that he never saw so hard a battle as that which was
fought on that day at Yermouk; and though the generals fought most
desperately, yet after all they would have been beaten if the fight had
not been renewed by the women. Caulah, Derar's sister, being wounded,
fell down; but Opheirah revenged her quarrel and struck off the man's
head that did it. Upon Opheirah asking her how she did, she answered,
"Very well with God, but a dying woman." However, she proved to be
mistaken, for in the evening she was able to walk about as if nothing
had happened, and to look after the wounded men.
In the night the Greeks had another calamity added to their misfortune
of losing the victory in the day. It was drawn upon them by their own
inhuman barbarity. There was at Yermouk a gentleman of a very ample
fortune, who had removed thither from Hems for the sake of the sweet
salubrity of its air. When Mahan's army came to Yermouk this gentleman
used to entertain the officers and treat them nobly. To requite him for
his courtesy, while they were this day revelling at his house, they bade
him bring out his wife to them, and upon his refusing they took her by
force and abused her all night, and to aggravate their barbarity they
seized his little son and cut his head off. The poor lady took her
child's head and carried it to Mahan, and having given him an account of
the outrages committed by his officers, demanded satisfaction. He took
but little notice of the affair, and put her off with a slight answer;
upon which her husband, resolved to take the first opportunity of being
revenged, went privately over to the Saracens and acquainted them with
his design. Returning back to the Greeks, he told them it was in his
power to do them singular service. He therefore takes a great number of
them, and brings them to a great stream, which was very deep, and only
fordable at one place. By his instructions five hundred of the Saracen
horse had crossed over where the water was shallow, and after attacking
the Greeks, in a very little time returned in excellent order by the
same way they came. The injured gentleman calls out and encourages the
Greeks to pursue, who, not at all acquainted with the place, plunged
into the water confusedly and perished in great numbers. In the
subsequent engagements before Yermouk (all of which were in November,
636), the Christians invariably were defeated, till at last, Mahan's
vast army being broken and dispersed, he was forced to flee, thus
leaving the Saracens masters of the field, and wholly delivered from
those terrible apprehensions with which the news of his great
preparations had filled them.
A short time after Abu Obeidah wrote to the Caliph the following letter:
"In the name of the most merciful God, etc.
"This is to acquaint thee that I encamped at Yermouk, where Mahan
was near us with such an army as that the Mussulmans never beheld
a greater. But God, of his abundant grace and goodness, overthrew
this multitude and gave us the victory over them. We killed of them
about a hundred and fifty thousand, and took forty thousand
prisoners. Of the Mussulmans were killed four thousand and thirty,
to whom God had decreed the honor of martyrdom. Finding some heads
cut off, and not knowing whether they belonged to the Mussulmans or
Christians, I prayed over them and buried them. Mahan was afterward
killed at Damascus by Nooman Ebn Alkamah. There was one Abu Joaid
that before the battle had belonged to them, having come from Hems;
he drowned of them a great number unknown to any but God. As for
those that fled into the deserts and mountains, we have destroyed
them all, and stopped all the roads and passages, and God has made
us masters of their country, and wealth, and children. Written
after the victory from Damascus, where I stay expecting thy orders
concerning the division of the spoil. Fare thee well, and the mercy
and blessing of God be upon thee and all the Mussulmans."
Omar, in a short letter, expressed his satisfaction, and gave the
Saracens thanks for their perseverance and diligence, commanding Abu
Obeidah to continue where he was till further orders. As Omar had
mentioned nothing concerning the spoil, Abu Obeidah regarded it as left
to his own discretion and divided it without waiting for fresh
instructions. To a horseman he gave thrice as much as to a footman, and
made a further difference between those horses which were of the right
Arabian breed (which they looked upon to be far the best) and those that
were not, allowing twice as much to the former as to the latter. And
when they were not satisfied with this distribution, Abu Obeidah told
them that the prophet had done the same after the battle of Khaibar;
which, upon appeal made to Omar, was by him confirmed. Zobeir had at the
battle of Yermouk two horses, which he used to ride by turns. He
received five lots, three for himself and two for his horses. If any
slaves had run away from their masters before the battle, and were
afterward retaken, they were restored to their masters, who nevertheless
received an equal share of the spoil with the rest.
The Saracens having rested a month at Damascus, and refreshed
themselves, Abu Obeidah sent to Omar to know whether he should go to
Cæsarea or Jerusalem. Ali being present when Omar was deliberating,
said, to Jerusalem first, adding that he had heard the prophet say as
much. This city they had a great longing after, as being the seat and
burying place of a great many of the ancient prophets, in whom they
reckoned none to have so deep an interest as themselves. Abu Obeidah
having received orders to besiege it, sent Yezid Ebn Abu Sofian thither
first with five thousand men; and for five days together sent after him
considerable numbers of men under his most experienced and trustworthy
officers. The Ierosolymites expressed no signs of fear, nor would they
vouchsafe so much as to send out a messenger to parley; but, planting
their engines upon the walls, made preparation for a vigorous defence.
Yezid at last went near the walls with an interpreter, to know their
minds, and to propose the usual terms. When these were rejected, the
Saracens would willingly have assaulted the town forthwith, had not
Yezid told them that the general had not commanded them to make any
assault, but only to sit down before the city; and thereupon sent to Abu
Obeidah, who forthwith gave them order to fight. The next morning the
generals having said the morning prayer, each at the head of his
respective division, they all, as it were with one consent, quoted this
versicle out of the _Koran_, as being very apposite and pertinent to
their present purpose: "O people! enter ye into the holy land which God
hath decreed for you," being the twenty-fourth verse of the fifth
chapter of the _Koran_, where the impostor introduces Moses speaking to
the children of Israel, and which words the Saracens dexterously
interpreted as belonging no less to themselves than to their
predecessors, the Israelites. Nor have our own parts of the world been
altogether destitute of such able expositors, who apply to themselves,
without limitation or exception, whatever in Scripture is graciously
expressed in favor of the people of God; while whatever is said of the
wicked and ungodly, and of all the terrors and judgments denounced
against them, they bestow with a liberal hand upon their neighbors.
After their prayers were over, the Saracens began their assault. The
Ierosolymites never flinched, but sent them showers of arrows from the
walls, and maintained the fight with undaunted courage till the
evening. Thus they continued fighting ten days, and on the eleventh Abu
Obeidah came up with the remainder of the army. He had not been there
long before he sent the besieged the following letter:
"In the name of the most merciful God.
"From Abu Obeidah Ebn Aljerahh, to the chief commanders of the
people of Ælia and the inhabitants thereof, health and happiness to
everyone that follows the right way and believes in God and the
apostle. We require of you to testify that there is but one God,
and Mahomet is his apostle, and that there shall be a day of
judgment, when God shall raise the dead out of their sepulchres;
and when you have borne witness to this, it is unlawful for us
either to shed your blood or meddle with your sustenance or
children. If you refuse this, consent to pay tribute and be under
us forthwith; otherwise I shall bring men against you who love
death better than you do the drinking of wine, or eating hogs'
flesh: nor will I ever stir from you, if it please God, till I have
destroyed those that fight for you and made slaves of your
children."
The eating swine's flesh and drinking wine are both forbidden in the
_Koran_, which occasioned that reflection of Abu Obeidah upon the
practice of the Christians. The besieged, not a whit daunted, held out
four whole months entire, during all which time not one day passed
without fighting; and it being winter time, the Saracens suffered a
great deal of hardships through the extremity of the weather. At last,
when the besieged had well considered the obstinacy of the Saracens;
who, they had good reason to believe, would never raise the siege till
they had taken the city, whatever time it took up or whatever pains it
might cost them, Sophronius the patriarch went to the wall, and by an
interpreter discoursed with Abu Obeidah, telling him that Jerusalem was
the holy city, and whoever came into the Holy Land with any hostile
intent would render himself obnoxious to the divine displeasure. To
which Abu Obeidah answered: "We know that it is a noble city, and that
our prophet Mahomet went from it in one night to heaven, and approached
within two bows' shot of his Lord, or nearer; and that it is the mine
of the prophets, and their sepulchres are in it. But we are more worthy
to have possession of it than you are; neither will we leave besieging
it till God delivers it up to us, as he hath done other places before
it." At last the patriarch consented that the city should be surrendered
upon condition that the inhabitants received the articles of their
security and protection from the Caliph's own hands, and not by proxy.
Accordingly, Abu Obeidah wrote to Omar to come, whereupon he advised
with his friends. Othman, who afterward succeeded him in the government,
dissuaded him from going, in order that the Ierosolymites might see that
they were despised and beneath his notice. Ali was of a very different
opinion, urging that the Mussulmans had endured great hardship in so
long a siege, and suffered much from the extremity of the cold; that the
presence of the Caliph would be a great refreshment and encouragement to
them, and adding that the great respect which the Christians had for
Jerusalem, as being the place to which they went on pilgrimage, ought to
be considered; that it ought not to be supposed that they would easily
part with it, but that it would soon be reinforced with fresh supplies.
This advice of Ali being preferred to Othman's, the Caliph resolved upon
his journey; which, according to his frugal style of living, required no
great expense or equipage. When he had said his prayers in the mosque
and paid his respects at Mahomet's tomb, he appointed Ali his
substitute, and set forward with a small retinue, the greatest part of
which, having kept him company a little way, returned back to Medina.
Omar, having all the way he went set things aright that were amiss, and
distributed justice impartially, for which he was singularly eminent
among the Saracens, came at last into the confines of Syria; and when he
drew near Jerusalem he was met by Abu Obeidah, and conducted to the
Saracen camp, where he was welcomed with the liveliest demonstrations of
joy.
As soon as he came within sight of the city he cried out, "Allah acbar
[O God], give us an easy conquest." Pitching his tent, which was made of
hair, he sat down in it upon the ground. The Christians hearing that
Omar was come, from whose hands they were to receive their articles,
desired to confer with him personally; upon which the Mussulmans would
have persuaded him not to expose his person for fear of some treachery.
But Omar resolutely answered, in the words of the _Koran_: "Say, 'There
shall nothing befall us but what God hath decreed for us; he is our
Lord, and in God let all the believers put their trust.'" After a brief
parley the besieged capitulated, and those articles of agreement made by
Omar with the Ierosolymites are, as it were, the pattern which the
Mahometan princes have chiefly imitated.
The articles were these: "1. The Christians shall build no new churches,
either in the city or the adjacent territory. 2. They shall not refuse
the Mussulmans entrance into their churches, either by night or day. 3.
They should set open the doors of them to all passengers and travellers.
4. If any Mussulman should be upon a journey, they shall be obliged to
entertain him gratis for the space of three days. 5. They should not
teach their children the _Koran_, nor talk openly of their religion, nor
persuade anyone to be of it; neither should they hinder any of their
relations from becoming Mahometans, if they had an inclination to it. 6.
They shall pay respect to the Mussulmans, and if they were sitting rise
up to them. 7. They should not go like the Mussulmans in their dress,
nor wear the same caps, shoes, nor turbans, nor part their hair as they
do, nor speak after the same manner, nor be called by the names used by
the Mussulmans. 8. They shall not ride upon saddles, nor bear any sort
of arms, nor use the Arabic tongue in the inscriptions of their seals.
9. They shall not sell any wine. 10. They shall be obliged to keep to
the same sort of habit wheresoever they went, and always wear girdles
upon their waists. 11. They shall set no crosses upon their churches,
nor show their crosses nor their books openly in the streets of the
Mussulmans. 12. They shall not ring, but only toll their bells; nor
shall they take any servant that had once belonged to the Mussulmans.
13. They shall not overlook the Mussulmans in their houses: and some say
that Omar commanded the inhabitants of Jerusalem to have the foreparts
of their heads shaved, and obliged them to ride upon their pannels
sideways, and not like the Mussulmans."
Upon these terms the Christians had liberty of conscience, paying such
tribute as their masters thought fit to impose upon them; and
Jerusalem, once the glory of the East, was forced to submit to a heavier
yoke than ever it had borne before. For though the number of the slain
and the calamities of the besieged were greater when it was taken by the
Romans, yet the servitude of those that survived was nothing comparable
to this, either in respect of the circumstances or the duration. For
however it might seem to be utterly ruined and destroyed by Titus, yet
by Hadrian's time it had greatly recovered itself. Now it fell, as it
were, once for all, into the hands of the most mortal enemies of the
Christian religion, and has continued so ever since, with the exception
of a brief interval of about ninety years, during which it was held by
the Christians in the holy war.
The Christians having submitted on these terms, Omar gave them the
following writing under his hand:
"In the name of the most merciful God.
"From Omar Ebn Al Khattab, to the inhabitants of Ælia. They shall
be protected and secured both in their lives and fortunes, and
their churches shall neither be pulled down nor made use of by any
but themselves."