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| Muslim conquest of the Levant | |||||||||
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| Part of theArab–Byzantine wars | |||||||||
 Scene of theRoman Theatre at Palmyra, 2005 | |||||||||
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| Rashidun Caliphate | Byzantine Empire Ghassanids Tanukhids Banu Judham Banu Lakhm | ||||||||
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TheMuslim conquest of the Levant (Arabic:فَتْحُ الشَّام,romanized: Fatḥ al-šām;lit. 'Conquest of Syria'), orArab conquest of Syria,[1] was a 634–638 CE conquest ofByzantine Syria by theRashidun Caliphate.
A part of the widerArab–Byzantine wars, theLevant was brought underArab Muslim rule and developed into the provincial region ofBilad al-Sham. Clashes between the Arabs and Byzantines on the southern Levantine borders of theByzantine Empire had occurred during the lifetime ofMuhammad, with theBattle of Muʿtah in 629 CE. However, the actual conquest did not begin until 634, two years after Muhammad's death. It was led by the first twoRashidun caliphs who succeeded Muhammad:Abu Bakr andUmar ibn al-Khattab. During this time,Khalid ibn al-Walid was the most important leader of theRashidun army.
Syria had been under Roman rule for seven centuries prior to the Arab Muslim conquest and had been invaded by theSassanid Persians on a number of occasions during the 3rd, 6th and 7th centuries; it had also been subject to raids by the Sassanids' Arab allies, theLakhmids.[2] During theRoman period, beginning after thefall of Jerusalem in the year 70, the entire region (Judea,Samaria, and theGalilee) was renamedPalaestina, subdivided into Diocese I and II.[3] The Romans also renamed an area of land including theNegev,Sinai, and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula asPalaestina Salutaris, sometimes calledPalaestina III orPalaestina Tertia.[3] Part of the area was ruled by the Arab vassal state of theGhassanids'symmachos.[4]
During thelast of theRoman-Persian Wars, beginning in 603, thePersians underKhosrau II had succeeded in occupying Syria,Palestine andEgypt for over a decade before being forced by the victories ofHeraclius to conclude the peace of 628.[5] Thus, on the eve of the Muslim conquests the Romans (orByzantines as modern Western historians conventionally refer to Romans of this period) 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.[5] Politically, the Syrian region consisted of two provinces: Syria proper stretched fromAntioch andAleppo in the north to the top of theDead Sea. To the west and south of the Dead Sea lay the province ofPalestine.
Syria was mostly made up ofAramaic andGreek speakers with a partly Arab population, especially in its eastern and southern parts. TheArabs of Syria were people of no consequence until the migration of the powerfulGhassanid tribe fromYemen to Syria, who converted toChristianity and thereafter ruled a semi-autonomous state with their own king under Roman vassalage. The Ghassanid Dynasty became one of the honoured princely dynasties of the Empire, with the Ghassanid king ruling over the Arabs inJordan and Southern Syria from his capital atBostra. The last of the Ghassanid kings, who ruled at the time of the Muslim invasion, wasJabalah ibn al-Aiham.
The Byzantine EmperorHeraclius, after re-capturing Syria from theSassanians, set up new defense lines fromGaza to the south end of the Dead Sea. These lines were only designed to protect communications from bandits, and the bulk of the Byzantine defenses were concentrated in Northern Syria facing the traditional foes, the Sassanid Persians. The drawback of this defense line was that it enabled theMuslims, advancing from the desert in the south, to reach as far north as Gaza before meeting regular Byzantine troops.
The 7th century was a time of rapid military change in the Byzantine Empire. The empire was certainly not in a state of collapse when it faced the new challenge fromArabia after being exhausted by recentRoman–Persian Wars, but utterly failed to tackle the challenge effectively.[6]
Military confrontations with theByzantine Empire began during the lifetime ofMuhammad. TheBattle of Mu'tah was fought in September 629 near the village ofMu'tah, east of theJordan River andKarak inKarak Governorate, between the forces of theIslamic prophetMuhammad andthe forces of theByzantine Empire and theirArab ChristianGhassanid vassals. In Islamic historical sources, the battle is usually described as theMuslims' attempt to take retribution against theGhassanids after a Ghassanid official executed Muhammad's emissary who was en route toBosra.[7] During the battle the Muslim army was routed.[8][9] After three Muslim leaders were killed, the command was given toKhalid ibn al-Walid and he succeeded in saving the rest of the forces.[8] The surviving Muslim forces retreated toMedina.
After theFarewell Pilgrimage in 632,Muhammad appointedUsama ibn Zayd as the commander of an expeditionary force which was to invade the region ofBalqa in theByzantine Empire. This expedition was known as theExpedition of Usama bin Zayd and its stated aim was to avenge the Muslim losses at theBattle of Mu'tah, in which Usama's father and Muhammad's former adopted son,Zayd ibn Harithah, had been killed.[10] Usama's expedition in May/June 632 was successful and his army was the first Muslim force to successfully invade and raid Byzantine territory.
Muhammad died in June 632, andAbu Bakr was appointedCaliph and political successor atMedina. Soon afterAbu Bakr's succession, several Arab tribes revolted against him in theRidda wars (Arabic for the Wars of Apostasy). The Campaign of the Apostasy was fought and completed during the eleventh year of the Hijri. The year 12 Hijri dawned, on 18 March 633, with Arabia united under the central authority of the Caliph at Medina.
Whether Abu Bakr intended a full-out imperial conquest or not 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 thelargest empires in history, starting with a confrontation with thePersian Empire under the generalKhalid ibn al-Walid.
Despite the often contradictory early Islamic narratives of the conquest, the historianFred Donner deemed it "possible to reconstruct the broad outlines" of the war.[11] The course of the conquest is generally divided into three main phases.[b]
With the tribes of Arabia brought under Medina's control during the Ridda wars, Abu Bakr prepared and dispatched armies for the conquest of Byzantine Syria. The first of these armies was probably that ofKhalid ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, an early companion of Muhammad. He was shortly after dismissed at the instigation of Umar for having opposed Abu Bakr's succession, with one set of early Muslim accounts placing this dismissal before his departure from Medina and the other once he reached theTayma oasis on the approaches to Syria. At Tayma, he was supposedly reinforced with troops led by the commanderal-Walid ibn Uqba, engaged with Arab allies of the Byzantines, and was defeated.[13]
In theIslamic calendar date of Rajab 12 AH (September 633) or the beginning of 13 AH (Spring 634), Abu Bakr dispatched three or four armies to Syria led respectively byAmr ibn al-As,Shurahbil ibn Hasana,Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, andAbu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, all of whom were companions of Muhammad and the first two veterans of the Ridda wars. The timing and order of each commander's deployment and whether they were independent of each other or if any held the high command at this stage is not clear.[14] Each army took a separate route toward Syria. Amr embarked on the coastal road toAyla before breaking northwest into theNegev Desert and towardGaza.[15][16] The other commanders took the road throughTabuk, with Shurahbil stopping in the area east of theArabah Valley, Yazid terminating in theBalqa region east of theDead Sea, and Abu Ubayda taking up position in theGolan Heights area.[15]
According to narrative of the 8th-century historianal-Azdi, Abu Bakr instructed Yazid with ethical and operational instructions:
When you meet the enemy, and God leads you to victory, do not manacle, mutilate, maim, or betray, and do not accuse [the defeated] of cowardice. Do not, you all, kill children, old men, or women; do not burn palm trees or uproot them; do not cut down fruitful trees; and do not slaughter cattle except for eating [them]. You will pass by people in their hermitages who claim to have secluded themselves for [worshipping] God; leave them to what they have secluded themselves for. You will also find others in the middle of whose heads Satan has taken up abode, as if the middles of their heads were the sand grouses' nests(afahīs al-qatā). Strike the nests which they have hollowed in their heads with swords until they turn repentantly to Islam, or until they bring tribute by hand and with humility. God will certainly support those who support Him and His Messengers in absentia(bi-al-ghayb).[17][18]
The authenticity of these instructions has been questioned by modern scholars. James Moreton Wackeley characterises it as a literary construct intended to idealise early Muslim leadership,[19] whileAlbrecht Noth interprets such speeches as part of a wider tradition in which later transmitters reworked existing material to promote moral and legal norms, retroactively ascribing it to prominent early figures to strengthen its authority.[20] Such interpretations are situated within a broader secular academic discourse that applies historical-critical methods to the Islamic tradition.[21]
The first encounter between the Muslims and Byzantines occurred atDathin and Badan, near Gaza, where negotiations between Amr and the local Byzantine garrison commander broke down and gave way to a skirmish ending with Amr's defeat of the local garrison.[16][22] While of minor consequence, news of the Arabs' victory at Dathin alerted the Byzantines to the entry of Muslim forces into Syria.[16] Amr afterward set up headquarters atGhamr al-Arabat, a location in the middle of the Arabah Valley. Credible details of the other commanders' activities is sparse, but a lieutenant of Abu Ubayda may have gained the surrender of a town called Ma'ab in the Balqa, Yazid may have succeeded against a Byzantine force in a minor clash in Palestine and Shurahbil oversaw activity against the pro-ByzantineQuda'a tribal group in his area of operations.[23]
Donner concludes that the operations in this phase of the Muslim campaigns, where urban centers and major agricultural areas were avoided, targeted the territories inhabited by nomadic and partly settled Arab tribes.[23] Kennedy comments that at this point, "the Muslim attacks on Syria had amounted to little more than pinpricks along the frontiers".[24] The goal of the Muslim state was probably to continue the process of subjugating all Arab tribes, which Medina had consistently viewed as posing threats to its power. Once the bulk of the tribes were under Muslim control, the Muslims could launch the major assaults against Syria's main armies and cities.[23]
In the spring of 634, the prominent veteran commander of the Ridda warsKhalid ibn al-Walid was directed by Abu Bakr to leave his campaigning in the desert frontier of Iraq and join the Muslim armies in Syria. He embarked on an unconventionalmarch across the Syrian Desert, including six days through a waterless trek. He managed the trek by increasing his camels' water intake, sealing their mouths to prevent them from eating, and slaughtering them for water as needed by his troops.[25] He bested pro-Byzantine Arabs from theBahra tribe in the vicinity ofPalmyra.[26] Afterward, on 24 April 634, he landed upon a group of pro-Byzantine Ghassanid Arabs celebratingEaster at the Marj Rahit meadow north of Damascus.[27] His troops proceeded to raid theGhouta gardens around the city before rendezvousing with Muslim forces positioned nearBosra, the capital ofArabia Province and a center of trade in theHauran region south of Damascus which historically provided the nomadic Arabs with oil, wine and grain.[27] Khalid was appointed to the supreme command of the Muslim armies in Syria by Abu Bakr or by the Muslim commanders already present.[28]
The Muslims besieged and captured Bosra in May, facing token resistance by its defenders. The city surrendered in a pact obliging its inhabitants to pay an annual poll tax, thejizya.[29] Khalid and the other commanders moved to join Amr ibn al-As in southern Palestine to help him counter a large number of Byzantine troops mobilized against him. The ensuingBattle of Ajnadayn, fought at a site in theWadi al-Simt valley southwest of Jerusalem, was the first major confrontation between the Muslims and the Byzantines. The two sides incurred significant losses, including several prominent Muslims and the Byzantinecubicularius, but the battle ended with the Byzantines routed.[29] The battle is variously dated to July 634 or January 635.[30] In the aftermath of Ajnadayn, Amr captured several towns in the interior ofPalestine, includingSebastia,Nablus (Neapolis),Lydda,Yibna,Amwas (Emmaus-Nicopolis),Bayt Jibrin (Eleutheropolis) andJaffa.[31] Most of these towns fell after minor resistance, hence the scant information available about their captures in the sources.[32]
Remnants of the Byzantines from Ajnadayn regrouped to the northeast, inPella ('Fahl' in Arabic), a town with a Byzantine garrison on the eastern bank of theRiver Jordan, across fromScythopolis ('Beisan' in Arabic).[33] The Muslims pursued them there, encountering difficulty traversing the muddy grounds around Beisan with their horses, a result of floods from the breaking of the river banks by the Byzantines.[34][35] The Muslims defeated the Byzantines, who incurred heavy casualties, at theBattle of Fahl and occupied the city in December 634 or January 635.[35] They may have engaged with Byzantine troops in anotherbattle at Marj al-Suffar, south of Damascus, in which the Muslims suffered heavy losses but drove the Byzantines off nonetheless. Marj al-Suffar is dated variously to March 635 or before Fahl, in July 634.[36]
From Fahl, the Muslims marched on Damascus, where the Byzantines there were joined by their comrades from the previous battles with the Muslims. They were under the command ofVahan. All the Muslim commanders participated in thesiege of Damascus, each posted to one of the city's five gates, while a sixth unit was positioned at the village ofBarzeh to intercept Byzantine reinforcements from the north. After a lengthy siege, Damascus capitulated in August or September 635. Although they disagree in the identities of the commanders, most of the Muslim accounts agree that Muslim forces breached one of the city gates, while on another side of the city, the local leaders opened a gate after negotiations with a different Muslim unit. The Muslim commanders ultimately met in the city center where they drafted a capitulation agreement with the inhabitants.[37]
Although several versions of the treaty were recorded in the early Muslim and Christian sources,[c] they generally concur that the inhabitants' lives, properties and churches were to be safeguarded, in return for their payment of thejizya (poll tax).[39] Imperial properties were confiscated by the Muslims.[40][41] The treaty probably served as the model for the capitulation agreements made throughout Syria, as well Iraq and Egypt, during the early Muslim conquests.[39][d]
After Damascus, Muslim forces proceeded to captureBaalbek and then, after a months-long siege, occupiedHoms in December 635 or January 636.[43] Heraclius, who had been observing events from his base inAntioch, responded to the string of Muslim victories and occupations of major cities by mobilizing a massive force of Byzantine imperial troops, local garrisons from Antioch,Aleppo,Chalcis,Mesopotamia, Armenians under their commander Gregory, and Syrian Arab tribesmen under the Ghassanid chiefJabala ibn Ayham.[43] The overall command of the Byzantines was held by thesacellarius and Vahan. This force's march south prompted the Muslims to abandon Homs, Baalbek and Damascus and regroup atJabiya in the Golan Heights. The Byzantines took up position nearby, along theRuqqad river, prompting the Muslims to set up camp at the adjoiningYarmuk River.[44] This hilly area straddled the borders of four Byzantine provinces and served as the main pasture grounds for the Ghassanids.[45]
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As the Byzantines advanced, the Muslims feigned retreat, inducing the Byzantines to assault the Muslims' camp atDayr Ayyub. This left the Byzantines' left flank vulnerable and Muslim forces used the wide gap and poor coordination between the Byzantine cavalry and infantry to inflict heavy casualties on the latter. Byzantine forces subsequently fled for safety to a site between the Ruqqad andAllan streams, but the site's only viable exit, the bridge over the Ruqqad, was captured in a night raid by Khalid's cavalry. The Muslims afterward assaulted the Byzantines' encampments between the two streams and at the village of Yaqusa on the edge of the Golan, where most of the Byzantine troops were slain, though many Arab Christian auxiliaries had deserted by that point.[46]
The Muslimvictory at the Yarmuk destroyed the main Byzantine army in Syria and ended the Byzantines' will to confront the Muslims on the field. It sealed Muslim gains in Palestine and Transjordan and paved the way to their quick reoccupation of Damascus and theBeqaa Valley.[46] In the assessment of historian John Jandora, Yarmuk was one of "the most important battles of World History", ultimately leading to Muslim victories which expanded theCaliphate between thePyrenees mountains and Central Asia.[47]
As the Muslims no longer had to confront Byzantine standing armies after Yarmuk, the Muslim army in Syria split into smaller forces and proceeded to occupy Syria's cities. In this phase of the conquest, the main resistance against the Muslims were Byzantine garrisons and local militias.[48]
Probably after Yarmuk, Khalid was replaced by Abu Ubayda as the overall commander of the Muslim forces in Syria, with Khalid becoming one of his lieutenant commanders.[49] Abu Ubayda and his lieutenantsbesieged and recaptured Homs, making it the base of operations for the conquest of northern Syria. Abu Ubayda and/or his lieutenants proceeded to captureQinnasrin (Chalcis),Aleppo andAntioch from their defenders in relatively quick succession.[50]
The accounts about events in northern Syria are especially divergent. Heraclius may have deployed a force under a general, Minas, which was defeated by the Muslims in the plain betweenAleppo andQinnasrin, before or after the Muslims' capture of those cities.[50] A Byzantine army, swelled by conscripts from several cities inUpper Mesopotamia (the 'Jazira' in Arabic), may have besieged Homs, prompting Abu Ubayda to recall his lieutenants and their armies in the north to buttress the defense of the city. As other Muslim forces proceeded east against the cities of the Jazira, the troops from those areas abandoned the siege to defend their hometowns. Khalid then bested the remaining besiegers.[51] The Muslims suppressed rebellions in Antioch and Qinnasrin. As northern Syria, including the area east toward the Euphrates, was conquered, Heraclius abandoned his base inEdessa forSamosata and eventually Constantinople. During his withdrawal to the capital, Heraclius disbanded the garrisons, which largely consisted of local farmers, and forts in the mountainous region betweenTarsus andAlexandretta so that incoming Muslim troops encountered a deserted countryside.[51]
Abu Ubayda, while still retaining the command of Muslim troops in the north, may have played a less active role in operations there as he left to lead thesiege of Jerusalem in late 636 or early 637.[52] Already following Ajnadayn, an advance force was sent against the city by Amr and its environs, includingBethlehem, were in Muslim hands, as indicated by a sermon of PatriarchSophronius of Jerusalem. The actual siege was overseen by Abu Ubayda and several of the top Muslim commanders played a role.[53]
The siege lasted for months as Jerusalem's defenders refused to capitulate except to the caliph Umar. The latter is generally held by the Islamic tradition to have visited the troops at their main camp at Jabiya at least once, around 637. From there, he negotiated with Jerusalem's representatives the capitulation treaty.[53] In exchange for control of the city, the withdrawal of Byzantine troops, and the inhabitants' payment of thejizya, the inhabitants' lives, churches and properties would be spared.
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The coastlands of Syria, especially northern Syria and thePhoenician coast, were the last areas to submit to the Muslims. The port cities were captured by different armies and withstood sieges for longer due to the Byzantines' domination of the sea. The besieged garrisons were thus easily reinforced and resupplied, while cities captured by the Muslims were subject to Byzantine naval raids.[54]
On Palestine's coast, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan's brotherMu'awiya led the years-long sieges ofCaesarea andAsqalan, which surrendered between 639 and 641.[32] Yazid and Mu'awiya also led the sieges and captures ofSidon,Beirut, andByblos.[55] A lieutenant of Abu Ubayda,Ubada ibn al-Samit, led the raids that capturedTartus andLatakia. One of the last coastal cities to fall wasTripoli, which was captured during CaliphUthman's reign in 644. With the exception of Caesarea, the coastal cities were relatively minor operations by smaller detachments under lower-ranking commanders.[55]
During the reign ofCaliph Uthman,Constantine III decided to recapture theLevant, which had been lost to the Muslims during Umar's reign.[56] A full-scale invasion was planned and a large force was sent to reconquer Syria.Muawiyah I, the governor of Syria, called for reinforcements and Uthman ordered the governor ofKufa to send a contingent, which, together with the local garrison, defeated the Byzantine army in Northern Syria.
In 645–646, Sufyan bin Mujib Al-Azdi, appointed by Muawiyah, managed to seizeTripoli to eventually capture the last Byzantine stronghold on the Levantine coast.[57]
Uthman gave permission to Muawiyah to build a navy. From their base in Syria, the Muslims used this fleet to captureCyprus in 649,Crete, andRhodes. Annual raids into western Anatolia dissuaded the Byzantines from further attempts to recapture Syria.[56] In 654–655, Uthman ordered the preparation of an expedition to captureConstantinople, but, due to unrest in the caliphate that resulted in hisassassination in 655, the expedition was delayed for decades, only to beattempted unsuccessfully under theUmayyads.
The new rulers divided Syria into four districts (junds):Jund Dimashq (Damascus),Jund Hims,Jund al-Urdunn (Jordan), andJund Filastin (Palestine) (to which a fifth,Jund Qinnasrin, was later added)[58] and the Arabgarrisons were kept apart in camps. The Muslims tolerated the Jews and Christians. The taxes instituted were thekharaj, which landowners and peasants paid according to the productivity of their fields, and thejizya, paid by non-Muslims in return for state protection 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[citation needed].
When the firstcivil war broke out in the Muslim empire as a result of themurder ofUthman and the nomination ofAli as caliph, the Rashidun Caliphate was succeeded by theUmayyad dynasty[citation needed], with Syria as its core and Damascus its capital for the next century to come.