|
|
|
|
Muslim conquest of Syria
|
| |
|
| |
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.
a 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 Sassanid's Arab allies the Lakhmids.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Muslim conquest of Syria' Start a new discussion about 'Muslim conquest of Syria' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
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 Sassanid's Arab allies the Lakhmids. The region was known as the Iudaea Province of the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the their Arab client state of the Ghassanids, (symmachos). 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 conclude the peace of 628.. 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 the three Abrahamic religions. 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 since Constantine I legalized it in fourth century. 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 the 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 Sassanid 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 collapse when it faced the new challenge from Arabia after being exhausted by recent Roman-Persian Wars, but failed completely to tackle the challenge effectively.
Rise of Caliphate
The Islamic Prophet Mohammad died in June 632, and Abu Bakr was appointed Caliph and political successor at Medina. Soon after Abu Bakr's succession, several Arab tribes revolted against in the Ridda 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 March 18, 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 the largest empires in history, beginning with confrontation with the Lakhmids, an Arab client of the Persian Empire under the general Khalid ibn al-Walid.
Expedition to Syria
After successful campaigns against Sassanids and the ensuing conquest of Iraq Khalid established his stronghold on Iraq. While engaged with Sassanid forces, confrontation also ensued with the Byzantine Arab clients, the Ghassanids. Tribal contingents were soon recruited to the call from Madinah from all over the Arabian peninsula. Only those who had rebelled during the Ridda wars were excluded from the summons and remained excluded from Rashidun armies until in 636 when Caliph Umar fell short of manpower for the Battle of Yarmouk and Battle of al-Qadisiyyah. The tradition of raising armies from tribal contingents remained in use until 636, when Caliph Umar organised the army as a state department.
Abu Bakr organised the army in to four corps, each with its own commander and objective.
Being unaware 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-Chief of the entire army.
In the first week of April 634, the Muslim forces began to move from their camps outside 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 the side of each corps commander. His parting words he repeated to the each corps commanders, were as follows:
Muslim conquest of Syria
Yazid's corps moving to their assigned target, beyond Tabouk, made contact with a small Christian Arab force that retreated after a brush with the 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 Elat and faced little resistance from the two forward detachments sent by the Byzantine army to prevent the entry of Yazid's and Amr's corps into Palestine respectively, the detachments were defeated easily although they prevented the arrival of the Rashidun forces from reaching there assigned objective. Abu Ubaidah and Shurhabil however continued their march and by early May 634 reached the region between Bosra and Jabiya. The Emperor Heraculis, upon receipt of intelligence on the movement of Muslim armies, from his Arab clients began to plan countermeasures. Upon Heraculis's orders, Byzantine forces from different garrisons in North started moving gathering at Ayjnadyn, from where they could engage Amr's corps and maneuver against the flank or rear of rest of the Muslim corps that were in Jordan and Southern Syria. The strength of the Byzantine forces, according to rough estimates , was about 100,000. Abu Ubaidah informed the Caliph about the preparations made by the Byzantines in third week of May 634 and in light of As Abu Ubaida's lack of experience in command of military forces in such major operations, especially with the powerful Roman Army, Abu Bakr decided to send Khalid ibn Walid to Syrian front to command the Muslim army. According to early Muslim chronicles Abu Bakr said:
Conquest of Syria under Caliph Abu Bakr
Khalid was immediately dispatched to the Syrian front. Khalid set out for Syria from Hira, in Iraq in early June 634, taking with him half his army, about 8000 strong.
Instead of taking the traditional rout to Syria via Domat ul Jandal (in norther Arabia), Khalid decided to reach Syria from the most least expected and shortest rout to Syria, across the Syrian desert thus appearing on Syrian front at Tadmur in central Syria in early June after a march through Syrian desert.
Conquest of southern Syria
He first captured the town of Sawa, and then moved onto to the city of Arak city in the same day. The next day Khalid moved to Tadmur and then onto the cities of As Sukhnah and Qadma. The next day the cities of Qaryatayn and Hawwareen were captured after small engagements; the Battle of Qaryatayn and Battle of Hawareen.
He next set-off towards Damascus and after three days arrived at a mountain pass from Damascus, now known as Sanita-al-Uqab(Eagle pass), so-called for the standard of Khalid's army. From here however he veered away from Damascus and moved towards the rest of the Islamic armies which were still near the Syrian-Arabia border. At Maraj-al-Rahab, Khalid defeated a Ghassanid army at the Battle of Marj-al-Rahit and arrived Bosra 3 days later, to join Shurhabil's force of 4000 men, who while attempting to besiege the city had nearly nearly been encircled and outnumbered by the Byzantine army. Upon the arrival of Khalid's cavalry the Roman army retreated and fortified themselves in the castle from where they launched an unsuccessful charge a few days later.
Bosra surrendered in mid of July 634 A.D. and all the corps of Muslim army joined Khalid at Ajnadayn on 24 July 634 where they defeated the Byzantines on 30th July 634 A.D at the Battle of Ajnadayn. A week later Khalid moved to Damascus, engaging a small Roman army in the Battle of Yakosa in mid-August 634 A.D along the way. This force was presumably an advance guard sent to delay the Muslim advance so that necessary measures could be undertaken for the defence of Damascus even as the remnants of the force deafeated at Ajnadayn retreated to Damascus as well. 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 September 634 A.D. During its siege Heraculis sent more reinforcements from Antioch to attempt to break the siege, but they were defeated at the Battle of Sanita-al-Uqab from Damascus. As part of the surrender agreement, the Roman army was given a 3 day march to go as far as they could, with their families and treasure before they would be pursued. The Muslim cavalry caught up with these forces by using an unknown shortcut and engaged them in the Battle of Maraj-al-Debaj.
On 22 August 634, Caliph Abu Bakr died making Umar his successor. As Umar became caliph, he relieved Khalid the command of Islamic armies and appointed Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah 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 reveal it until after the Battle of Maraj-al-Debaj.
Conquest Under Caliph Umar
With this new change in command, the campaign of Syria slowed down as Abu Ubaida, unlike Khalid would move more cautiously. Abu Ubaida retained Khalid as the commander of the Muslim's cavalry and relied heavily on his advice. In the south at Fahal, the bulk of survivors of the Battle of Ajnadyn, remained a constant threat to the Muslim rear and were thus engaged next and routed them at the Battle of Fahal on the 23rd of January 635. They then retreated into Northern Syria and Antioch.
Conquest of Palestine
Muslim armies next consolidated their conquest of the Levant as Shurhabil and Amr went deeper in to Palestine. Baisan surrendered after a little resistance followed by the surrender of Tabariya in February 635. Caliph Umar, after getting the intelligence of disposition and strength of the Byzantine army in Palestine, wrote detailed instructions to corps commanders in Palestine and ordered Yazid to capture the Mediterranean coast. The corps of Amr and Shurhabil accordingly marched against the strongest Byzantine garrison in Ajnadyn and defeated them in the 2nd Battle of Ajnadyn after which the two corps separated, with Amr moving to capture Nablus, Amawas, Gaza and Yubna in order to complete the conquest of all Palestine, while Shurahbil thrust against the coastal towns of Acre and Tyre. Yazid advanced from Damascus to capture 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 next besieged to Caesarea, which was lifted but resumed after the Battle of Yarmouk until the port fell in 640.
Conquest of northern Syria
While the Muslim armies under Abu Ubaida and Khalid moved towards Emesa in northern Syria, Heraclius counterattacked by sending General Theodras to recapture a now weakly defended Damascus. Theodras engaged the Muslim army at Maraj al Rum, but quickly dispatched half of his army towards Damascus at night while Abu Ubaida and Khalid were engaged with the rest. When the Muslims realized the Byzantine maneuver, Abu Ubaida sent Khalid with his cavalry onwards to Damascus where Khalid engaged and defeated the Byzantine army outside Damascus even as Abu Ubaidah defeated the remaining Roman forces at Maraj al rum. A week later, Abu Ubaida moved towards Balaq, an important garrison in central Syria, which surrendered peacefully, while an other detachment under Khalid was sent straight to Emesa. Emesa and Qinnasrin signed a one year peace treaty, which was in fact a temporary measure while waiting for help from the Emperor. In November 635, Khalid and Abu Ubaida moved towards Hamma and next Khalid took Shairzer, Afamia and Matar-al-Hamz. Meanwhile Qinasareen and Emesa broke the peace treaty and in response, Abu Ubaida dispatched Khalid to Emesa, where he defeated the advance guard of the garrison outside Emesa and laid siege to the city where he was joined by Abu Ubaida with the main army. After two months of siege Emesa was conquered in March 636.
Battle of Yarmouk
While Muslims were engaged in subduing northern Syria, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius prepared a major counterattack and assembled a grand army in Syria to roll back the Arab conquest. Preparations started in late 635, and by May 636 a force was put under arms at Antioch and northern Syria. This force was organized into five armies, Mahan was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the entire Imperial army which was launched 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. Alerted to the possibility of being caught with their forces separated, as Heraclius planned, Abu Ubaidah, following advice from Kahlid, decided to pull back from North and Central Syria and Palestine inorder to concentrate the whole army to face the Byzantine threat, and in case of defeat, leave upon a route of retreat to the Arabian Desert. Accordingly Muslim forces withdrew to the plain of Yarmouk where command of army was partially transferred to Khalid ibn Walid by Abu Ubaidah. The Battle of Yarmouk took place in the third week of August 636, resulting in a crushing defeat of the Byzantine army. After the battle the Byzantine army no longer effectively operated in Syria except for the garrisons pockets such as at Aleppo and the conquest of Syria was effectively complete.
Conquest of Jerusalem
After the Battle of Yarmouk, the next step was the capture of Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem lasted four months after which the city agreed to surrender, but only to the caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab in person. The Caliph Umar came and the city surrendered in April 637 CE after which Abu Ubaida sent the commanders Amr bin al-As, Yazid bin Abu Sufyan, and Shurhabil out to reconquer the portions of Palestine which they had abandoned prior to Battle of Yarmouk. Most of these areas submitted without further fighting.
Conquest of remaining strongholds
Abu Ubaida himself along with Khalid returned to northern Syria with a force 17,000 strong. Khalid along with his cavalry was sent to Hazir while Abu Ubaidah moved upon Qinnasrin. Khalid defeated a strong Byzantine army in the Battle of Hazir at Hazir near the fort of Qinnasrin and the city surrendered to Khalid. After a long siege, in October 637 Aleppo surrendered, as there was little hope of reinforcements arriving from Constantinople.
After the capture of the fort of Azaz in mid October 637, Antioch was the next city to be captured following the Battle of Iron bridge on 30th October 637. The remaining Greek dominated cities along the Mediterranean coast; Latakia, Jablah and Tartus which were guarded from the natural barriers of Anti-Lebonan hills; were next. Khalid was then dispatched to conquer north- eastern Syria; all the areas up to Manbij and the Euphrates.
Heraclius last attempt
By 637, three years after the invasion, the whole Levant had been conquered except for the coastal city of Caesarea, which finally surrendered in 640.
The various Muslim commanders settled down 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 the Northern Garrison of Qinnasrin from where 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. In order to buy 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 religious ties, they began preparations to cross the Euphrates and invade Northern Syria from the east. Christian Arabs laid siege to Emesa in early 638. The situation was brilliantly tackled by Caliph Umar, while the Muslim army under Abu Ubaida and Khalid was on the defensive at Emesa, he ordered the Muslim commander in chief in Iraq to send the columns to Jazirah from three different sides and a column to Emesa to reinforce the Muslim army there. Soon the Christian Arabs realized that they were trapped as their homeland was being captured by the Muslims and that reinforcements were on their way to Emesa, so they retreated back to Jazirah.
This act of Jazirah's Christian Arabs was followed by fierce measures from the Caliphate, and Jazirah, the last base of the Eastern Roman empire in the Middle East was captured the same year. On the orders of Caliph Umar, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, commander of the Muslim army in Iraq sent an army under Ayadh bin Ghanam to conquer the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates up to Urfa. In order to secure Syria from any future aggression it was necessary to clear the neighbouring lands from all hostile elements, thus in summer 638 further conquests were made in Anatolia up to Tarsus and as far north as Marash and Malatya. Malatya was later burned to the ground on the orders of Heraclius to punish its inhabitats for submitting to Muslims. After conquest of Marsh in 638, with the completion of the conquest of the region, Khalid was dismissed from the army by Caliph Umar, presumeably because of his growing power and influence. By 638 most of southwestern Anatolia was under the control of the Caliphate. About 40% of the Byzantine empire was conquered and the Byzantine army was now shattered. No longer possessing the resources to recover their lost territory they evacuated their fortifications from South Western Anatolia upon the orders of Heraculis in order to create a nomansland or an empty zone between their strongholds in western Anatolia and those of the Rashidun Caliphate. Any further operations in Anatolia were abstained from due to a drought in 638 and a plague in Syria in 639. Umar was also engaged in the creation of a buffer zone around all of Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, and so while Syria was being captured to the west, Muslim forces were simultaneously engaging the Sassanid Empire there. After the Islamic conquest of Persia the Muslims were able to resume the offensive against the Byzantines by pushing into the Egypt, or Aegyptus (Roman province).
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 then 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 build a navy. From their base in Syria, Muslims used this fleet to capture Cyprus in 649 and Crete and then Rhodes and the launching of annual raids into western Anatolia thwarted the Byzantines from making any further attempts to recapture Syria. In 654-655, Uthman ordered preparation of an expedition to capture the capital of Eastern Roman empire, Constantinople, but due to unrest in the empire that grew in 655 and resulted in his assassination, the expedition was delayed for decades only to be attempted unsuccessfully under the next dynasty of Ummayad rulers.
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 a policy of tolerance towards other religions, resulting in a positive effect on the new subject people, especially the 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.
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 succeeded by the new dynasty of Umayyad with Syria as its core and Damascus its capital, for the next century.
See also
Footnotes
External links
- Multimedia History Tutorials by the Applied History Group, The Islamic World to 1600 , University of Calgary.
- Edward Gibbon, Chapter 51
- Bishop John NIkiou Chapters CXVI-CXXI
|
| |
|
|
