Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/209

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The Conquest of Damascus
193

part of that which was built by the order of al-Walîd the "Commander of the Believers" in the year 86.

The wall of Damascus. I myself heard Hishâm ibn-ʿAmmâr say, "The wall around the city of Damascus remained standing until it was demolished by ʿAbdallâh ibn-ʿAli ibn-ʿAbdallâh ibn-al-ʿAbbâs after the question between Marwân and the banu-Umaiyah had been settled."

Buṣra, Adhriʿât, al-Bathanîyah and other places reduced. Abu-Ḥafṣ ad-Dimashḳi from the muezzin of the Damascus Mosque and other men:—At the arrival of Khâlid, the Moslems gathered their forces against Buṣra, and it capitulated. They then were dispersed throughout all Ḥaurân which they subdued. The chief of Adhriʿât came to them offering to capitulate on the same terms on which the people of Buṣra had capitulated and agreeing to make all the land of al-Bathanîyah[1] a kharâj land. The request was granted, and Yazîd ibn-abi-Sufyân entered the city and made a covenant with its people. Thus the two districts of Ḥaurân and al-Bathanîyah came under the full control of the Moslems. Thence they came to Palestine and the Jordan, invading what had not yet been reduced. Yazîd marched against ʿÂmmân and made an easy conquest of it, making terms of capitulation similar to those of Busra. Besides, he effected the complete conquest of the province of al-Balḳâʾ. When abu-ʿUbaidah came to power, all that was already conquered. At the conquest of Damascus, abu-ʿUbaidah was the commander-in-chief; but the terms of capitulation were made by Khâlid, abu-ʿUbaidah concurring.

ʿArandal, ash-Sharât and the sea-coast reduced. During the governorship of abu-ʿUbaidah, Yazîd ibn-abi-Sufyân went and took possession of ʿArandal[2] by capitulation. He

  1. Modern Nuḳrah in Ḥaurân.
  2. The correct form is Gharandal; Yaʿḳûbi, Buldân, p. 326; Baedeker, p. 150.