CHAPTER III
The Conquest of Buṣra
Buṣra comes to terms. When Khâlid ibn-al-Walîd at the head of the Moslems arrived in Buṣra,[1] all the Moslems gathered against it and put Khâlid in chief command. They drew close to it and fought its patrician until he was driven with his armed men inside the town. Others assert that since Buṣra lay within the district of Damascus and, consequently under the rule and commandership of Yazîd ibn-abi-Sufyân, it was he who held the chief command. At last its people came to terms stipulating that their lives, property and children be safe, and agreeing to pay the poll-tax. According to some reporters, the inhabitants of Buṣra made terms agreeing to pay for each adult one dînâr and one jarîb[2] of wheat.
Thus the Moslems conquered all the region of Ḥaurân [Auranitis] and subdued it.
Maʾâb surrenders. Abu-ʿUbaidah ibn-al-Jarrâḥ, at the head of a heavy detachment composed of the commanders' troops that had joined him, led the way to Maʾâb [Moab] in the district of al-Balḳâʾ where the enemy was massed. Maʾâb surrendered and made terms similar to those made by Buṣra. According to others, however, the conquest of Maʾâb was effected before that of Buṣra. Still others assert that abu-ʿUbaidah conquered Maʾâb when he was the commander of all the Moslem forces in Syria in the days of ʿUmar.
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