the gates of the city were opened and all the Moslems met within.
According to the report of abu-Mikhnaf and others, Khâlid entered the city by assault, whereas abu-ʿUbaidah entered it by capitulation, and they both met at the Zaiyâtîn [market of oil-dealers]. The former report however, is more authentic.
Al-Haitham ibn-ʿAdi claimed that the people of Damascus capitulated agreeing to give up one-half of their homes and churches. Muhammad ibn-Saʿd reported that abu-ʿAbdallâh al-Wâḳidi said, "I have read the statement issued by Khâlid ibn-al-Walîd to the people of Damascus and found no mention in it of 'half the homes and churches'. I do not know where the one who reported it got his information. The fact is that when Damascus was taken possession of, a great number of its inhabitants fled to Heraclius who was then at Antioch, leaving many vacant dwellings behind that were later occupied by the Moslems."
Some one reported that it was abu-ʿUbaidah who had his quarters at the Sharḳi gate, and Khâlid at the Jâbiyah gate; but this view is erroneous.
The date of the conquest. According to al-Wâḳidi, the conquest of Damascus was effected in Rajab, year 14,[1] but the date which Khâlid's statement of capitulation bears was Rabîʿ II, year 15. The explanation is that Khâlid wrote the statement with no date, but when the Moslems were preparing to set out against those gathered for their fight in al-Yarmûk, the bishop came to Khâlid asking him to renew the statement and add as witnesses abu-ʿUbaidah and the Moslems. Khâlid granted the request and inserted the names of abu-ʿUbaidah, Yazîd ibn-abi-Sufyân, Shuraḥbîl ibn-Ḥasanah and others as witnesses. The date he put was the one in which the statement was renewed.
- ↑ Yaʿḳûbi, vol. ii, p. 159.
