The city considered as having capitulated. Al-Ḳâsim ibn-Sallâm from Saʿîd ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz at-Tanûkhi:—Yazîd entered Damascus by capitulation through the Sharḳi gate. At al-Maḳsalâṭ the two Moslem commanders met, and the whole city was considered as having capitulated.
The siege conducted for four months. Al-Ḳâsim from abu-l-Ashʿath aṣ-Ṣanʿâni or abu-ʿUthmân aṣ-Ṣanʿâni:—Abu-ʿUbaidah spent at the Jâbiyah gate four months[1] conducting the siege.
The case of a church. Abu-ʿUbaid from Rajâʾ ibn-abi-Salamah:—Ḥassân ibn-Mâlik presented to ʿUmar ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz the case of a church that one of the commanders had bestowed on him as fief, and the possession of which was contested by the non-Arabs of Damascus. Regarding that, ʿUmar said, "If it is included in the fifteen churches mentioned in their covenant, thou hast no claim on it."
The following was stated by Ḍamrah on the authority of ʿAli ibn-abi-Ḥamalah, "The non-Arabs of Damascus disputed with us the right to a church at Damascus that was assigned by someone as fief to the banu-Naṣr, and the case was presented to ʿUmar ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz who took the church from us and returned it to the Christians. When Yazîd ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik, however, came to power he gave it back to the banu-Naṣr."
The poll-tax. Abu-ʿUbaid from al-Auzâʿi who said:—"At the outset, the poll-tax in Syria consisted of one jarîb and one dînâr per head. ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb made it four dînârs on those who had gold and forty dirhams on those who had silver, arranging them in ranks according to the wealth of the rich, the poverty of the poor and the medium possessions of the middle class."
Hishâm heard it said by our sheikhs that the Jews were
- ↑ Yaʿḳûbi, Buldân, p. 325: "one year".
