Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/207

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The Conquest of Damascus
191

for the Christians as dhimmis paying kharâj to them, and were, therefore, included in the capitulation.

According to certain reports, one of the terms imposed by Khâlid ibn-al-Walîd on the inhabitants of Damascus, when they capitulated, was that every man should give as poll-tax one dînâr and one jarîb of wheat, together with vinegar and oil for feeding the Moslems.

ʿAmr an-Nâḳid from Aslam, the freedman of ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb:—ʿUmar wrote to the commanders of the provinces of Syria [Ar. ajnâd] instructing them to levy a tax on every adult, making it forty dirhams on those who possessed silver, and four dînârs on those who possessed gold. Morever, he ordered that in the way of providing the Moslems with wheat and oil, they have to give every Moslem in Syria and Mesopotamia [Ar. al-Jazîrah] two modii[1] of wheat and three ḳisṭs[1] of oil per month. He also assessed on them grease and honey, the quantity of which I do not know; and for every Moslem in Egypt per month one irdabb[1] [of wheat], clothing, and the right of being entertained as guest for three days.

ʿAmr ibn-Ḥammâd ibn-abi-Ḥanîfah from Aslam:—ʿUmar assessed as poll-tax four dînârs on those who possessed gold, and forty dirhams on those who possessed silver, in addition to offering the Moslems a subsistence tribute and providing them with three-days' entertainment.

A similar tradition was communicated to me by Muṣʿab on the authority of Aslam.

The cathedral of St. John. It is reported that when Muʿâwiyah ibn-abi-Sufyân came to power, he desired to add the church of St. John to the mosque[2] in Damascus; but the

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ar. mudi, Latin modius, is 17 sâʿs; a ḳisṭ is half a sâʿ; an irdabb is 24 sâʿs.
  2. Al-Maḳḳari, Nafḥ aṭ-Ṭîb, vol. i, p. 368.