CHAPTER IX
Ḥimṣ
The inhabitants capitulate. ʿAbbâs ibn-Hishâm from abu-Mikhnaf:—When abu-ʿUbaidah was through with Damascus, he sent ahead of him Khâlid ibn-al-Walîd and Milḥân ibn-Zaiyâr aṭ-Ṭâʾi and then he followed them. When they met in Ḥimṣ [Emesa],[1] the people of the city resisted them, but finally sought refuge in the city and asked for safety and capitulation. They capitulated to abu-ʿUbaidah agreeing to pay 170,000 dînârs.[2]
As-Simṭ captures Ḥimṣ. According to al-Wâḳidi and others, as the Moslems stood at the gates of Damascus there appeared a dense band of the enemy's horsemen. The troops of the Moslems set out and met them between Bait-Lihya and ath-Thanîyah. The enemy was defeated and took to flight in the direction of Ḥimṣ via Ḳâra. The Moslems pursued them to Ḥimṣ but found that they had turned away from it. The people of Ḥimṣ saw the Moslems and, being scared because Heraclius had run away from them and because of what they heard regarding the Moslems' power, valor and victory, they submitted and hastened to seek the promise of security. The Moslems guaranteed their safety and refrained from killing them. The people of Ḥimṣ offered them food for their animals and for themselves and the Moslems camped on the Orontes [al-Urunṭ, or al-Urund] (the river which empties its water in the sea near
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