Rhodes is one of the most fertile of all islands, and is about sixty miles in size. It is rich in olive trees, vineyards, fruits and fresh water.
Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from al-Wâḳidi and others:—The Moslems occupied Rhodes for seven years, living in a fort made for them. At the death of Muʿâwiyah, Yazîd wrote to Junâdah ordering him to destroy the fort and return. Muʿâwiyah used to alternate its occupants, making them live there in turns. Mujâhid ibn-Jabr[1] lived in it and taught the Koran.
Arwâd. In the year 54, Junâdah ibn-abi-Umaiyah reduced Arwâd,[2] and Muʿâwiyah made the Moslems settle in it. Among those who took part in conquering it was Mujâhid and Tubaiʿ,[3] a son of Kaʿb al-Aḥbâr's[4] wife. It was here that Mujâhid taught Tubaiʿ the Koran. Others say that he did it in Rhodes. This Arwâd is an island lying near Constantinople [al-Ḳusṭanṭînîyah].
Crete. Junâdah led a razzia against Crete [Iḳrîṭish],[5] a part of which he conquered at the time of al-Walîd. Later, the island was lost to the Moslems. In the caliphate of ar-Rashîd it was invaded again by Ḥumaid ibn-Maʿyûḳ al-Ḥamdâni, who reduced a part of it. In the caliphate of al-Maʾmûn, it was invaded by abu-Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn-ʿÎsa-l-Andalusi, known by the name of al-Iḳrîṭishi, who first reduced one fort and occupied it. Then he kept on reducing one part after another until none of the Greeks were left. He also dismantled their forts.
