The Origins of the Islamic State/Part 2/Chapter 10

by Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá al-Balādhurī

CHAPTER X

The Battle of al-Yarmûk

A description of the battle. Heraclius gathered large bodies of Greeks, Syrians, Mesopotamians and Armenians numbering about 200,000.^[1] This ary he put under the command of one of his choice men^[2] and sent as a vanguard Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham al-Ghassâni at the head of the "naturalized" Arabs [mustaʿribah] of Syria of the tribes of Lakhm, Judhâm and others, resolving to fight the Moslems so that he might either win or withdraw to the land of the Greeks^[3] and live in Constantinople. The Moslems gathered together and the Greek army marched against them. The battle they fought at al-Yarmûk was of the fiercest and bloodiest kind.^[4] Al-Yarmûk [Hieromax] is a river. In this battle 24,000 Moslems took part. The Greeks and their followers in this battle tied themselves to each other by chains, so that no one might set his hope on flight. By Allah's help, some 70,000 of them were put to death, and their remnants took to flight, reaching as far as Palestine, Antioch, Aleppo, Mesopotamia and Armenia. In the battle of al-Yarmûk certain Moslem women took part and fought violently. Among them was Hind, daughter of ʿUtbah and mother of Muʿâwiyah ibn-abi-Sufyân, who repeatedly exclaimed, "Cut the arms of these 'uncircumcised' with your swords!" Her husband abu-Sufyân had come to Syria as a volunteer desiring to see his sons, and so he brought his wife with him. He then returned to al-Madînah where he died, year 31, at the age of 88. Others say he died in Syria. When the news of his death was carried to his daughter, umm-Ḥabîbah, she waited until the third day on which she ordered some yellow paint and covered with it her arms and face saying, "I would not have done that, had I not heard the Prophet say, 'A woman should not be in mourning for more than three days over anyone except her husband.'" It is stated that she did likewise when she received the news of her brother Yazîd's death. But Allah knows best.

Those who lost an eye or suffered martyrdom. Abu-Sufyân ibn-Ḥarb was one-eyed. He had lost his eye in the battle of aṭ-Ṭâʾif. In the battle of al-Yarmûk, however, al-Ashʿath ibn-Ḳais, Hâshim ibn-ʿUtbah ibn-abi-Waḳḳâṣ az-Zuhri (i. e. al-Mirḳâl) and Ḳais ibn-Makshûḥ, each lost an eye. In this battle ʿÂmir ibn-abi-Waḳḳâṣ az-Zuhri fell a martyr. It is this ʿÂmir who once carried the letter of ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb assigning abu-ʿUbaidah to the governorship of Syria. Others say he was a victim of the plague; still others report that he suffered martyrdom in the battle of Ajnâdîn; but all that is not true.

Ḥabîb ibn-Maslamah pursues the fugitives. Abu-ʿUbaidah put Ḥabîb ibn-Maslamah-l-Fihri at the head of a cavalry detachment charged with pursuing the fugitive enemy,^[5] and Ḥabîb set out killing every man whom he could reach.

The story of Jabalah. Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham sided with the Anṣâr saying, "Ye are our brethren and the sons of our fathers," and professed Islâm. After the arrival of ʿUmar ibn-al-Khṭṭâb in Syria, year 17, Jabalah had a dispute with one of the Muzainah and knocked out his eye. ʿUmar ordered that he be punished, upon which Jabalah said, "Is his eye like mine? Never, by Allah, shall I abide in a town where I am under authority." He then apostatized and went to the land of the Greeks. This Jabalah was the king of Ghassân^[6] and the successor of al-Ḥârith ibn-abi-Shimr.

According to another report, when Jabalah came to ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb, he was still a Christian. ʿUmar asked him to accept Islam and pay ṣadaḳah; but he refused saying, "I shall keep my faith and pay ṣadaḳah." ʿUmar's answer was, "If thou keepest thy faith, thou hast to pay poll-tax." The man refused, and ʿUmar added, "We have only three alternatives for thee: Islâm, tax or going whither thou wiliest." Accordingly, Jabalah left with 30,000 men to the land of the Greeks [Asia Minor]. ʿUbâdah ibn-aṣ-Ṣâmit gently reproved ʿUmar saying, " If thou hadst accepted ṣadaḳah from him and treated him in a friendly way, he would have become Moslem."

In the year 21, ʿUmar directed ʿUmair ibn-Saʿd al-Anṣâri at the head of a great army against the land of the Greeks, and put him in command of the summer expedition^[7] which was the first of its kind. ʿUmar instructed him to treat Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham very kindly and to try and appeal to him through the blood relationship between them, so that he should come back to the land of the Moslems with the understanding that he would keep his own faith and pay the amount of ṣadaḳah he had agreed to pay. ʿUmair marched until he came to the land of the Greeks and proposed to Jabalah what he was ordered by ʿUmar to propose; but Jabalah refused the offer and insisted on staying in the land of the Greeks. ʿUmair then came into a place called al-Ḥimâr—a valley—which he destroyed putting its inhabitants to the sword. Hence the proverb, "In a more ruined state than the hollow of Ḥimâr."^[8]

Heraclius' adieu to Syria. When Heraclius received the news about the troops in al-Yarmûk and the destruction of his army by the Moslems, he fled from Antioch to Constantinople, and as he passed ad-Darb^[9] he turned and said, "Peace unto thee, O Syria, and what an excellent country this is for the enemy!"^[10]—referring to the numerous pastures in Syria.

The battle of al-Yarmûk took place in Rajab, year 15.^[11]

Ḥubâsh loses his leg. According to Hishâm ibn-al-Kalbi, among those who witnessed the battle of al-Yarmûk was Ḥubâsh ibn-Ḳais al-Ḳushairi, who killed many of the "uncircumcised" and lost his leg without feeling it. At last he began to look for it. Hence the verse of Sauwâr ibn-Aufa:

 

"Among us were ibn-ʿAttâb and the one who went seeking his leg; and among us was one who offered protection to the quarter,"

 

—referring to dhu-l-Ruḳaibah.^[12]

Christians and Jews prefer Moslem rule. Abu-Ḥafṣ ad-Dimashḳi from Saʿîd ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz:—When Heraclius massed his troops against the Moslems and the Moslems heard that they were coming to meet them at al-Yarmûk, the Moslems refunded to the inhabitants of Ḥimṣ the kharâj^[13] they had taken from them saying, "We are too busy to support and protect you. Take care of yourselves." But the people of Ḥimṣ replied, "We like your rule and justice far better than the state of oppression and tyranny^[14] in which we were. The army of Heraclius we shall indeed, with your ʿâmil's help, repulse from the city." The Jews rose and said, "We swear by the Thorah, no governor of Heraclius shall enter the city of Ḥimṣ unless we are first vanquished and exhausted!" Saying this, they closed the gates of the city and guarded them. The inhabitants of the other cities—Christian and Jew—that had capitulated to the Moslems, did the same, saying, "If Heraclius and his followers win over the Moslems we would return to our previous condition, otherwise we shall retain our present state so long as numbers are with the Moslems." When by Allah's help the "unbelievers" were defeated and the Moslems won, they opened the gates of their cities, went out with the singers and music players who began to play, and paid the kharâj.

Abu-ʿUbaidah reduces Ḳinnasrîn and Antioch. Abu-ʿUbaidah marched against the province of Ḳinnasrîn and Antioch and reduced it.

Shuraḥbîl transferred to Ḥimṣ. Al-ʿAbbâs ibn-Hishâm al-Kalbi from his grandfather:—As-Simṭ ibn-al-Aswad al-Kindi distinguished himself as a fighter in the battle of al-Yarmûk and particularly in Syria and Ḥimṣ. It was he who divided the houses of Ḥimṣ among its people. His son Shuraḥbîl was in al-Kûfah disputing the leadership over the Kindah tribe with al-Ashʿath ibn-Ḳais al-Kindi. Now, as-Simṭ appeared before ʿUmar saying, "'Commander of the Believers', I see thou dost not separate even captives from one another, yet thou hast separated me from my son. Change his position, if thou pleasest, to Syria, or mine to al-Kûfah." "Well," said ʿUmar, "I shall change his position to Syria." Accordingly, Shuraḥbîl took up his abode in Ḥimṣ with his father.

Footnotes

1. De Goeje, Mémoire sur la Conquête de la Syrie, p. 107.
2. Ṭabari, vol. i, p. 2347.
3. i. e., Asia Minor; Arabic—Bilâd ar-Rûm.
4. Al-Baṣri, Futûḥ ash-Shâm, p. 130 seq.; Pseudo-Wâḳidi, Futûḥ ash-Shâm, vol. ii, pp. 32–35.
5. Athîr, vol. i, p. 179.
6. Nöldeke: "Die Ghassânischen Fürsten" in Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin), 1887, No. II, p. 45 seq.
7. Zaidân, vol. i, p. 155; Ḳudâmah, Kitâb al-Kharâj in ibn-Khurdâdhbih, Kitâb al-Masâlik, p. 259.
8. Bakri, vol. i, p. 254. Freytag, Proverbia, vol. i, p. 231, no. 66.
9. The pass of Taurus.
10. Ṭabari vol. i, pp. 2395 and 2396.
11. The date of the Yarmûk is confused by some Arabian historians with that of Ajnâdin, Jumâda ii, year 13; see Athîr, vol. ii, p. 315.
12. Kâmus: "his name was Mâlik".
13. Yûsuf, p. 81.
14. Barhebraeus, Chron. Eccles., vol. i, p. 274.