|
When the columns sent by
Khalid arrived at Sukhna and Qadma, they were received joyfully
by the inhabitants, who had heard of the generous terms given the
day before to Arak. They were only too willing to make friends.
There was no trouble at these places and the columns returned to
the army without any bloodshed.
At Tadmur, the garrison locked itself in
the fort, but hardly had the Muslims arrived and surrounded the
fort, when parleys were started for a peaceful surrender. Soon after
a surrender was negotiated in which the inhabitants of Tadmur agreed
to pay the Jizya and feed and shelter any Muslim warrior passing
by their town. The Arab chief of Tadmur also presented Khalid with
a prize horse, which he used in several battles of this campaign.
From Tadmur the army marched to Qaryatain,
the inhabitants of which resisted the Muslims. They were fought,
defeated and plundered.
The next stop was Huwareen (about 10 miles
beyond Qaryatain) which contained large herds of cattle. As the
Muslims started gathering in the cattle, they were attacked by thousands
of Arabs. These were the local inhabitants reinforced by a contingent
of the Ghassan from Busra, which had hastened to help their comrades
in Huwareen. They too were defeated and plundered.
The following morning the advance was resumed in the direction of
Damascus, and after three days of marching the army arrived at a
pass about 20 miles from Damascus. This pass lies between the present
Azra and Qutaifa and crosses a gently sloping ridge which rises
gradually to a height of over 2,000 feet above the level of the
surrounding countryside. The ridge is part of the range known as
Jabal-ush-Sharq, which is an offshoot of the Anti-Lebanon Range
and runs in a north-easterly direction to Tadmur. The pass itself,
not a formidable one, is quite long. Khalid stopped at the highest
part of it, and here he planted his standard. As a result of this
action the pass became known as Saniyyat-ul-Uqab, i.e. the Pass
of the Eagle, after the name of Khalid's standard, but is sometimes
referred to as just Al Saniyya. 1 At this
pass Khalid stayed an hour with his standard fluttering in the breeze,
and gazed at the Ghuta of Damascus. From where he stood,
he could not see the city itself, because it was concealed from
view by a rise of ground which stretches east?west, north of the
city, but he marvelled at the richness and beauty of the Ghuta.2
From the Pass of the Eagle, Khalid moved
to Marj Rahit, a large Ghassan town near the present Azra on the
road to Damascus. 3 The Muslims arrived
in time to participate in a joyous festival of the Ghassan, which
participation took the form of a violent raid! At Marj Rahit had
gathered a large number of refugees from the region over which Khalid
had recently operated, and these refugees mingled with the crowds
celebrating the festival. The Ghassan were not unmindful of the
danger which Khalid's entry into Syria posed for them. They had
positioned a strong screen of warriors on the route from Tadmur,
below the pass; but this screen was scattered in a few minutes by
a swift charge of the Muslim cavalry. Although some Ghassan resistance
continued as the Muslims advanced, it ceased once the town was reached.
The Muslims raided Marj Rahit. After a little while having collected
a large amount of booty and a certain number of captives, Khalid
pulled out of the town and camped outside.
The following morning he sent a strong mounted
column towards Damascus with the task of raiding the Ghuta.
Then, having sent a messenger to Abu Ubaidah with instructions to
report to him at Busra, Khalid himself set off for Busra with the
main body of the army, by-passing Damascus. The mounted column sent
to Damascus reached the neighbourhood of the city, picked up more
booty and captives, and rejoined Khalid while he was still on the
march.
The minor operations following Khalid's entry into Syria were now
over.
1. Yaqut: (Vol. 1, p. 936) gives the location
of this pass as above the Ghuta of Damascus, on the Emessa
Road.
2. The Ghuta was, and still is, a green,
fertile, well-watered plain, covered with crops, orchards and villages,
lying all round Damascus, except to the west and north?west, where
stand the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon Range. It formed an irregular
D with its base on the foothills, and stretched up to about 10 miles
from Damascus.
3. Marj Rahit, which was also a meadow, has
been placed by Masudi (Muruj, Vol. 3, p.12: he calls it Marj
Azra) 12 miles from Damascus. This would be about the centre of
the meadow and the location of the town.
|
