William Muir

“ The soldiers' imagination was inflamed by tales of heaven opened on the very battlefield, and the expiring warrior tended by two virgins wiping away the sweat and dust from off his face, and with the wanton graces of paradise drawing him upwards in their fond embrace. ”

“ The force thus brought together differed altogether in composition from the army of Al-'Irak. That in the main consisted of Bedawi tribes, which flocked in thousands to the banners of Al-Muthanna and Khalid; the men of Mecca and Medina amongst them were comparatively few; for most had returned to their homes after the battle of Al Yemama. In the Syrian army, on the contrary, there are reckoned at least a thousand "Companions," i.e. men who had seen and conversed with the Prophet, and no fewer than a hundred of the famous 300 of Bedr. ”

“ The lives and goods of the inhabitants were spared; but the poll-tax was exacted from the men, and the land-tax (kharaj) imposed on the soil. Up to this point the Muslim army in Syria had acted as a unit, apparently under the chief command of 'Amr; but now their forces divided, and 'Amr remained to complete the conquest of Palestine (Filastin) , whilst Khalid pushed forward into the province of the Jordan. ”

“ Employed as envoy in the south, he was forced to retreat in the turmoil following the Prophet's death, and now claimed fresh command. Although 'Omar (whom, to be sure, he had maligned) doubted his fitness, Abu Bekr overcome by importunity, sent him to rally the friendly tribes on the Syrian frontier; but unless attacked he was to take no forward step. The Greeks, in the hope of capturing his camels, summoned their Bedawi allies and assumed a threatening attitude. Khalid was thereupon permitted to advance, yet cautiously and so as to allow no danger in his rear. ”

“ The people of Syria, too, apart from the religious persecution to which they had been subjected, suffered from increased taxation, and in consequence remained passive spectators of the invasion of their country, hoping more, indeed, from an occupation by the Arabs, who abstained from pillage, and whose rule
1 One account makes Abu Bekr address these words to Usama (see p. 9) , another to Yezid. In one the two last clauses—the injunctions to slay monks and spare hermits—are omitted. ”

“ You will fall in with some men with shaven crowns; smite them thereon with the sword. You will also meet with men living in cells; leave them alone in that to which they have devoted themselves."
Instructions of a more general character were given to the leader,—to promise good government to the invaded people, and to keep his promise; not to say much at a time and always to be straightforward ”

“ He was
1 In the earlier editions of The Caliphate the battle or the Yarmuk was the first great battle fought in Palestine. This order of events is founded upon the narrative of the above-mentioned Seif (adopted by Ibn al-Athir) , but it may be due to there being a place of similar name near Ajnadain. In consequence, there has been a good deal of confusion of the two battles. Certain Arab heroes are said sometimes to have perished in one battle, sometimes in the other. ”

“ Just then the Muslim troops, having crushed apostasy in the south, were returning in great numbers to Medina, and so were available for any other service. 'Ikrima, son of Abu Jahl and Al-Welid ibn Okba, were despatched in haste to support Khalid in the north, whilst a Holy War was proclaimed at Medina, and other Emirs appointed over the levies, for (according to this narrator) it was now that Abu Bekr first thought of conquering Syria. ”

“ The latter supposition would imply that the south of Palestine had already been won and that the combatants were now fighting for central Palestine—what was later called the Jordan province; whilst to the former the main objection is that the Greeks would not have devoted such an immense host merely to defend outlying districts peopled for the most part by nomads. ”