Muslim conquest of Syria

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Muslim conquest of Syria
Part of the Muslim conquests and Byzantine-Arab Wars
Date 633-640
Location Palestine and Syria
Result Muslim victory
Territorial
changes
Levant annexed by Muslims
Combatants
Roman Empire
Greeks
Christian Arabs
Russians
Slavs
Franks
Georgians
Armenians
Muslim Arabs
(Rashidun Caliphate)
Commanders
Heraclius
Constantine III
Jabalah VI ibn al-Aiham
Theodoros
Romanus
Dairjan
Baanes (Mahan)
Qanateer
Gregory
Wardan
Qubuqlar
Saqalar
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Zayd ibn Harithah
Ja'far ibn Abu Talib
Abdullah ibn Rawahah
Byzantine-Arab Wars
MutahTaboukDathinFiraz - QarteenBosraAjnadaynMarj-al-RahitFahl - YarmoukHazirAleppoIron Bridge - Nikiou1st ConstantinopleSyllaeumThat Al-SawariCarthage2nd ConstantinopleAkroinon
The Age of the Caliphs
The Age of the Caliphs

The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century.[1] and refer's the region know as the Bilad al-Sham or the Levant. The region was the Iudaea Province of the Roman Empire and their Arab client state (symmachos) of the Ghassanids.[2] Arab forces had appeared on the southern borders even before the death of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in 632, but the real invasion started in 633–634 under his successors, the Rashidun Caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar ibn Khattab with Khalid ibn al-Walid as it's most important leader.[1]

Contents

[edit] Byzantine Syria

Syria had been administered from Constantinople for three centuries prior to the Arab conquest and was frequently contested over by the Persians.[3] The Persian's under Khosrow I captured Antioch in 540 and in 573 the Sassanids had resumed attacks.[3] The invasion of Khosrow II began in 606, had just been rolled back by the victories of Heraclius, in the peace of 628 by capturing Jerusalem in 614 and winning at Chalcedon in 617.[4]

[edit] The Conquest under Umar

The first territorial conquests were made under Khalid ibn Walid in Umar's reign; Damascus in 635. Damascus, and Jerusalem - considered by Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike to be a holy city - in 637.[5] In 635 Damascus surrendered, its inhabitants being promised security for their lives, property, and churches, on payment of a poll tax; the Jizya. A counterattack by Roman Emperor Heraclius forced the Arabs to abandon Jerusalem and Damascus, though the Romans were soon defeated at the Battle of the Yarmuk River in 636. Damascus and Jerusalem was re-occupied and by 640 the conquest was virtually complete.[1]

[edit] Arab Administration

The new rulers divided Syria into four districts (junds): Damascus, Hims, Jordan, and Palestine (to which a fifth, Kinnasrin, was later added)[1] and the Arab garrisons were kept apart in camps, and life went on much as before for the local population.[1] Conversion to Islam was limited to the Arab tribes already settled in Syria; except for the tribe of Ghassan.[1] The Muslim's adopted policy of tolerance towards other religions, resulting in a positive effect on the new subject people, especially the Christians Nestorian and Jacobite Christians and Jews (People of the Book), who had been previously persecuted under Byzantine rule.[5][1] The loyalty of his new subjects was paramount to the success of Muslim rule in the region, therefore excessive taxation or oppression was avoided.[5] The taxes instituted were the kharaj - a tax that landowners and peasants paid according to the productivity of their fields - as well as the jizya - paid by non-Muslims in return for the freedom to practice their own religion.[5] The Byzantine civil service was retained until a new system could be instituted; therefore, Greek remained the administrative language in the new Muslim territories for over 50 years after the conquests.[5][1]

Umar was also engaged upon creating a buffer zone around all of Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, and so while Syria was being captured to the west, Muslim forces were also heading east and engaging the Sassanid Empire there.[5] After the Islamic conquest of Persia the Muslims were able to resume the offensive against the Byzantines by pushing into Aegyptus (Roman province).[5]

under the Umayyad dynasty that came to power following the Muslim civil war

[edit] The Conquest under Uthman

While Uthman ibn Affan did not expand the Arab Empire to the same degree as Umar, his armies thwarted the Byzantine attempt to reconquer Byzantine North Africa. In 639 he named his cousin, Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria and commissioned the construction of a Muslim fleet to guard the Mediterranean against Byzantine naval attacks.[5][1] These newly developed naval capabilities helped in the subsequent conquest of the island of Cyprus in 649.[5]

[edit] The Rise of the Umayyads

When the first civil war broke out in the Muslim empire, as a result of the murder of 'Uthman and the nomination of 'Ali as caliph, Mu'awiyah used his base in Damascus to extended his authority over neighbouring provinces and was proclaimed caliph in 660.[1] He was the first of the Umayyad line, which ruled the empire, with Syria as its core and Damascus its capital, for the next century.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Syria." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Oct. 2006 [1]
  2. ^ "Ghassan." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 18 Oct. 2006 [2]
  3. ^ a b "Syria." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Oct. 2006 [3]
  4. ^ "Iran." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Oct. 2006 [4]
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Umar (634-644)", The Islamic World to 1600 Multimedia History Tutorials by the Applied History Group, University of Calgary. Last accessed 20 Oct 2006

[edit] References

  • Charles, R. H. The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu: Translated from Zotenberg's Ethiopic Text, 1916. Reprinted 2007. Evolution Publishing, ISBN 978-1-889758-87-9. [5]

[edit] External links