Thread by @TalhaGulbargavi

19Sept 634 AD, Khalid Bin Walid Conquered #Damascus from Byzantine Empire. The legendary General #KhalidBinWalid took one of the biggest risks of his life to get historic city which later rose as the Capital of #Umayyad Muslim #Caliphate & became known as Urus-al-Bilad.

Fall of Damascus & The Love Story.
On Aug 21, 634, Siege of Damascus began. Khalid RA's Army encircled the city even without proper siege machinery, denying it supplies until the Byzantines capitulated on 19Sept. Bt Did u know the Story is told with a Romantic angle in Urdu Lit.

Damishq had 6 gates So Accordingly, Khalid RA divided his army into 6 parts
Gate of Thomas: Shurahbil
Jabiya Gate: Abu Ubaidah
Gate of Faradis: Amr
Keisan Gate: Yazid Bin Sufyan
Small Gate: Yazid Bin Sufyan
Eastern Gate: Rafay bin Umayr

at the time Emperor Heraclius was in Antioch he sent about 12,000 men to attack the siege Khalid RA dispatched Rafay with 5k soldiers to stop it, they met at Eagle Pass. Rafay was about to be defeated when Khalid came with another column of 4,000 men & destroyed the Byzantines.

its said that Khalid RA intervened because he got News that Zarar bin Azwar, His Bestfriend & Famous "Bare Chested Warrior" was Captured by Romans.

Thomas, the Son In Law of Heraclius was a Brave man and fought doggedly for a Month, He sallied out of Damascus and attacked the Muslim army over and over, many times pushing them far. usually, these raids were in the evening time and were random.

In one of these attacks, Thomas lost an eye and yet he came out to attack again at the night, claiming that he will take 1000 eyes of Muslim soldiers. The 4 prong attack pushed Muslims to their limit but the quick thinking of Khalid saved the day (or night).

In the melee, Ubaan bin Sayeed was martyred. he had married few days ago. His widow then took arms and then attacked the Romans. She was skilled archer, & she shot at Roman priest leading the contingent, & killed him, leading Cross to fall down, this broke morale of Romans,

She Didnt stop at it & Shot at Thomas, her arrow pierced injured Thomas in the Eye, leading the people To Declare "A women killed Roman Commander". He was carried back to Damishq, but then again returned in night commandeering a 4 prong attack.

Now Comes the Interesting part. on 18 Sept, a Greek would-be priest, Yunus (Jonah), Came to Khalid RA & said that he can take his army into the City from a secret pass away, & that due to a festival city's defenders would be away for a while

Something about Jonah. He wanted to marry a Greek girl, while the girl loved him back too, the Girl's Mother didn't agree, but had to yield in front of her child. and let them marry, But she used the Seige's opportunity to delay the nuptials. SO Jonah wanted seige to be over ASAP

Back to Siege, In the meantime, People in the city started revolting, They knew the result of Muslims taking over City by force would be a Massacre, they had also heard stories of Muslims pardoning the city if the defenders surrendered. This is why they insisted on Surrender.

Thomas being a Warrior, didnt want to surrender meekly, and was putting extreme pressure on Muslims, which made people more nervous about the situation after the Siege ended. to make a decision a Festival ball was arranged, which is when Jonah made his move and climbed down fort

Given that a part of Night had passed, Khalid RA thought that he cannot consult the matter with all 6, so he decided to Trust Allah and the Greek in front of Him and Decided to take the Plunge (of the Climb). Khalid Invited Jonah to Islam, which he accepted.

OTOH, 2 days ago Thomas had secretly held a War council wher he discussed surrender, outcome of this meeting was to liaison & Surrender in hands of Ameen-ul-Ummat Abu Ubaidah, the deputy Commander ( who was actually the Commander in chief by that time, but hasn't taken charge)

Thomas readied a Set of Terms for Surrender In front of AbuUbaidah RA.
1. Jizya
2. No Plundering of City
3. All Romans evacuated with all their belongings.
They Knew the stature of AbuUbaidah was biggest in all Muslims who had entered Syria, if he accepted none could do anything.

But when Thomas & his war council were puttinmg their plan into action, Khalid was climbing the walls of Damishq with his chosen Few, legendary Muslim warriors like Zubair Bin Awam, Qa'qa bin Amr, Zarar bin Azor, Maz'ur bin Adi (RA), and 100 most daring muslim fighters.

as mentioned earlier Khalid RA was not able to coordinate this plan with all 6 commanders, due to time constraints, so only the group at Eastern gate knew what was happening, while AbuUbaidah on the exact opposite side had the least chance of knowing the Suicidally daring plan.

Saifullah Khalid bin Waleed RA climbed first, Jonah was 2nd, then 100 others came up. it was Allah's Qadr that no guard was able to spot them. Khalid RS took 50 men and then Rushed toward Gate and opened it. His Contingent started entering the city.

City's population thn came to know tht Khalid RA has entered in the city. Muslim army on opp end of the city was unaware of the situation as he romans had indulged into party that night making lot of noise, so when fight began Muslims thought it to be Romans making more noise

Also, the Muslim army mistakenly thought that the Romans may have attacked the the other Parts of Muslim army outside again, So, they got into position but, except Khalid's Battalion, None of Groups moved in. When Thomas came to know abt this, he rushed to implement his plan

By Fajr, Thomas initiated a 2-prong plan, 1 he sent all his reserve forces in front of Khalid, with 2 orders, Slow down the advance of Khalid RA, and if possible Khalid DOA. 2- He sent a delegation to AbuUbaidah as a Surrender.

Since the terms Set by Thomas were actually Inline with Islamic Commandments, Abu Ubaidah Immediately accepted the surrender. The Romans claimed that they didn't want to go directly to Khalid bcz they were scared of him.
meanwhile, Thomas was able to bog down Khalid's assault

By Asr, Abu Ubaidah entered the City from Jabiyah gate, while Khalid by then had captured almost half of City. But his connection wit outside had been cut off he had advanced his forces. Finally on St Mary's Church (central church of Damishq) Khalid RA came across AbuUbaidah RA

When The Met, Khalid was drenched in blood, AbuUbaidah was shocked and thought Khalid had broken the promise of surrender, while Khalid was Angry saying he captured the city by storming it. this led to an argument between both.

Contdd

Khalid was incensed but couldnt do much as the person who was in front of him as ameenulUmmat Abu Ubaidah RA. He then grudgingly allowed the Truce, but added his conditions. He said that Romans can leave, but only carry things they can carry on backs

Romans were given 3-day pass, Muslims wouldn't move against them, and the Roman treasury was to be left at the city itself. Jonah's Role & acceptance of Islam was well-known, which is why his fiance left Damishq with her family leaving him.

Yunus (as he was called in Arabic), Then Came to Khalid RA and said that he knew where Romans will be in 3 days and a Shortcut as well. 5days later Khalid's cavalry attacked the convoy during heavy rain. In Battle of Marj-ad-Deebaj, Khalid reportedly killed #Thomas in a duel.

tragically, The Greek Girl for whom the city was fallen, didn't accept Yunus/Jonah & instead chose to commit suicide. Khalid offered Jonah the daughter of Emperor Heraclius, whom he refused. Khalid sent her back to her father. Jonah died two years later in the Battle of Yarmuk

On his return Abu-Ubaidah RA gave Khalid RA a Letter, informing Caliph Abu Bakr RA died in Medina, making Umar RA his successor. H. Umar RA removed Khalid RA from command of the Muslim army and appointed Abu Ubaidah as the new commander in chief.

H.AbuBakar died in Aug 634, when the Messenger from Medina came to Damishq, Siege was going on, he gave the letter to Abu Ubaidah, which he chose to hide till the end of Siege so that the morale of army is not disrupted. this also says why he accepted the truce independently.

Khalid Bin Waleed then served as his deputy for long time. most of the time being actual in charge with #AbuUbaidah bin Aljarrah being the Nominal head or supervisor.
#Damishq was chosen as the capital of Islamic Syria. Its first Muslim governor was #Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan

Yazid RA died of plague in 640 & his younger brother, #Muawiya RA, succeeded him. After the Shahadat of #Ali RA in 661, Mu'awiya RA became the caliph of the Islamic empire founding the #Umayyad dynasty. #Damascus subsequently became the capital of the #UmayyadCaliphate

Under the Umayyads, Damascus remained one of the most dazzling cities of the world, until in 750, when it fell to the #Abbasids. With the heralding of the #Abbasid Caliphate, Damascus became eclipsed and subordinated by #Baghdad, the new Islamic capital.