Futuhusham_-_The_Islamic_Conquest_of_Syria_-_Al_Waqidi

Futuhusham
Invade Him~ and go no further. If they offer to surrender, then
accept, otherwise fight them. Send a spy to Antioch and be on
your guard against the Christian 'Arabs.
Peace, Allah s mercy and blessings be upon you and all the
Muslims.
AbU 'Ubaydah ~ read the letter once softly and then again publicly and then turned
to Him~. Khalid ~ preceded him with a third of the army and reached Him~ on a
Friday of Shawwal 14 Hijri.
16) Khalid's" raid
Heraclius's governor, Lacita had died just before the arrival of Khalid ~ and the
Muslims. The Christians therefore gathered in their great cathedral where their elder
said, "Caesar's governor has died and he does not know about the arrival of these
'Arabs. They have now invaded us as we thought they would, but we expected them
to only invade us after conquering Jusiyah and Ba'labakk. Even if you write to
Caesar to send us a new governor with an army, the 'Arabs will never let any army
come to you let alone actually arrive here. Also, you do not have enough food to
survive a siege."
Christians: What should we do, sir?
Elder: Seek terms with them and agree to whatever they demand and say to them,
"We will surrender to you if you conquer Qinsarin and Aleppo and defeat Caesar's
army." Then when they tum away from us we will request Caesar to send us a huge
army and governor of his choice and supply us with food and equipment. Thereafter
we can fight them.
They approved of this plan and said, "Your opinion and plan is excellent. We will act
upon that."
The patrician sent a highly respected priest to AbU 'Ubaydah ~ to conclude a truce
with him. The priest spoke to him as instructed by the patrician, that is, that the
Muslims should depart for Aleppo, al-'Awii~im and Antioch. AbU 'Ubaydah ~
agreed upon receiving a payment of 10,000 Diniir and 200 robes of brocade and
concluded a one-year cease-fire commencing from Thul-Qa'dah until the next
Shawwal 15 Hijri. After the treaty was concluded, the traders came out to buy and
sell with the Muslims. They found the' Arabs to be generous and earned much profit.
182