Futuhusham_-_The_Islamic_Conquest_of_Syria_-_Al_Waqidi

Part 1: Damascus
you because you are an extremely weak, naked, hungry, labouring people. You have
subsisted on stolen food, barley, olive-oil and by sucking dried date-pits. You have
eaten our food since you entered our territory and have become that lion. You have
come as far as you can and done whatever you could. Now Caesar has sent such a
person against you who cannot be compared to any human and who is not concerned
as to who crosses swords with him. He is none other than he who is with me. So
beware lest you end up like the lion killed by the young shepherd. It is merely out of
his compassion and pity for you that he has ordered me to speak to you. Therefore I
am asking you what you want here. You are swimming in a sea whose waves will hit
you until you drown and whose waters will choke you if you drink it. If you are in
charge of this army then from your heart consider peace to be in your best interest
before the lion comes charging from the jungle.
17) Khalid'" and Calius duel
Khalid ~ replied, "0 enemy of Allah, you dare make an example of us? By Allah!
You should realise that we consider you just as a hunter considers sparrows trapped
in a net, fluttering in all directions to escape. The hunter is neither scared of their
numbers nor does he let any escape. What you said of our city and famine is true, but
Allah has now given us better. Instead of some grains, He has given us wheat, fruit,
refined butter and honey. This land is ours. Our Rabb gave it to us and promised it to
us through the tongue of His Messenger $. As to your question about what we want,
it is one of three things - either accept Islam, pay Jizyah, or fight until Allah decides
the outcome. You praise this wretched Calius but we take him as the lowest of the
low. If he is a pillar of your empire then I am Khalid bin al-Walid, servant of Islam
and conquerer of Palmyra, Arakah, Hawran, Sakhnah and Busra."
Sergius's face changed at hearing this eloquence and went back to Calius who said,
"How sad that you attacked like a lion, then came back afraid."
Sergius replied, "I take oath by my religion that I mistook him for a vagabond but
now find him to be a fighting ram, a killing horseman. This is the leader of a nation
who has filled the Earth with evil, so advance and attack him." Calius had been
quaking in his saddle like a leaf blowing in the wind since he heard Khalid's ~ name.
He said, "Tell him to postpone the battle until tomorrow."
Sergius replied, "I shall tell him, but I am not sure if he will accept," and turned to
Khalid ~ and said, "0 commander of his people, my companion told me to tell you
that you should return to your army and consult them."
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