The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.D. 638] NORTHERN SYRIA 141
feeling too weak to cope with the now combined forces of a.h. 17.
the Bedawin and Greeks, retired to Hims
; and there, hemmed
in by enemies, awaited the succour advancing from Al-Kufa.
So grave did 'Omar himself consider the crisis, that, quitting
Medina for the second time, he journeyed to Al-Jabiya,
intending to march in person with the reinforcements
northwards.^
But while on his journey, a change had already
come over the scene. Their prolonged absence in the distant
north had alarmed the Bedawin for the safety of their desert
homes, so that, returning south, they began to forsake the
Emperor's cause. Seeing now his opportunity, Abu 'Obeida Abu 'Obeida
issued from his fortress, and after a severe engagement routed
P"'s enemy
the enemy, who fled in confusion, and before the arrival
of Al-Ka'ka* were already totally dispersed. 'Omar returned
to Medina, delighted at the result.
He specially commended
the alacrity of the Kufa column:— "The Lord reward them,"
he wrote to Sa'd, " for their ready gathering and speedy
march to the succour of their beleaguered brethren."
It was the last effort of Constantinople to expel the Campaign
invader from Syria, whose 3'oke was now plainly not to be '" ^'onhern
-'
'. -^ r /
.
Mesoposhaken
off. The diversion attempted in Mesopotamia had tumia,
also the opposite effect of reducing that province to its
farthest limits. Not content with this, the infant faith,
becoming conscious of its giant strength, began to stretch
itself still farther north. Success in Mesopotamia was
followed up by a campaign in Asia Minor; and the name
of 'lyacl, under whom even Khalid did not disdain to serve,
begins to figure as one of terror in the brief Byzantine
record. Nasibin, Ar-Roha, and other strong [)laces on the
frontier were taken or recaptured, and part even of Armenia
H^'^^,
overrun.
Most of the Bedawi tribes in Mesopotamia embraced Christian
Islam. There were exceptions, and the story of Beni lyad gg^^i'j .jj
is singular. They migrated to the north, and found an
asylum in Bj'zantine territor)'. I)Ut 'Omar, nettled at their
disappearance, and fearing lest the\- should remain a thorn in
his side, demanded their extradition, on pain of expelling all
C'hristian tribes living under his protection. The Emperor,
unwilling to expose these to ill-treatment, complied with
ii. 414.
'
This second visit of 'Omar to Al-Jabiya is recorded by Ibn al-Athir,