The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.D. 645-56] GREEKS INVADE SYRIA 203
to be administered by him. Excepting raids of little import, A.H. 24-35.
Syria had for some time enjoyed rest, when suddenly in the pisrhtinp
second year of 'Othman's caliphate, Mu'awiya was startled with Greeks,
by the approach of an army from Asia Minor, which he 5,- \'j^
had not the means to oppose. Help was ordered from
the eastern provinces, and 8000 volunteers soon joined
the Syrian army. Thus reinforced, the Arabs repulsed the
By/antine attack. Following up the success, they overran
Asia Minor, and passing through Armenia, reached
Tabaristan, thus forming a junction with their comrades,
on the eastern shore of the Caspian. Then turning north,
they marched as far as Tiflis, and reached even to the Black
Sea. Thereafter hostilities with the Greeks were renewed
every summer, and evcntuall)', aided by naval expeditions
from the ports of Africa, the Syrian generals pushed forward
their conquests in the Levant and Asia Minor, strengthened
their border, and enlarged their coasts. A few years before
the death of 'Othman, Mu'awiya, accompanied by his I^edawi
wife, Meisun, headed one of these expeditions along the
coast to the very precincts of Constantinople ;
and returning
by 'Ammuriya (Amorion)^ destroyed many fortresses on
the
way.
In Africa, I have already noticed the desperate attack Africa,
made early in this reign on Alexandria from seaward
;
6^6\"u
the l^yzantinc forces on that occasion actually regained
jjossession of the City, but were shortly after driven out
by 'Amr; and against the Muslim power in Egypt no further
attack was for the present made. Farther to the west,
however, the Byzantine arms remained long in force; and
along the shores washed by the Mediterranean strong Arab
columns were still actively engaged against them. .Among
the chiefs who had joined the Egyptian army was 'Abdallah
ibn Sa'd ibn abi Sarh, already noticed as the foster-brother
of 'Othman. He bore no enviable reputation in Islam.
Employed by Mohammad to record his revelations, he had
proved unfaithful to the trust ; and on the capture of Mecca,
was by the Prophet proscribed from the general amnesty,
and only at the intercession of 'Othman escaped death.
An able administrator, he was appointed by 'Omar to the
government of Upper Egypt, when he advanced on Nubia.
But some years after, he fell out with 'Amr, in whom was