A.H. 13–14.
north-east angle; and that of Shuraḥbīl near a gate called the River Gate which must have opened on the Baradà—probably the Gate of Paradise just mentioned. The City was thus completely surrounded, and skirmishes and sorties were of no avail to break through the cordon of hostile camps. The only hope of rescue was from without. But help, in spite of many valiant attempts, did not come; and after six months of investment, the Muslims entered the City from two points at the same moment. On one side they forced an entrance by assault, only to find that the Governor had capitulated and admitted their comrades-in-arms at the other, The two divisions met either in the Bazaar of the Coppersmiths or in that of the Oil Merchants, and here, after some disputation between the two parties, it was decided that the capitulation should hold good for the whole town. The treaty was drawn up in a church called the Maxillāt, where that of St Mary now stands, at the meeting-place of the Bazaars; and the name which was inserted in it was that of Khālid ibn al-Welīd. It was the month of Rejeb (the seventh month) in the year 14.
The Treaty.The terms of the treaty by which the Capital of Syria passed into the hands of the Muslims were as follows:—
"This is the treaty which Khālid the son of Al-Welīd deigns to make with the inhabitants of Damascus, upon his entry into this town. He secures to them their lives and goods, the retention of their churches and of the walls of their town. No house will be pulled down or taken away from its owner. This assures the alliance of God and the protection of His Prophet, of his Successor and of the Faithful."
Such is what appears to be the outline of the story of the taking of Damascus; but there are endless variants. These arise partly from the belief that the commander-in-chief was Abu ʿObeida, and that Khālid served under him as a volunteer, having, in fact, been removed from supreme command by ʿOmar at the moment of his accession to the Caliphate; or that it was Khālid who took the eastern quarter of the City by storm only to find that Abu ʿObeida had granted terms, instead of the reverse of this being the case. Even down to the present day the Christian and Jewish quarters of Damascus form the eastern half of the
