in the outskirts of Damascus. They fought a ferocious battle, after which Allah put the Byzantines to flight; the enemy withdrew into the city and shut its gates, and the Muslims besieged it until it surrendered and paid the jizya (poll-tax). A letter appointing Abū ʿUbaydah as commander and dismissing Khālid had already reached him, but Abū ʿUbaydah felt too embarrassed to read it to Khālid until Damascus had fallen and the treaty had been concluded through Khālid’s efforts, so he drafted the document in Khālid’s name. Once Damascus had made peace, Bāhān departed to join the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. It is also said that the siege of Damascus lasted four months.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq stated: ʿUmar was displeased with Khālid ibn al-Walīd for killing Ibn Nuwaira, so he wrote to Abū ʿUbaydah, “Remove his turban and make him divide his wealth in half.” When Abū ʿUbaydah informed him of this, Khālid replied, “I would never disobey the Commander of the Believers; do with me as you see fit.” Abū ʿUbaydah therefore divided his property with him, even taking one of his sandals.

Ibn Jarīr related: The first people to be besieged in Syria were the inhabitants of Faḥl, followed by those of Damascus. Abū ʿUbaydah dispatched Dhū al-Kilāʿ, who positioned himself between Damascus and Ḥimṣ as a protective screen. They surrounded Damascus—Abū ʿUbaydah on one front, Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān on another, and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ on a third—while Heraclius was then in Ḥimṣ.

They pressed the siege for about seventy nights, bombarding the city with catapults. Reinforcements from Heraclius set out to relieve Damascus, but Dhū al-Kilāʿ’s troops engaged them, and when the Damascenes realized that no aid would reach them, their resolve broke and they grew weak.

The commander of Damascus had just been blessed with a newborn child, so he prepared a banquet and was preoccupied that day. Khālid ibn al-Walīd, who neither slept himself nor let others sleep, had already fashioned ropes in the form of ladders. When evening came he organized his men and advanced together with al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn ʿAmr, Madhʿūr ibn ʿAdī, and others of like courage. They told the rest of the force, “When you hear our takbīr (cry of ‘Allāhu akbar’) atop the wall, make your way to us and storm the gate.” He then said: