He then proceeded to al-Jābiyah—the principal town of Ḥawrān—where he delivered a celebrated sermon transmitted through multiple reliable chains. Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad al-Marwazī said, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Hurmuz informed me that he heard Abū’l-Ghādiya al-Muzanī say: ‘ʿUmar came to us at al-Jābiyah, riding a grey camel. The sun shone on his bald head; he wore neither turban nor cap. He sat between two wooden saddle-posts, his seat a sheepskin from Najd that served as his bedding whenever he dismounted. His saddlebag was a coarse cloak or striped mantle stuffed with palm-fiber, which he used as a pillow. He wore a shirt that was torn in places and whose collar was darkened with use.’” Ismāʿīl al-Muʾaddib also narrated it from Ibn Hurmuz, who related it on the authority of Abū’l-ʿĀliyah al-Shāmī.

Qinnasrīn. In the same year Abū ʿUbaydah dispatched ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ—after the victory of Yarmūk—to Qinnasrīn. He concluded a jizyah treaty with the people of Aleppo, Manbij, and Antioch, and took the rest of the province of Qinnasrīn by force.

That year Sarūj and Edessa were likewise opened at the hands of ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm.

Ibn al-Kalbī adds that Abū ʿUbaydah advanced, with Khālid ibn al-Walīd commanding the vanguard, and besieged the inhabitants of Aelia (Jerusalem). They requested peace on the condition that ʿUmar himself would grant it and write their guarantee of safety. Abū ʿUbaydah therefore wrote to ʿUmar, who came to the Holy Land, concluded the treaty, remained for several days, and then returned to Medina.

In that same year the battle of Qarqīsiyā occurred. Al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd al-ʿĀmirī besieged the city, which surrendered under a peace settlement.

Also in that year, in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, the dating system was instituted. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib said: