to the pulpit, and there he swore that he would lay siege to Constantinople, saying, “March forth by the blessing of Allah. Fear Allah, and—above all—show patience, patience.”

He advanced until he encamped at Dābiq (1). Maslamah likewise set out, taking with him Alion the Greek from Marʿash to guide him through the routes and weak points. Maslamah bound him by oath to give honest counsel. They crossed the straits and besieged Constantinople until the blockade became unbearable. Its inhabitants offered a ransom, but Maslamah would accept nothing short of storming the city by force.

The Byzantines said, “Send Alion to us; he is one of us and understands our speech.” Maslamah sent him, but Alion betrayed the Muslims and said to the Byzantines, “If you make me king, you will be secure.” They enthroned him. He then came out to Maslamah and said, “They have agreed to open the city, but they will not do so until you withdraw.”

Maslamah replied, “I fear your treachery.” Alion swore that he would hand over every captive and all the wealth inside. Maslamah therefore moved away, while Alion—may Allah curse him—entered, donned the crown, and ordered all the fodder stored outside to be brought within the walls. They filled the granaries (2). When the alarm reached Maslamah he cried the takbīr with the army and managed to seize a little of the fodder, but the gates were shut in his face. He sent to Alion reminding him of his pledge, but Alion sent back: “The dominion of the Romans is not bartered for fidelity.”

Maslamah remained outside the walls for thirty months. Hunger drove the camp to the point that people ate carrion and dung, while in the middle of the encampment lay a mountain-like heap of wheat over which the Byzantines envied them.

Muḥammad ibn Ziyād al-Alhānī said: “We campaigned against Constantinople and grew so hungry that many died. If a man went out to relieve himself while another watched, once he rose the latter would pounce on his excrement and eat it. A man might even go out, be seized, slaughtered, and eaten. The granaries, heaped with food like hills, were beyond our reach; we used their very presence only to vex the people of Constantinople.”

When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz became caliph, he granted the army permission to withdraw from the siege.