and with ʿIkrimah ibn Abi Jahl and a contingent. He then marched until he drew near Iliyaʾ (Jerusalem), where he and a Byzantine commander named Bahan (1) met in battle; he routed him, and Bahan withdrew (2) to Damascus. Khalid ibn Saʿid pursued him, and the army hastened toward Damascus seeking distinction. They reached Marj al-Ṣuffar, but Bahan’s advance posts closed in on them and cut the road. When Bahan advanced in force, Khalid ibn Saʿid fled and did not halt until he reached Dhi al-Marwah. The Byzantines overran the Muslim camp, save those who escaped on horseback. ʿIkrimah ibn Abi Jahl stood firm; he had retreated a short distance from Syria and remained as a rear guard for anyone who might join him.

Shurahbil ibn Hasana then arrived from Iraq, having come from Khalid ibn al-Walid, and presented himself to al-Ṣiddiq. Abu Bakr placed him in command of Khalid ibn Saʿid’s army and dispatched him to Syria. When he passed by Khalid ibn Saʿid at Dhi al-Marwah he took with him the greater part of the men who had fled there.

A new group of men next gathered around al-Ṣiddiq. He appointed Muʿawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan over them and sent him after his brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan. As he passed Khalid ibn Saʿid he collected those who still remained with him at Dhi al-Marwah and continued on to Syria.

Abu Bakr then granted Khalid ibn Saʿid permission to enter Madinah, remarking, “ʿUmar was better informed about Khalid.”

The Battle of Yarmuk

According to what Sayf ibn ʿUmar recorded, it took place in this same year, before the conquest of Damascus; Abu Jaʿfar ibn Jarir (may Allah have mercy on him) followed him in this view. The hadith-scholar Ibn ʿAsakir (may Allah have mercy on him), however, transmitted (3) from Yazid ibn Abi ʿUbaydah, al-Walid, Ibn Luhayʿah, al-Layth, and Abu Maʿshar that it occurred in the year 15 AH, after the conquest of Damascus. Muhammad ibn Ishaq said it was in Rajab of the year 15 AH. Khalifah ibn Khayyat (4) reported from Ibn al-Kalbi that the Battle of Yarmuk took place on Monday, the fifth of Rajab, 15 AH.

Ibn ʿAsakir commented, “This is what is soundly preserved; the claim of Sayf that it was before the conquest of Damascus in the year 13 AH has not been followed.”

I say: The following is the sequence given by Sayf and others, as related by Ibn Jarir (5) and others.

He said: When these armies set out toward Syria, the Byzantines were thrown into great alarm and fear, and they wrote to Heraclius