as well as the troops he had placed on the road between Damascus and Ḥimṣ, and they laid a relentless siege to the city—seventy nights according to one report; others say four months, six months, or even fourteen months, and Allah knows best.
The people of Damascus resisted with all their might. They kept sending to their king, Heraclius—who was residing in Ḥimṣ—asking him for reinforcements, but no help could reach them because of Dhū al-Kalāʿ, whom Abū ʿUbaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) had stationed between Damascus and Ḥimṣ, one day’s march from the city. When the Damascenes realized that no aid would arrive, they despaired (1), lost heart, and grew weak, while the Muslims gained strength and tightened the siege.
Winter arrived, the cold intensified, and conditions and fighting became extremely harsh. By the decree of Allah the Most High, the Possessor of might and majesty, a child was born to the patrician of Damascus during those nights. He prepared food for the people and afterwards served them drink. They spent the night at his banquet; having eaten, drunk, and grown weary, they fell asleep at their posts and abandoned their stations.
The commander of war, Khālid ibn al-Walīd, took notice, for he never slept himself nor allowed anyone else to sleep. He kept watches over them night and day and had spies and scouts who reported to him the enemy’s situation morning and evening. Seeing the stillness of that night and that no one was manning the ramparts, he brought out rope ladders he had prepared beforehand and advanced with a band of stalwart champions—among them al-Qaʿqāʿ ibn ʿAmr and Madhʿūr ibn ʿAdī.
He had positioned his force at the gate and said to them, “When you hear us proclaim the takbīr atop the wall, hasten to join us.” He and his companions then swam across the moat with water-skins around their necks, set up the ladders, fixed their tops to the battlements, braced the bottoms outside the trench, and climbed. When they were all level (2) with the summit of the wall, they raised their voices with the takbīr. The Muslims came up and climbed the ladders. Khālid and his brave companions then descended from the wall to the gatekeepers, killed them, hacked through the gate-bars with their swords, and forced the gate open. Khālid’s contingent entered through the Eastern Gate.
When the inhabitants heard the takbīr they were alarmed. Each group rushed back to its section of the wall, not knowing what had happened. Everyone who approached from the side of the Eastern Gate was killed by Khālid’s men. Khālid burst into the town (3) by force and killed whoever he found.
The people at each gate then went to the Muslim commander outside their gate to ask about a peace settlement. The Muslims had earlier invited them to accept a half-and-half division of their property and they had refused; now, when the offer was renewed, they accepted. Meanwhile, the rest of the Companions did not yet know what Khālid had done. The Muslims entered from every side and gate and found Khālid still killing those he met.
They said to him, “We have granted them safety.” He replied, “I have taken the city by force.” The commanders gathered in the middle of the city at the Church of al-Maqsalaṭ, near today’s Darb al-Rīḥān.
Thus did Sayf ibn ʿUmar and others relate, and this is the well-known account: that Khālid forced the gate open.