Others held a different view: they said that the one who seized the city by force was Abū ʿUbaydah; some attributed it to Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān, while maintaining that Khālid merely concluded a peace with the townspeople—a reversal of the version most commonly related, and Allah knows best.

The Companions themselves differed. Some declared that the city had been taken by treaty—that is, on the basis of the settlement granted by the commander, Abū ʿUbaydah—whereas others insisted it had been conquered outright, because Khālid had first stormed it with the sword, as we have stated. When the inhabitants realized this, they went to the rest of the commanders, Abū ʿUbaydah among them, and sought terms. The commanders therefore agreed to divide matters: half of the city was to be held under treaty and half as conquered territory. Thus its people retained possession of one half of what had been in their hands, while the Companions took control of the other half. This is supported by the report of Sayf ibn ʿUmar (2), who relates that the Companions had repeatedly invited the Damascenes to accept a settlement on a fifty-fifty basis, but they refused. When despair overtook them, they turned back to the offer the Companions had made and hastened to accept it, while the Companions did not yet know what Khālid had done. Allah knows best.

The churches left to the people of Damascus
Because of this arrangement the Companions took half of the Great Church of Damascus, known as the Church of John. They converted its eastern side into a mosque and left its western side as a church. Together with that half, they also left the Christians fourteen other churches—making a total of fifteen—including their half of the Church of John, which today forms the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. Khālid ibn al-Walīd drew up an official document to that effect (3), and it was attested by Abū ʿUbaydah, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, Yazīd, and Shurahbīl.

1. The first of these was the Church of al-Maqsalaṭ (4), where the commanders of the Companions had convened. It stood above the Great Market, and the arches still visible in the Soap-makers’ Market are the remains of the arcades that once supported it. The church later disappeared, its stones having been reused in other buildings.

2. The second was a small church at the head of Darb al-Qurashiyyīn. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir (5) states that parts of it remain to this day, though in a ruined condition.

3. The third stood in the Old Melon-House (6). I say: it lies inside the city near the kiosk, and I suspect that it is the mosque situated just before the previously mentioned site, for it has long since fallen into ruin. Allah knows best.