Note 237 — Chapter XV · CAMPAIGN IN SYRIA.—TAKING OF DAMASCUS.—BATTLE OF FIHL. A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.

The ordinary account is that Khâlid, hearing the merriment of the feast, stormed the city on his side, unknown to the rest of the army, and that the garrison, when overcome, hastened to conclude a capitulation with Abu Obeida on the other side. But this is incredible. When the victorious column, in possession of the eastern quarter, were pushing their way through the city, it would have been altogether too late. It is of course possible that Khâlid, knowing that the treaty was impending, sought thus to anticipate the consequences of capitulation, by which the city was lost as a prey, and its inhabitants as prisoners of war. On the other hand, some traditions ascribe the acceptance of the surrender and the treaty to Khâlid himself. But the account I have given is the most probable and consistent.

Later authorities tell of treachery on the part of a bishop, who, from the walls, held converse with Khâlid, and having obtained for himself terms, pointed out the place for an escalade, &c.; also that Khâlid was supplied with scaling ladders by a monastery in the Ghûta. Such tales rest generally on weak and unreliable authority; but as regards the last, the monks, we are told, obtained a permanent reduction of the land-tax for the service now rendered. (See Belâdzori, p. 121.)