Note 240 — Chapter XV · CAMPAIGN IN SYRIA.—TAKING OF DAMASCUS.—BATTLE OF FIHL. A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.
Reading edition
The following is the inscription as copied by Von Kremer, who gives a minute description of this most interesting structure. It is the Septuagint version of Psalm cxiv. 13, with the addition only of the words, O Christ:—
Η. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ. ΣΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ. ΠΑΝΤΩΝ. ΤΩΝ ΑΙΟΝΩΝ. ΚΑΙ. Η. ΔΕΣΠΟΤΙΑ. ΣΟΥ. ΕΝ. ΠΑΣΗ. ΓΕΝΕΑΙ
ΚΑΙ ΓΕΝΕΑΙ.
Belâdzori tells us that Muâvia and Abd al Malik both desired to take the portion occupied by the Christians as a church into the Mosque, and offered them any sum they chose to ask in compensation; but they stood by the terms of the capitulation, and refused. It was reserved for Welîd I., son of Abd al Malik, to seize the building. When he summoned masons to demolish the partition-wall, they demurred, saying that whoever touched a church became an idiot. Whereupon Welîd took the pickaxe into his own hand, and commenced the work of demolition. (Belâdzori, p. 125.)
I have given all the particulars I could find in the early and reliable traditions regarding the siege and capitulation. The tales and romances of later days are altogether without foundation.