Battle of Marj al-Saffar (634)

Last updated
Battle of Marj Al-Saffar
Part of the Muslim conquest of Syria
and the Arab–Byzantine Wars
the Campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid
Date23 January 635 [1]
Location
Result Rashidun Caliphate victory
Belligerents
Rashidun Caliphate Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Khalid ibn al-Walid Thomas (son-in-law of Heraclius)

The Battle of Marj al-Saffar took place in 634. At Damascus, Thomas, son-in-law of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, was in charge. Receiving the intelligence of Khalid's march towards Damascus he prepared the defences of Damascus. He wrote to Emperor Heraclius for reinforcement, who was at Emesa that time. Moreover, Thomas, in order to get more time to prepare for a siege, sent the armies to delay, or if possible, halt Khalid's march to Damascus. One such army was defeated at the Battle of Yaqusa in mid-August 634 near Lake Tiberias 150 km from Damascus, another army that halted the Muslim advance to Damascus was defeated in the Battle of Marj al-Saffar on 23 January 635. It is said that Umm Hakim bint al-Harith ibn Hisham, a Muslim heroine was involved in this battle and killed seven Byzantine soldiers. [2]

Related Research Articles

The 630s decade ran from January 1, 630, to December 31, 639.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">634</span> Calendar year

Year 634 (DCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 634 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Yarmuk</span> 636 CE conflict between the Rashidun Caliphate and Byzantine Empire

The Battle of the Yarmuk was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what are now the borders of Syria–Jordan and Syria-Israel, southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The result of the battle was a crushing Muslim victory that ended Roman rule in Syria after about seven centuries. The Battle of the Yarmuk is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history, and it marked the first great wave of early Muslim conquests after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, heralding the rapid advance of Islam into the then-Christian/Roman Levant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab–Byzantine wars</span> Series of wars between the 7th and 11th centuries

The Arab–Byzantine wars were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 11th century. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, in the 7th century and continued by their successors until the mid-11th century.

ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ, better known as Abū ʿUbayda was a Muslim commander and one of the Companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is mostly known for being one of the ten to whom Paradise was promised. He remained commander of a large section of the Rashidun Army during the time of the Rashid Caliph Umar and was on the list of Umar's appointed successors to the Rashidun Caliphate but died before Umar did.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Ajnadayn</span> 634 CE conflict between the Rashidun Caliphate and Byzantine Empire

The Battle of Ajnadayn was fought in July or August 634, in a location close to Beit Guvrin in the present-day Palestine region; it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the army of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory. The details of this battle are mostly known through Muslim sources, such as the ninth-century historian al-Waqidi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim conquest of the Levant</span> 7th-century conquest by the Rashidun Caliphate

The Muslim conquest of the Levant, or Arab conquest of Syria, was a 634–638 CE invasion of Byzantine Syria by the Rashidun Caliphate. A part of the wider Arab-Byzantine Wars, the Levant was brought under Arab Muslim rule and developed into the provincial region of Bilad al-Sham. Clashes between the Arabs and Byzantines on the southern Levantine borders of the Byzantine Empire had occurred during the lifetime of Muhammad, with the Battle of Muʿtah in 629 CE. However, the actual conquest did not begin until 634, two years after Muhammad's death. It was led by the first two Rashidun caliphs who succeeded Muhammad: Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab. During this time, Khalid ibn al-Walid was the most important leader of the Rashidun army.

The Battle of Marj Rahit was a minor conflict fought between the Ghassanid Arab allies of Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun army under the command of Khalid bin Walid in April 634. The morning after the Battle of Huwwarin, Khalid moved his army of 9000 towards Damascus.

Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb ibn Umayya was a leading Arab Muslim commander in the conquest of Syria from 634 until his death in the plague of Amwas in 639. Following the capture of Damascus around 635, he was placed in command of the city and its military district. After the death of the overall Muslim commander of Syria, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, in 639, he was appointed by Caliph Umar the governor of Damascus, Jordan and Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rashidun Caliphate</span> First Islamic caliphate (632–661)

The Rashidun Caliphate was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his death in 632 CE. During its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the West Asia and Northeast Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Damascus (634)</span> Part of the Muslim Conquest of Syria

The siege of Damascus (634) lasted from 21 August to 19 September 634 before the city fell to the Rashidun Caliphate. Damascus was the first major city of the Eastern Roman Empire to fall in the Muslim conquest of Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Emesa</span> 635–636 CE siege of Byzantine Syrian city by the Rashidun Caliphate

The siege of Emesa was laid by the forces of Rashidun Caliphate from December 635 up until March 636. This led to the Islamic conquest of Emesa, which was a major trading city of the Byzantine Empire in the Levant.

Battle of Marj-ud-Debaj was fought between the Byzantine army, survivors from the conquest of Damascus, and the Rashidun Caliphate army in September 634. It was a successful raid after three days of armistice, on the Byzantine survivors of the conquest of Damascus.

Theodore Trithyrius, commonly known by his title as Theodore the Sacellarius, was a Byzantine treasurer of the state (sacellarius) and a military commander during the last years of the reign of Byzantine emperor Heraclius.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasana was one of the earliest Muslim converts, sahaba and a key commander in the Rashidun army during the Muslim conquest of the Levant.

Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in service to Muhammad and the first two Rashidun caliphs: Abu Bakr and Umar. Khalid played the leading command roles in the Ridda Wars against rebel tribes in Arabia in 632–633, the initial campaigns in Sasanian Iraq in 633–634, and the conquest of Byzantine Syria in 634–638.

Battle of Marj al-Saffar may refer to:

The Battle of Marj ar-Rum, also known as the Battle of Marj Dimashq, was a conflict between the Rashidun caliphate and the Byzantine Empire. The battle occurred shortly after the Battle of Fahl when the Byzantines attempted to recapture Damascus. Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor, sent two separate forces in the effort, one army led by Theodore the Patricius and a second army led by Shannash al-Rome. The Rashidun army led by Abu Ubaydah ibn al Jarrah and Khalid ibn al-Walid was ordered to assist Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan who was acting as the garrison commander of Damascus.

Mansur ibn Sarjun was a Byzantine fiscal official or governor of Damascus of local Syrian origin under emperors Maurice and Heraclius, as well as during the Persian occupation of Damascus in 614–628. He surrendered the city to the besieging Arab Muslims in 635, having first secured the safe conduct of the local inhabitants. For his role in the surrender, he was maligned in Christian circles. Mansur's family remained prominent under Muslim rule, with his son Sarjun serving as a high-ranking official in Syria under the early Umayyad caliphs and his grandson John of Damascus attaining prominence as one of the major Christian thinkers of his time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th century in Lebanon</span> Events from the 7th century in Lebanon

This article lists historical events that occurred between 601–700 in modern-day Lebanon or regarding its people.

References

Sources