The Biography of the sword of Allah: “Khalid bin Walid” may Allah be pleased with him (Part 58)
The appointment of strong commanders at the gates of Damascus
The city of Damascus had five central gates at that time, for which Abu Ubaidah assigned his strong commanders. As the author of the book “Khalid Ibn Walid” writes: “Abu Ubaidah himself was placed at the gate of Al-Jabiyya, Amr Ibn Aas at the gate of Al-Faradis, Sharhbil Ibn Hasna at the gate of Al-Tuma, Qays Ibn Habirah at the gate of Al-Faraj, and he placed Khalid Ibn Walid at the gate of Al-Shaqi of the city of Damascus.”
The Muslims continued the siege for seventy days, and the people of Damascus were waiting for new reinforcements from the Romans; however, everyone was disappointed by the arrival of new forces. Sayyedna Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him, despite the fact that he was not considered the commander-in-chief of the army, was still in full readiness. He had his eyes open to all the surroundings, was aware of the enemy’s movements, and had arranged spies from all sides to bring him news of the enemy moment by moment.
The beginning of the attack by Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him
In this state of war and siege, one of the important priests of Damascus had a baby boy and prepared a big party, inviting people to eat and drink wine. Everyone was busy eating and drinking wine and completely forgot about the situation they were in.
Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him, took advantage of this opportunity. First, he threw many ropes and strings over the walls of the castle, and then his soldiers climbed those walls in turn. The wall that Khalid and his fellow soldiers climbed was considered the most important in Damascus. This wall was well fortified, and its entrance was very difficult to breach. However, those soldiers took this serious action and moved towards the eastern door, killing the guards. The Muslims who lived in Damascus were very surprised by what had happened at this wall at this time of night.
Before Khalid began the assault, Abu Ubaidah (RA) had proposed peace to the people of Damascus, asking them to give half of their property and lands to the Muslims. However, the people of Damascus refused to accept this peace. When they realized that Khalid had started the attack from the eastern door, they became disturbed and anxious and accepted the offer.
On the other hand, Khalid, may Allah be pleased with him, had gone far ahead with his companions and had killed countless soldiers. However, when he learned about the peace proposal and saw that the disbelievers had all made peace, he also stopped fighting and turned to peace.
In this way, the Muslims and the Mujahideen of Islam were able to win without bloodshed and continuous war, conquering the very important city of Damascus in Syria.
Conquering the city of Fahal
The city of Fahal was a central and important location for the Romans, where approximately eighty thousand fighting forces were gathered. The Romans had chosen Fahal as a defensive point to protect their ammunition and soldiers, and all the Romans hoped for defense in that city.
The Muslims realized that it would be difficult to attack Homs at this time, so they decided to first capture its defenses before attacking Homs. Abu Ubaidah chose Sharhbil bin Hasna (one of Khalid’s strong commanders) as the first commander of the army, and they all moved toward Fahal.
As soon as the Romans were informed about the arrival of the Muslims, they diverted all the rivers and streams in the direction of the Muslims; however, this ultimately turned to their detriment and benefited the Muslims. Eighty thousand fighting men on horseback could not fight against the Mujahideen in those waters and mud. The Muslims killed many of them and forced the others to flee, getting stuck in the mud. As a result, they all fell into the trap set by the Mujahideen.
In this straightforward manner, Hazrat Khalid, Abu Ubaidah, and the other Mujahideen were able to conquer the city of Fahal, after which they all moved toward the city of Homs and made serious decisions to conquer it.
