Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

travellers; Moslems journeying were to be entertained free of expense for three days at a time; Jews should not interfere with the conversion of any to Islam; should rise and stand before Moslems as sign of respect; they should adopt different dress from the Moslems, have different names, a different style of parting the hair, and different modes of talking; they could not use the Arabic tongue, sell wine, ride upon saddles, bear arms, ring the bells of their churches, set up crosses, nor take any servant that had belonged to a Moslem; they could not have windows overlooking Moslems in their houses, and were always to wear the same style of dress, and have gir

dles about the waist.

These terms agreed upon, Omar entered the city on foot, accompanied by the patriarch, with whom he conversed about the antiquities that met his eye; the patriarch the while, according to Christian tradition, loathing from his very heart the filthy son of the desert as he looked at his coarse garments of wool, patched as they were with sheepskin and soiled by the long journey. When, at last, he saw the kalif seated in the Church of the Resurrection, he exclaimed: "Verily, this is the abomination of desolation' predicted by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place!"

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

OMAR did not care to remain long at Jerusalem. He had left Ali in charge of affairs in Medina, and felt no uneasiness on that account; but it was some thing new for the kalif to be absent from the City of the Prophet at all. During his stay he selected as a site on which to build a mosque, the place from which tradition affirmed that Mohammed had taken his departure to heaven on the occasion of his remarkable visit' to paradise,-a spot marked, too, by the stone on which Jacob had rested his head, where the faithful were long permitted to lay their hands in the indentation left by the prophet's foot! He made arrangements for governing Syria in two divisions, and prepared for an invasion of Egypt, then weak and ready to fall into the hands of any master strong enough to make an attempt to win the prize.

The kalif accomplished the return to Medina in the same lowly manner that he had journeyed thence; and he was welcomed with great joy, for the people had somewhat feared lest the city at which they expected all mankind would be assembled at the resurrection might have so much charmed him as to tempt him to make it his permanent abode.

It seems evident that Omar now began to feel secure of the conquests his army had made, for at about this time he renewed his alienation from Kalid, who had been so valiant in the support of Islam. After his return from Jerusalem, he gave him a brief command at Kinnesrin (Chalcis), a city not far from Aleppo, which, as we have noted, Kalid had himself captured; but in 638, he brought him to trial at Homs for alleged misappropriation of funds, and condemned him to be deposed and fined. Upon this, the broken-down general died in neglect at Homs, in the year 642. The kalif was mortal, and if he had supposed there was to be need of the services of this valiant man, doubtless he would have found some means to keep him in authority..

During the year 638, the Romans made a last effort to drive the Arabs from Syria; and it failed, though the danger was at one juncture so threatening that the kalif left Medina the second time with the intention of giving his personal assistance to his followers. There was no need, however, for the Bedawin allies of the invaders became alarmed by movements in Mesopotamia, and deserted, after which the Romans were routed by the Moslems. It was in the same year that Cæsarea, the last city in Palestine to succumb, surrendered to Amr, who had long besieged it.

The conquest of Syria was followed in Arabia by months of famine, called the Year of Ashes, because the dry dust of the desert, scattered by the winds, rendered the atmosphere hazy (639). There was also a devastating plague in Syria the same year, which

THE YEAR OF ASHES.

253

spread to the valley of Mesopotamia, and down the rivers as far as the new metropolis of Bassora. Though Omar generously set out for Syria to see in what manner he might alleviate the condition of his suffering subjects, he was obliged to yield to the entreaties of his counsellors and return again, after ordering the Arab population to be removed from the infected regions to more salubrious and elevated lands. He said, as he returned to his capital: "I flee from the decree of Allah unto the decree of Allah."

The large number of deaths that occurred in Syria during the plague occasioned great confusion in settling estates. Omar was after all obliged to visit the region, and he went from one end to the other, bringing order out of the confusion. The governorship was left in the hands of Moawia, son of Abu Sofian, a man who, as we shall soon learn, was possessed of great ability and wisdom, and controlled by overweening ambition. On his departure for Medina, Bilal, the aged muezzin who had proclaimed the hour of prayer during the life of the prophet and had resigned the office at his death, once more performed his duties. As the well-remembered cry arose, the strong warriors to whom it had been familiar aforetime were affected to tears, and the air was filled with their sobs. Two years afterward the aged servitor died at Damascus.

Amr was eager to carry out the commission that he had received to make war upon Egypt, and set out in 640 with an army of some four thousand men, which was, however, augmented materially before he reached his destination, when it numbered perhaps

four times as many. The luxurious capital, Alexandria, was the point at which Amr aimed; it was the second city in the Byzantine empire, and through its vast commerce at this time sent provisions of grain to Constantinople, as it formerly had supplied Rome. Commerce is naturally unwarlike and timid, as we have had occasion already to notice; and Egypt was rich as well as weak. Amr lost no time in beginning a siege of Alexandria, and the Byzantines, who might have sent the city succor by sea, allowed the opportunity to pass, owing to their own slackness, and the death of Heraclius which occurred during the progress of the siege (March 11, 641). At last the general in command, and the citizens, lost hope of being able to protect themselves, and surrendered on condition that the place should not be sacked; agreeing to pay the tribute that the Moslems were accustomed to demand, Omar saying: "Tribute is better than spoil, for it continueth!" (A.D. 641) Amr established his head-quarters near Memphis, where, on the site of Babylon, which he destroyed, a station grew up, known as Fostat, "the Encampment" (the present Cairo), and there he laid the foundation of a mosque, which still bears his name. He left the land in the hands of the Egyptians, having established communication by sea with the port of Medina, through which means grain was carried from the country of the pyramids to Arabia.*

*

Many writers, following Abulfaraj, affirm that after the capitulation of Alexandria the vast library was destroyed, and its books used in the four thousand baths of the city for fuel, six months being almost too short a time to exhaust the supply. In spite of Dean Milman's assertion, the story is now discredited.

« ZurückWeiter »