Muslim conquest of Syria

Quick Facts: Who was Muslim conquest of Syria?

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Muslim conquest of Syria

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The 7th-century military campaign by the Rashidun Caliphate to conquer Byzantine Syria.

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Origins & Early Life

The Rashidun Caliphate conquered Byzantine Syria between 634–638 CE as part of the Arab–Byzantine wars and the wider Muslim conquests. Clashes between the Muslims and the Byzantines on the southern Levantine borders of the Byzantine Empire had occurred previously during the lifetime of Muhammad, with the Battle of Mu'tah 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. During this time, Khalid ibn al-Walid was the most important commander of the Rashidun army.

Career & Major Achievements

In the aftermath of the conquest, Syria was brought under Arab Muslim rule and developed into the provincial region of Bilad al-Sham. Syria had been under Roman rule for seven centuries prior to the Arab Muslim conquest and had been invaded by the Persian Sasanian Empire on a number of occasions during the 3rd, 6th and 7th centuries; it had also been subject to raids by the Sasanian Empire' Arab allies, the Lakhmids. During the Roman period, beginning after the Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70, the Levant (Judea, Samaria, and the Galilee) was renamed Palaestina, subdivided into Diocese I and II. The Romans also renamed an area of land including the Negev, Sinai, and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula as Palaestina Salutaris, sometimes called Palaestina III or Palaestina Tertia. Part of the area was ruled by the Arab vassal state of the Ghassanids' symmachos.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

During the last of the Roman-Persian Wars, beginning in 602, the Persians under Khosrau II had succeeded in occupying Syria, Palestine and Egypt for over a decade before being forced by the victories of Heraclius to conclude the peace of 628. Thus, on the eve of the Muslim conquests the Romans (or Byzantines as modern Western historians conventionally refer to Romans of this period) were still in the process of rebuilding their authority in these territories, which in some areas had been lost to them for almost twenty years. Politically, the Syrian region consisted of two provinces: Syria proper stretched from Antioch and Aleppo in the north to the top of the Dead Sea. To the west and south of the Dead Sea lay the province of Palestine. Byzantine Syria was mostly home to Aramaic and Greek speakers and a partly Arab population, especially in its eastern and southern parts.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Muslim conquest of Syria

True or False: “Did the Muslim conquest of Syria begin immediately after the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE?”

Answer (FALSE ❌): The actual major conquest did not commence until 634 CE, two years following Muhammad's passing.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

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