User:Al Ameer son/Bilad Sham

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The junds of Bilad al-Sham in the 9th century

Bilad al-Sham (Arabic: بِـلَاد الـشَّـام, romanized: Bilād al-Shām), often referred to as Islamic Syria or Syria in English-language sources, was a super-province of the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates. Under the Umayyads (661–750) Bilad al-Sham was the metropolitan province of the Caliphate and different localities throughout the province served as the seats of the Umayyad caliphs and princes.

Bilad al-Sham was first organized into the four junds (military districts) of Filastin, al-Urdunn, Dimashq, and Hims, between 637 and 640 by Caliph Umar following the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Syria. The jund of Qinnasrin was created out of the northern part of Hims by caliphs Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) or Yazid I (r. 680–683). The Jazira was made an independent province from the Mesopotamian part of Qinnasrin by Caliph Abd al-Malik in 692. In 786 the jund of al-Awasim and al-Thughur were established from northern frontier region of Qinnasrin by Caliph Harun al-Rashid.

Geography[edit]

Bilad al-Sham comprised the area of Greater Syria, spanning the modern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Palestine, as well as the regions of Hatay, Gaziantep, and Diyarbakir in modern Turkey.[1] It was bound by the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the Syrian Desert in the east toward Iraq. The western, Mediterranean coastal range were characterized by rolling hills in Palestine in the south, rising to their highest points in Mount Lebanon in the center before becoming considerably lower in the Jabal Ansariya range in the north. Eastward from the coastal range, the ridges of inland Syria become gradually lower, with the exception of Mount Hermon north of the Golan, and include the ranges of the Anti-Lebanon, Jabal al-Ruwaq, and Jabal Bishri. With the termination of the inland ridges begins the mostly level Syrian steppe.[2]

Muslim conquest of Syria[edit]

Main article: Muslim conquest of the Levant

Background[edit]

Before the Muslim conquest, Syria had been dominated by Hellenistic culture for nearly ten centuries, from the rule of Alexander the Great and his Seleucid and Ptolemaic successors through Roman and Byzantine rule. Nonetheless, Hellenism's influence on Syrian society was shallow, most Syrians remaining culturally Semitic and speaking forms of Aramaic, except for the Greek-speaking urban elites. Most Syrians followed the heterodox Monophysite creed of Christianity, rather than the official Byzantine Orthodox Church.[3] Even less exposed to Hellenistic culture were the nomadic and seminomadic Arabs of the Syrian steppe.[4] Byzantine rule was interrupted by the fifteen-year occupation of Syria by the Persian Sasanian Empire. The Sasanians has taken over the region in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 after four centuries of Roman–Byzantine rule.

The Muslims had territorial aspirations in Syria dating to the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (d. 632).[5] Syria, and especially Jerusalem, maintained a prominent place in Islam as the first qibla (direction of Muslim prayer) before Mecca and for its association with Jesus and the earlier Biblical prophets.[6] From the pre-Islamic period, the inhabitants of Medina, Mecca and Ta'if in the Hejaz (western Arabia), who formed the early Islamic elite, maintained commercial ties to southern Syria, where they took their trade caravans to the towns of Bosra, Gaza and al-Arish.[5] As the Muslim community swelled toward the end of his life, Muhammad may have viewed the conquest of Syria as a means to provide his followers with spoils and lands, in lieu of scarce resources at home, according to the historian Fred Donner.[6] Moreover, the top political importance attached by the Muslim state to controlling all of the nomadic tribes of Arabia naturally extended to those of the bordering Syrian steppe to the north, where there was a substantial Arab tribal presence.[7] Thus, economic, religious, and political factors all contributed to the early Muslim drive to conquer Syria.

Course of the conquest[edit]

Following the consolidation of Islamic hegemony over Arabia and its nomadic Arab tribes in the Ridda wars of 632–633, the caliph (leader of the Muslim community) Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) turned the nascent Muslim state's energies toward the conquest of Syria.[8] The conquest unfolded in three main phases, according to Donner. In the first phase, Abu Bakr dispatched four armies from Medina in late 633 led by the commanders Amr ibn al-As, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, Shurahbil ibn Hasana, all veterans of the Ridda wars, and Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, a leading companion of Muhammad.[9] Abu Ubayda may not have been dispatched until 636.[10] Each commander was assigned to a different zone, with Amr entrusted over Palestine, Yazid to the Balqa (central Transjordan), Shurahbil to southern Transjordan, and Abu Ubayda to the Ghassanid stomping grounds of the Golan Heights.[11] The Muslim commanders mainly engaged in small-scale skirmishes in the southern Syrian countryside with local garrisons.[12] The goal of the Muslims at the start of the conquest was likely bringing the Arabic-speaking nomadic, semi-nomadic, and settled tribesmen of the southern Syrian desert fringes under their control.[13]

The second phase began with the arrival of Khalid ibn al-Walid and his troops to Syria in 634.[12] Under Khalid's supreme command, the Muslim armies besieged and captured the southern Syrian urban centers of Bosra, Damascus, Beisan (Scythopolis), Pella, Gaza, and temporarily, Homs (Emesa) and Baalbek (Hierapolis).[14] Heraclius responded by deploying successive imperial armies against the Muslims. The Byzantines were decisively defeated in the resulting major battles of Ajnadayn in Palestine and Fahl and Yarmouk in Transjordan, all occurring in 634–636. The Muslim battlefield victories effectively ended organized resistance by the Byzantines.[14]

In the third phase, beginning about 637, the Muslim armies quickly occupied the northern Syrian countryside, while steadily conquering individual towns throughout the region whose garrisons held out alone following the breakdown of the imperial defense. Among the towns, a number of which held out until 647 or 648, were Aleppo (Beroea) and Qinnasrin (Chalcis) in the north, Hama, Homs and Baalbek (the latter two possibly for the second time), Damascus possibly for the second time, Jerusalem, and the Mediterranean coastal towns of Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, Caesarea, Antioch, Tripoli and Ascalon.[14]

Administrative history[edit]

Roman–Byzantine precursors[edit]

Administrative divisions of the Diocese of the East (Byzantine Syria)

The junds were an adaptation of the preexisting administrative system of the Diocese of the East (Byzantine Syria) to suit the nascent Muslim state's needs.[15] The Byzantine system, in turn, had been based on that instituted by its Roman predecessor in the aftermath of the First Jewish Revolt in 70 CE and the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 CE. To establish closer control over the broadly spread population of Syria in the wake of the revolt, the region was subdivided into smaller units centered around an urban center which policed and collected taxes from the surrounding hinterland.[16] By 400 the southern half of Syria was divided between the three Palestines (Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda, and Palaestina Tertia), Phoenicia and Arabia.[17]

Beginnings of Islamic administration[edit]

Following the decisive Muslim victory at Yarmouk in 636, and the occupation of most of the Mediterranean coast and northern Syria in the next two years, the Muslims began to militarily and administratively organize the region for their needs.[18] Caliph Umar, who ruled from Medina, visited the Muslim army's principal camp at Jabiya, the former Ghassanid capital, at least once between 637 and 639.[19] From there he personally oversaw the distribution of allowances (ata) and rations (rizq) to the Muslim soldiery, tax collection from the conquered population, and the appointments to military command. There may have been initial Muslim intentions to establish Jabiya as the permanent, central garrison town of Syria along the lines of those later established in the conquered regions of Iraq (Kufa and Basra), Egypt (Fustat), and Ifriqiya (Kairouan).[18] Those garrison cities developed into major urban centers of the Caliphate. During one of his visits, or by 640 at the latest, the central army camp at Jabiya was disbanded by Umar.[20] Instead, as a result of several factors, "a self-supporting, more flexible" military-administrative system was established, according to the historian Alan Walmsley.[20]

Unlike Iraq and Egypt where settlement was concentrated along the major rivers of those provinces, Syrian settlement was distributed over an extensive area of mountains, valleys, and plains. The complex geography slowed communications and army movements in the region, necessitating multiple regional centers for efficient administration and defense;[21] according to Walmsley, this was "a principle confirmed by over 500 years of Roman and Byzantine administration".[21] The change of Muslim military objectives following Yarmouk, when focus shifted to the northern Syrian and Mediterranean fronts, also necessitated the establishment of additional army headquarters and garrisons, such as Homs, diminishing Jabiya's centrality. Further reducing troop numbers in Jabiya was the Plague of Amwas in 639, which reduced the garrison there from 24,000 to 4,000. The decrease was likely due to factors in addition to the plague. In late 639 or early 640, a significant number of Muslim troops also left Syria for the conquest of Egypt under Amr's command.[22]

Troop numbers in Jabiya could not be restored in the aftermath of the plague and the departure of Muslim troops to other fronts. Unlike in Iraq where there were high levels of Arab tribal immigration, similar immigration into Syria was restricted by the Qurayshite elite in a bid to preserve their pre-established interests in the region.[23] Syria had a substantial, long-standing Arab population, both in the tribes who dominated the steppe and formerly served Byzantium and in the urban Arab communities, particularly those of Damascus and Homs.[24] Not long after Yarmouk, the Arab tribes of Syria were incorporated into the nascent Muslim military structure there. The native tribes had a preference for the established urban centers with which they were long familiarized.[23] Muslim settlement in the urban centers was facilitated by the wide availability of property in the cities in the wake of the conquests, as a result of the exodus of pro-Byzantine, Greek-speaking residents or in property transfers to the Muslims secured in capitulation agreements. Muslim settlement in the hinterland, on the other hand, was limited as the Aramaic-speaking peasantry remained in their villages.[24]

Establishment of the jund system[edit]

Map depicting the original junds (approximate boundaries), and the important towns and Arab tribes of Bilad al-Sham in the 640s

Umar divided Syria into the four junds of Filastin, al-Urdunn, Dimashq, and Hims. The new garrisons were assigned to the urban centers of Lydda, Tiberias, Damascus, and Homs, respectively. In effect Umar's gave his sanction of the existing military situation in Syria, where different army units operated independently on the different fronts. By establishing the junds, Umar transformed the military structures into provincial governments concerned with the taxation of the local populations and the distribution of collected money and supplies for the troops. During the caliphate of Umar's successor Uthman (r. 644–656), supplemental garrisons were established in the respective junds, especially in the coastal cities.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bosworth 1997, p. 261.
  2. ^ Donner 1981, p. 91.
  3. ^ Donner 1981, pp. 92, 94.
  4. ^ Donner 1981, pp. 94–95.
  5. ^ a b Donner 1981, p. 96.
  6. ^ a b Donner 1981, p. 97.
  7. ^ Donner 1981, p. 98.
  8. ^ Donner 1981, pp. 86, 89–90.
  9. ^ Donner 1981, pp. 112, 114.
  10. ^ Athamina 1994.
  11. ^ Donner 1981, pp. 115–116.
  12. ^ a b Donner 1981, p. 111.
  13. ^ Donner 1981, p. 117.
  14. ^ a b c Donner 1981, p. 112. Cite error: The named reference "FOOTNOTEDonner1981112" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ Walmsley 1987, p. 33.
  16. ^ Walmsley 1987, p. 34.
  17. ^ Walmsley 1987, p. 35.
  18. ^ a b Walmsley 1987, pp. 39–40.
  19. ^ Walmsley 1987, pp. 40, 44.
  20. ^ a b Walmsley 1987, p. 44.
  21. ^ a b Walmsley 1987, p. 41.
  22. ^ Walmsley 1987, pp. 43–44.
  23. ^ a b Walmsley 1987, pp. 42–43.
  24. ^ a b Walmsley 1987, pp. 41–42.
  25. ^ Walmsley 1987, p. 45.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Athamina, Khalil (July 1994). "The Appointment and Dismissal of Khālid b. al-Walīd from the Supreme Command: A Study of the Political Strategy of the Early Muslim Caliphs in Syria". Arabica. 41 (2). Brill: 253–272. doi:10.1163/157005894X00191. JSTOR 4057449.
  • Bosworth, C. E. (1997). "Al-Shām". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Lecomte, G. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume IX: San–Sze. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 261. ISBN 978-90-04-10422-8.
  • Crone, Patricia (1980). Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of the Islamic Polity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52940-9.
  • Donner, Fred M. (1981). The Early Islamic Conquests. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05327-8.
  • Lammens, Henri & Bosworth, C. E. (1997). "Al-Shām — 2. History (a) To 1918". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Lecomte, G. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume IX: San–Sze. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 262–273. ISBN 978-90-04-10422-8.
  • Walmsley, Alan G. (1987). The Administrative Structure and Urban Geography of the Jund of Filasṭīn and the Jund of al-Urdunn: The Cities and Districts of Palestine and East Jordan during the Early Islamic, ʿAbbāsid and Early Fāṭimid Periods (PhD). University of Sydney. {{cite thesis}}: line feed character in |title= at position 34 (help)
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