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CHAPTER XII

The Province of Ḳinnasrîn and the cities called al-ʿAwâṣim

Ḳinnasrîn capitulates. Abu-ʿUbaidah ibn-al-Jarrâḥ, after being through with al-Yarmûk, went to the province of Ḥimṣ and passed from one place to the other examining it.[1] Then he went to Ḳinnasrîn [Chalcis] with Khâlid ibn-al-Walîd commanding the van of his army.[2] The inhabitants of the city of Ḳinnasrîn resisted at first, then they sought refuge in their stronghold and asked to capitulate. Abu-ʿUbaidah made terms with them similar to those of Ḥimṣ. Thus the Moslems effected the conquest of the land of Ḳinnasrîn with its villages. The Ḥâḍir[3] Ḳinnasrîn had been settled by the Tanûkh tribe since they came to Syria and pitched their tents in it. They later built their houses in it. These, abu-ʿUbaidah summoned to Islâm. Some of them accepted it, but the banu-Salîḥ ibn-Ḥulwân ibn-ʿImrân ibn-al-Ḥâfi ibn-Ḳuḍâʿah remained Christian.[4]

Certain sons of Yazîd ibn-Ḥunain aṭ-Ṭâʾi-l-Anṭâki from their sheikhs:—A group of men from this Ḥâḍir Ḳinnasrîn embraced Islam in the caliphate of al-Mahdi who inscribed on their hands in green color the word "Ḳinnasrîn."

  1. Ar. istaḳrâha, Caetani, vol. iii, p. 790, translates: "rinovo con gli abitanti il primitive trattato."
  2. Ṭabari, vol. i, p. 2393.
  3. "A place where people alight and take up their abode by a constant source of water," T. ʿA. Cf. Wâḳidi, Futûḥ, vol. ii, pp. 35–39.
  4. Cf. Yâḳût, vol. iv, p. 184.
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