[149] Dzul Kelâa, with his immediate clan, remained firm in the rebellion of Yemen, and aided Ikrima in its suppression: see above, p. 54. Ikrima’s column was called ‘the brigade of substitutes,’ because on his return from the long campaign in the south, his soldiers were allowed furlough to their homes, on condition of their giving substitutes for the new expedition in the north.
[150] Amru is said to have had the promise of the command over the tribes of Odzra and Sád-Hodzeim (branches of the Beni Codhâa) from Mahomet when he deputed him to Omân, and Abu Bekr fulfilled the promise. His present mission must have been subsequent to the affair at Dûma, as Welîd, on his return to Medîna from Irâc, was sent to help Iyâdh at Dûma. This further appears from the notice that Welîd, on joining the Syrian force, left as his locum tenens over the Beni Codhâa, Imral Cays ‘from Dûma’; implying that Dûma was by this time a Mahometan possession.
[151] Marj al Soffar is to the north of the Yermûk on the road to Damascus, and is frequently mentioned in the subsequent campaign. It was not far from Jâbia in the Jaulân (Gaulonitis) which became the grand rendezvous for the Moslem armies, and the point of departure both for northern Syria and Palestine. The journey from Medîna to Syria was always, as now, by the country to the east of the Dead Sea, very much what is the present pilgrim route from Damascus to Mecca.
Some accounts say that Khâlid himself was killed in the engagement, which, according to the wont of Saracen defeats, is slurred over with a few unsatisfactory and garbled words. According to other traditions, Khâlid was degraded because, in returning from Yemen, he delayed to swear allegiance to Abu Bekr, and abused Aly and Othmân for allowing the government to pass out of the house of Abd Menâf. This is altogether improbable. The account in the text is the received one and also the most consistent. But the dates are all uncertain, for none are reliable till after the battle of Ajnadein.
[152] Shorahbîl had fought under the great Khâlid at Yemâma, and thence accompanied him to Irâc. Deputed at this crisis to Medîna with despatches or booty, he there obtained this command.
[153] The Scriptural expressions of ‘the Promised Land,’ ‘the Land of Blessing,’ &c., are applied in the Corân to Palestine; and it remained long the most coveted destination of the Bedouin levies.
[154] The strength of the four columns is usually given as 27,000, some authorities adding 3,000 rallied from Khâlid’s force, and some not. Tradition represents Abu Bekr as sending them forth each to reduce a given district in Syria—Abu Obeida, Hims; Yezîd, Damascus; Shorahbîl, the Jordan; Amru, Palestine. A palpable anticipation. Abu Bekr’s vision was yet bounded by the Roman army, and the issue doubtful.
[155] Ar, or Rabbah of Moab.
[156] The Dothan of Joseph’s story is placed by Robinson north of Nablûs, near the plain of Megiddo. If this be the same, Yezîd must have penetrated into the centre of Palestine, which at this early period of the campaign is not likely. But the whole account is very brief and confused. It seems, also, improbable that Abu Obeida should have advanced quite so far as Jâbia, while as yet the Roman battalions dominated the country north of the Yermûk.
[157] The names of the Roman commanders are given as Jâreja (George?), Cayear ibn Nestûs, Darâckis, and Tadzâric (Theodoric). Tradition pretends that Heraclius, half persuaded of the truth of Islam, was desirous to cede to the Moslems the plain of Syria up to the mountains of Asia Minor, but was hindered by the perversity of his grandees.