Dismissing the other generals to their respective commands, the Caliph, carrying with him Amru and Shorahbîl, resumed his journey westward, and, crossing the Jordan below the Lake of Tiberias, proceeded thus to Jerusalem. They gave him a palfrey to ride on, which pranced with jingling bells after the fashion of Syria. He disliked the motion. ‘What aileth the animal?’ he said; ‘I know not who hath taught thee this strange gait.’ So he dismounted and rode upon his own horse again.[327] Arrived at Jerusalem, the Caliph received the Patriarch and citizens with kindness and condescension. He granted them the same privileges as to the most favoured cities; imposed on the inhabitants an easy tribute, and confirmed them in possession of all their shrines and churches. Jerusalem was to the Moslem an object of intense veneration, not only as the cradle of Judaism and Christianity, but as the first Kibla of Islam itself—that is, the sacred spot to which the Faithful turn in prayer; and also as the place visited by the Prophet on his mysterious journey by night to heaven.[328] At the crest of the sacred mount there is a stony projection, which the tradition of the day had marked as Jacob’s pillow. The fond imagination of the Moslems has fixed upon this as the very point in the ‘Farther Temple,’ from which the winged steed mounted by Mahomet took its upward flight; and in a depression of the rock the eye, or the hand, of faith still traces the outline of the Prophet’s foot imprinted there as he sprang into his airy saddle. It was close to this that Omar laid the foundation of the Mosque which, to this day, bears his name.[329]
Christian tradition regarding Omar’s visit to Jerusalem.
Mahometan tradition gives no further detail respecting this memorable visit. But we are told by Christian writers that Omar accompanied Sophronius over the city, visited the Jerusalem, various places of pilgrimage, and graciously inquired into their history. As the appointed hour came round, the Patriarch bade the Caliph to perform his orisons on the spot where they chanced to be, namely, the Church of the Resurrection. But he declined to pray either there or in the Church of Constantine, where a carpet had been spread for him—alleging, as the reason, that if he were to pray there, his followers would deem it their duty to oust the Christians and take possession of the church for ever afterwards, as a place where Moslem prayer had once been offered up. He also visited Bethlehem. There, having prayed in the Church of the Nativity, he gave nevertheless a rescript to the Patriarch who accompanied him on the pious errand, securing the Christians in possession of the building, with the condition that not more than one Mussulman should ever enter at a time; but the stipulation, we are told, was disregarded, and a Mosque was eventually erected there, as well as on the site of the porch of the Church of Constantine.[330]
Omar returns to Medîna.
Whatever truth there may be in these traditions, Omar did not prolong his visit to Jerusalem or its environs. Having settled the matter for which he came, he proceeded to divide Palestine into two provinces; one of which he assigned to the government of Jerusalem, and the other to that of Ramleh. He then returned by the way that he came to Medîna.[331]
Causes which facilitated the conquest of Syria.
Thus was Syria, from the farthest north to the border of Egypt, within the space of three years, lost to Christendom. One reflects with wonder at the feeble resistance offered by the Byzantine power, both military and naval, and by its many strongholds of antiquity and renown, to this sudden inroad. The affinities of the Syrian Bedouins to the Arabian nation facilitated no doubt the conquest. There was also an element of weakness in the settled population; for luxurious living had demoralised the effeminate race and rendered it unable to resist the onset of the wild and fanatic invaders. Still worse, they had no heart to fight. What patriotic vigour might have still survived, was lost in religious strife. Sects rejoiced each in the humiliation of the other; and, as is usual in such controversies, the finer the distinction, the more inveterate the hatred thereby engendered. Loyalty was thus smothered by bitter jealousies, and there are not wanting instances even of active assistance rendered to the enemy.[332] There may have been among some, even a sense of relief in the equal though contemptuous licence given, by the toleration or haughty indifference of the conquerors, to all alike. But there was a still deeper cause, and that was the growing decrepitude of the Roman empire. No vigour remained to drive back the shock of barbarian invaders. And while northern hordes could by degrees amalgamate with the nations which they overran, the exclusive faith and the intolerant teaching of Islam kept the Arabs a race distinct and dominant.
The Arabs did not settle in Syria to the same extent as in Chaldæa.
The conquerors did not spread themselves abroad in Syria, as in Chaldæa. They founded no such Arabian towns and military settlements as Bussorah and Kûfa. The country and climate were less congenial, and the beautiful scenery, of the land of brooks of water and depths springing out of valleys and hills, the land of vines and fig-trees and pomegranates, the land of oil-olive and honey, offered fewer attractions to the Arabian races than the heated sandy plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, with their desert garb of tamarisk and groves of the familiar date. They came to Syria as conquerors; and, as conquerors, they settled largely, particularly the southern tribes, in Damascus, Hims, and other centres of administration. But the body of the native Syrians remained after the conquest substantially the same as before; and through long centuries of degradation they clung, as to some extent they still cling, to their ancestral faith.
Humiliation of Jews and Christians.