We read in later days of the Ordinance of Omar, to regulate the conditions of Christian communities throughout Islam. But it would be a libel on that tolerant Ruler to credit him with the greater part of these observances. It is true that the stamp of inferiority—according to the Divine injunction, Fight against the people of the Book, Jews and Christians, until they pay tribute with their hands and are humbled[333]—was branded upon them from the first; but the worst disabilities of that intolerant Ordinance were not imposed till a later period. Introduced by degrees, these gradually became, through practice and precedent, the law of the land. At the first the exactions of the conquerors, besides the universal tribute, were limited to the demand of a yearly supply of oil-olive and other food, and the obligation to entertain Moslem travellers on their journey for three days at a time. But when the Caliphate was established at Damascus, its pomp and pride could no longer brook the semblance even of social equality, and hence the badge of an inferior race must be shown at every step. The dress of both sexes and of their slaves must be distinguished by broad stripes of yellow. They were forbidden to appear on horseback; and if they rode on mule or ass, their stirrups must be of wood, and the saddle known by knobs of the same material. Their graves must be level with the ground, and the mark of the devil placed on the lintel of their doors. Their children must be taught by Moslem masters; and the race, however able or well qualified, was proscribed from aspiring to any office of high emolument or trust. Besides the existing churches spared at the conquest, no new building must be erected for the purposes of worship; free entry into all their holy places must be allowed at the pleasure of the Moslem; no cross must remain in view outside, nor any church bells rung. They must refrain from processions in the street at Easter and other solemn seasons; and in short from anything, whether by outward symbol, word, or deed, in rivalry or derogation of the royal faith. Such was the so-called Code of Omar.[334] Enforced with less or greater stringency in different lands and under different dynasties, it was, and still remains, the law of Islam. One must admire the rare tenacity of the subject faith, which, with but scanty light and hope, held its ground through weary ages of insult and depression, and still survives to see, as we now may hope, the dawning of a brighter day.
The East cut off from the West.
I have spoken of the loss of Syria as the dismemberment of a limb from the Byzantine empire. In one respect it was something more. For their own safety, the Romans dismantled a broad belt of country on the borders of the now barbarian Syria. The towns and fortresses were razed, and the inhabitants withdrawn. And so the neutral zone became a barrier against travel to and fro. For all ordinary communication, whether social, religious, or commercial, the road was closed. The East was severed from the West.
Silence of Byzantine historians.
‘The abomination of desolation’ wept over by Sophronius stood in the Holy Place. The cradle of Christianity, Zion the joy of the whole earth, was trodden under foot, and utterly cut off from the sight of its votaries. And all is told by the Byzantine writers in a few short lines. The pen of the Christian annalist might well refuse to write the story of cowardice and shame.
CHAPTER XXI.
RISING IN NORTHERN SYRIA.
A.H. XVII. A.D. 638.
Rising in Northern Syria.
In the sixth year of Omar’s Caliphate, a desperate effort was made by the Byzantine power, and at one moment not without some prospect of success, to shake off the Moslem yoke and recover possession of Northern Syria.
Romans by sea support attack of Mesopotamian Bedouins. A.H. XVII. A.D. 638.
The movement is attributed by tradition to an appeal from the Christian tribes of Mesopotamia, which when the Roman army retired into Asia Minor, besought the Emperor to save them from falling under his adversary’s sway. Although the Moslem frontier on the side of Cilicia was tolerably secure, yet the seaboard to the west, and the desert border on the east of Syria, were both vulnerable. Most of the strongholds of Mesopotamia, it is true, had already fallen into the hands of Sád;[335] but the wandering Bedouins were not controlled by these, and with few exceptions the numerous Christian tribes still looked for support to the Persian or the Roman empires. The maritime power of the Romans was yet untouched. Cæsarea with its naval supports remained proof against landward attack; and the whole sea coast was kept unsettled by the hope, or by the fear, that the Roman fleet might at any time appear. The Emperor now promised the dwellers in Mesopotamia that he would second their efforts by way of the sea. An expedition was accordingly directed from the port of Alexandria upon Antioch; while the Bedouins gathered in great hordes around Hims. Thus seriously threatened, Abu Obeida called in Khâlid from Kinnisrîn, and every garrison that could be spared from the south. But the enemy was still too strong to be dispersed by the force at his disposal, and so he sent an urgent summons for assistance to Medîna. Thereupon Omar ordered Sád to despatch a strong column from Kûfa under Cacâa for the relief of Hims without a day’s delay; and likewise to effect a diversion by sending other columns against Rickka, Roha, Nisibîn, and such like strongholds in Upper Mesopotamia. Meanwhile the Romans landed from their ships. Antioch threw open her gates to them; and Kinnisrîn, Aleppo, and all the chief towns in the north, were in full revolt. Abu Obeida called a council of war; Khâlid was for giving battle, but he was alone in that view. Abu Obeida, feeling too weak to cope with the now combined forces of the Bedouins and Romans, retired within the walls of Hims, and, hemmed in by enemies, awaited the succour now advancing from Kûfa. So grave did Omar himself regard the crisis that, quitting Medîna for the second time, he journeyed to Jâbia, intending to march in person with the reinforcements northwards. But while on the journey, a change had already come over the scene. The vigorous movements in Mesopotamia so alarmed the Bedouins for the safety of their homes in the desert, that they began to forsake the Roman cause. Abu Obeida puts the Romans and Bedouins to flight.Seeing now his opportunity, Abu Obeida issued from the fortress, and after a severe engagement routed the enemy, who fled in such confusion that, even before the arrival of Cacâa, they were totally dispersed. Omar returned from Jâbia to Medîna. He was delighted at the result; and he specially commended the alacrity of the Kûfa column:—‘The Lord reward them,’ he wrote to Sád, ‘for their ready gathering and their speedy march to the succour of their beleaguered brethren.’[336]