Roads and Stations in Southern Bilâd Al-Shâm in the 7Th-8Th Centuries

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Roads and Stations in Southern Bilâd Al-Shâm in the 7Th-8Th Centuries ARAM, 8 (1996), 177-188 177 ROADS AND STATIONS IN SOUTHERN BILÂD AL-SHÂM IN THE 7TH-8TH CENTURIES YEHOSHU‘A FRENKEL The aim of the present study is to compile a list of locations in southern Bilâd al-Shâm (namely Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) in the seventh and eighth centuries which presumably served as stations along the desert roads in that area. It is based on Arabic sources which describe the his- tory of the emerging Islamic Caliphate. These are descriptions in the standard Arabic sources of the expeditions (maghâzî) of the Prophet MuÌammad and of the initial conquests (al-futûÌat al-‘umariyya) during the reign the Râshidûn (the four Rightly Guided Caliphs). As is well known among students of early Islamic history, no contemporary archives from the years of the Prophet MuÌammad and his successors sur- vived.1 The information about this period in the Arabic sources was recorded several generation later. It was only after the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty and the emergence of an Islamic polity that the accounts of the events which had occurred during the first half of the seventh century were written in Arabic. This fact cast doubt on the fitness of these sources as records of his- torical events which had occurred some centuries earlier. Owing to the lacunae in the sources currently at our disposal, I am inclined to argue that the roads described in the maghâzî and futûÌat literature are the roads which served travellers between the Îidjâz and Bilâd al-Shâm during the Umayyad and early ‘Abbasid periods.2 I assume that it is not totally off-course to propose that several locations named in the maghâzî and futûÌat narratives were actually way-stations used by travellers during the eighth century. This does not mean that Islamic armies did not encamp at oases while travelling along these roads during the seventh century, but it emphasises that these way-stations first attracted the attention of the Muslims scholars because officials and pil- grims travelling from Syria to the holy city of Mecca used them as camp sites. 1 On the other hand, on the basis of extracts from Syrian chronicles composed in around the years 637-640 we can establish the place of two major battles. The first, in 634, occurred to the east of Gaza, and the second, in 636, in Gabitha (Gab‘ot Ramta). See Andrew Palmer (ed.), The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles, (Liverpool University Press, 1993), pp. 3, 19 and 230. 2 ∑âliÌ Darâdkah, “™arîq al-Ìadjdj al-shâmi fi al-‘ahd al-umawi”, in MuÌammad ‘Adnân Bakhît (ed.), Al-Mu’tamar al-duwali al-râbi‘ li-ta’tikh bilâd al-shâm: Bilâd al-shâm fi al-‘ahd al-umawi, (‘Amman, 1989), pp. 427-461, based his historical reconstruction mostly on ‘Abbasid and later geographical sources. 178 ROADS AND STATIONS IN SOUTHERN BILÂD AL-SHÂM One example of the difficulties in the reconstruction of the Islamic con- quests is the expedition to the oasis of Dûmat al-Djandl (the modern Saudi site of al-Djawf) at the southern end of Wâdi SirÌân. According to al-Wâqidi and other sources, the Prophet MuÌammad dispatched an expeditionary force to demand the surrender of this place. According to Sayf ibn ‘Umar (d. 180/796), however, this oasis was conquered by Khâlid ibn al-Walîd later in the course of the Islamic conquests, after he had subdued al-Anbar and ‘Ain al-Tamar. This literally implies that his armies moved from the Euphrates valley south towards al-Madina – a somewhat strange route for a general leading Islamic columns from the desert northward to Mesopotamia.3 A similar example of difficulties in the historiography of the emergence of the Islamic Caliphate is the account of the expedition and conquest of Dhât al-Salâsil. According to several traditions, ‘Amr ibn al-‘AÒ was sent by the Prophet MuÌammad in 8/629 against a Byzantine post in southern Transjor- dan, and he encamped at a water source called Salâsil (or Salsal). On the other hand another historical tradition, narrated by Sayf ibn ‘Umar, holds that Khâlid ibn al-Walid engaged Sassanian forces in the battle of Salâsil in 12/633. According to this, we should look for a place named Salâsil in ‘Iraq.4 The locations named in the traditions narrating the expeditions of the Prophet MuÌammad and the advance of Islamic forces between 8/629 and 13/634 are mainly desert oases in the Îidjâz and in the Wâdi al-‘Araba rift, as well as pasture-land in the southern Transjordan mountains. These water sources could serve as stopping places for travellers along the routes linking Syria with the Arabian Peninsula during the Djâhiliyya period and the early Islamic Caliphate. They were not forts in the desert. The forces which partici- pated in the early Islamic expeditions were not equipped with materiel for lay- ing sieges. The argument that the first locations captured by the Muslims were not fortified is well-supported by the following tradition: “The first peace agreement which happened in al-Shâm was the peace agreement of Ma’ab (Moab), which is a tribal meeting place, not a city”.5 3 Al-Tabari, Ta’rikh, vol. I. pp. 2065 ff.; English translation by Kh.Y. Blankinship, The Chal- lenge to the Empires, (SUNY, 1993), pp. 57 ff.; F.M. Donner, The Early Islamic Conquests, (Princeton University Press, 1981). pp. 106-7 (“The confused accounts of the Prophet’s expedi- tions- whether real or supposed”) 119 ff. W.E. Kaegi, Byzantium and the Early Islamic Con- quests, (Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 82. 4 Ibn Hishâm, Al-Sîra al-Nabawiyya, (ed. Mustafa al-Saqa et al.) (Cairo, 1971), vol. IV, p. 272; English translation by Al. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, (Oxford University Press, 1955), p. 668; Tabari, Ta’rikh, I, p. 2025; Blankinship (trans.) The Challenge to the Empires, p. 13. Donner, The Early Islamic Conquests, pp.102; 106, 107. 5 Tabari, Ta’rikh, I, 2108. Blankinship, (trans.), The Challenge to the Empires, p. 108; The remark by al-Azdi that Ma’ab bi-‘Ammân is the first town in Bilâd al-Shâm which submitted to the Muslims is another example of the dubious nature of the conquest-traditions. See Abu Isma’il MuÌammad al-Azdi, Kitâb futûÌ al-Shâm, (ed.) W.N. Lees, (Calcutta, 1854), p. 23 (l. 17). Y. FRENKEL 179 An additional reason to support this assumption is provided by the infor- mation concerning the size of the Islamic forces which fought the first cam- paigns. The number of troops sent against these locations was small. As these places were not fortified military installations, an attack by a light company cavalry was sufficient to overrun them. The number of men and animals which could have formed part of the column was limited by eco- logical conditions, namely, the scarcity of water in the desert. The forces had to advance from one source of water (bi’r) to another.6 According to al- Wâqidi’s version of the attack on Dhât A†lâÌ (Rabi‘ I 8/629), the Prophet sent a small force of fifteen men headed by Ka‘b ibn ‘Umayr al-Ghifari.7 This small number seems to reflect the actual order of size of tribal armies in the desert. Some of the locations named in the following pages are mentioned in stud- ies of the history of pre-Islamic northern Îidjâz and southern Bilâd al-Shâm. In the evolution of road systems in arid zones, water sources are a crucial fac- tor. Accordingly, it is appropriate to start with a short introductory description of this area in the late Byzantine period. During the centuries prior to the emergence of the Islamic Caliphate, the arid zones of southern Syria were under the control of the Byzantine empire. Evidence from the time of Anasta- sius (491-518), Justin the first (518-527) and Justinian (c. 530-532) has sur- vived about Byzantine political and military involvement in the Red Sea, Ethiopia and South Arabia.8 Numismatic evidence from the fourth century to the time of Heraclius supports the information provided by the historical sources.9 Literary sources, as well as archaeological discoveries, shed light on the major sites which served the Ghassânid10 and other Arab (Sarakanoi) tribes. Among their fairs and markets which are named are Bostra, Adri‘at and Dayr Ayyûb (Eyub).11 Procopius gives a long description of the Palm Grove on the edge of Îidjâz and along the Red Sea shores.12 A local chieftain named Abu Qarib (Abocharabos) was nominated by the basileus Justinian as the phy- larchos of the Palestinian Saracens, seemingly those who lived in the desert between Aela (Aila/‘Aqaba) and Gaza.13 Aila, at the northern end of the ‘Aqaba Gulf, as well as Clysma/ Qulzum at the northern end of the Suez 6 Fazari, al-Siyar, no. 8 7 Al-Wâqidi, The Kitâb al-Maghâzi, (ed.) M. Jones, (London, 1966), vol. II, p. 752. 8 Cosmas, The Christian Topography, trans. J.W. McCrindle (Hakluyt Society 93, New York, 1897); Z. Rubin, in D.H. French & C.S. Lightfoot, The Eastern Frontier, (BAR 553, 1989); Zbigniew Fiema, Economics, Administration and Demography of Late Roman and Byzantine Southern Transjordan, (Ph.D. thesis, University of Uta, 1991), pp.166-168. 9 Fiema, Economics, Administration and Demography, p. 170. 10 Maurice Sartre, Trois études sur l’Arabie romaine et byzantine, (Bruxelles 1982), pp. 178 ff. 11 Sartre, Trois études sur l’Arabie, 183-4; Dussaud, Topographie 344. 12 Procopius of Caesarea, (trans.) M.B. Dewing, History of the Wars, I xix 8-16.
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