The Battle of Bosra was fought in 634 CE between the

Rashidun Caliphate army The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, grant ...

and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

over the possession of the city

Bosra Bosra ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ, Buṣrā), also spelled Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra and officially called Busra al-Sham ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ ٱلشَّام, Buṣrā al-Shām), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Dara ...

, in Syria. The city, which was then the capital of the

Ghassanid The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...

Kingdom, which was itself a Byzantine vassal state, was one of the Islamic forces' first significant captures. The siege took place between the months of June and July in 634 CE.

Background

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...

sent his four corps under Amr ibn al-A'as,

Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ ( ar, عامر بن عبدالله بن الجراح; 583–639 CE), better known as Abū ʿUbayda ( ar, أبو عبيدة ) was a Muslim commander and one of the Companions of the Islamic prophet ...

Shurahbil ibn Hasana Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasana () was one of the earliest Muslim converts, ''sahaba'' (companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) and a key commander in the Rashidun army during the Muslim conquest of the Levant. Early life Shurahbil ...

, and

Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb ibn Umayya ( ar, يزيد بن أبي سفيان بن حرب بن أمية, Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya; died 639) was a leading Arab Muslim commander in the conquest of Syria from 634 until his de ...

to capture different districts in Syria. The four were not very successful origionally as a result of the concentration of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

army's strength at Ajnadayn.

sent Khalid ibn Walid to Syria to take command of the

Rashidun army The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, granti ...

there. Khalid ibn Walid reached Syria and captured several towns, after which he reached the city of Bosra in June of 634 CE. According to his instructions,

, who had already occupied the District of Hauran which lay north-east of the river Yarmouk, was to remain at his position until Khalid arrived at Bosra.

had three corps of an army made up of Muslim soldiers under his command – his own, Yazid's, and Shurahbil's – but had fought no battles and captured no towns. Bosra, a large town and the capital of the

Kingdom, contained a force of

and Christian Arabs, commanded by Roman officers. While Khalid was in eastern Syria, Abu Ubaidah learned that he would serve under Khalid upon the latter's arrival. Upon receiving this news, he sent Shurahbil with 4,000 men to capture Bosra, the garrison of which withdrew into the fortified town as soon as the soldiers appeared in sight. This garrison consisted of 4,000 soldiers who all expected that more Islamic forces would soon arrive and that Shurahbil's detachment was only an advance guard, and remained within the walls of the fort. Shurahbil camped on the western side of the town and positioned groups of his men all around the fort. After two days, as Khalid ibn al-Walid set out on the last day of his march to Bosra, the garrison of Bosra advanced towards the Muslim army outside the city. Shurahbil and the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

commander held talks with their forces drawn up for battle; the Muslim offered three choices: Islam, tribute, or the sword. When the Byzantines chose the sword, in the middle of the morning, the battle began. For the first few hours, the fighting continued at a steady pace, with neither side making any headway; but soon after midday, the superior strength of the Romans turned the battle in their favor. The Romans moved forces around both of Shurahbil's flanks and the fighting increased in intensity. The temper of Shurahbil's soldiers became suicidal as the real danger of their position became evident, and they fought with ferocity to avoid encirclement, which appeared to be the Roman's goal. By early afternoon, the Roman wings had moved further forward, and the encirclement of Shurahbil's force became a virtual certainty. Then, suddenly, the combatants became aware of a powerful cavalry force galloping en masse towards the battlefield from the northwest. Khalid was about a mile from Bosra when the wind carried the sounds of battle to him. He immediately ordered the men to horse; as soon as the cavalry was ready, he led it towards the field of battle. The Romans withdrew soon after they became aware of the cavalry's arrival. The Muslims under Shurahbil came to regard Khalid's arrival as a miracle.

The Battle

The next morning, the

garrison came out of the fort to launch another attack. The shock of Khalid's arrival the previous day had now worn off, and seeing that the combined strength of the Muslims was about the same as their own, the Romans decided to attack again, hoping to fight and defeat the Muslims before they could get any rest after their lengthy march. The two armies formed up for battle on the plain outside the town. Khalid kept the center of the

under his own command, appointing Rafay bin Umayr as the commander of the right wing and Dhiraar bin Al-Azwar as the commander of the left wing. In front of the center, he placed a thin screen under Abdur-Rahman bin Abu Bakr (son of the Caliph

). At the very start of the battle, Abdur-Rahman dueled with the Roman army commander and defeated him. As the Roman general fled to the safety of friendly ranks, Khalid launched an attack along the entire front. For some time, the Romans resisted, while the commanders of the Muslim wings played havoc with the opposing wings; Dharar himself established a personal tradition which would make him famous in Syria, adored by the Muslims and dreaded by the Romans. Because of the heat of the day, he took off his coat of chain mail, followed by his shirt. In this half-naked condition, Dharar launched his assaults against the Romans and defeated all who faced him in single combat. Within a week, stories of the Naked Champion would spread over Syria; only the bravest of Romans would face him in combat. After some fighting, the

army broke contact and withdrew into the fort. At this time, Khalid was fighting on foot in front of his center. As he turned to give orders for the commencement of the siege, he saw a horseman approaching through the ranks of the Muslims. It was

, and with him was a yellow standard that is believed to have belonged to

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

at the Battle of Khaybar. The horseman gave that standard to Khalid ibn al-Walid, who took it: The Muslims now laid siege to Bosra. The

commander lost hope; knowing that most of the available reserves had either moved or were moving to Ajnadayn, he doubted that any help would arrive. After a few days of inactivity, he surrendered the fort. The only condition Khalid bin Walid imposed on Bosra was the payment of the tribute. This surrender took place in the middle of July 634.

Aftermath

The conquest of Bosra in the second week of July 634 represented the first important Muslim victory in Syria. The Muslims lost 130 men in the battle, while the Byzantines suffered several thousand casualties. The conquest of Bosra opened the

Muslim conquest of Syria The Muslim conquest of the Levant ( ar, فَتْحُ الشَّام, translit=Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam."Syria." Encyclopædia Br ...

Khalid bin Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career i ...

wrote to

, informing him of the progress of his operations since his entry into Syria, and sent one-fifth of the spoils which had been won during the past few weeks. Hardly had Bosra surrendered when an agent sent by Shurahbil to the region of Ajnadayn returned to inform the Muslims that the concentration of Roman legions was proceeding apace. Soon they would have a vast army of 90,000 imperial soldiers at Ajnadayn. Khalid ibn Walid ordered all the Muslim corps in Syria to concentrate at Ajnadayn and defeated the Byzantine army in the

Battle of Ajnadayn The Battle of Ajnadayn ( ar, معركة أجنادين) was fought in July or August 634 ( Jumada I or II, 13 AH), in a location close to Beit Guvrin in present-day Israel; it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roma ...

References

Sources

* * {{coord, 31, 32, N, 36, 29, E, region:JO_type:event_source:kolossus-cawiki, display=title

630s in the Byzantine Empire Bosra Muslim conquest of the Levant