It is sharp and glittering, I will set you all aright,
46) The attack on Damascus
The Muslims fought more fiercely than they had ever done before and the accursed Thomas also fought fiercely with his men starting a shower of arrows and stones. Many Muslims were thus wounded, including Aban bin Sa'id bin al-'
A~•
who was struck with a poisoned arrow. He extracted the arrow and bound the wound with his turban, but the poison had already penetrated his body and he fell face down. His comrades picked him up and took him to the army. They wanted to remove his turban to treat him, but he forbade them saying, "If you remove it, then my life will end instantly. By Allah! I have received that which I have been asking Allah for and hoping for." They disobeyed him and untied it. They had not yet finished when he looked towards the sky, pointed his finger and said, "I testify that there is no deity but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah: This is what the Most Gracious promised and the Messengers have been truthful, " and instantly his soul departed.May Allah have mercy on him.
He had just married his cousin, Umm Aban bint 'Utbah bin Rabi'ah, at Ajnadayn. Her hands and head still had traces of myrtle and perfume of the wedding night. She was from a greatly daring family and would herself fight on foot. When she heard of her husband's martyrdom, she came stumbling anxious and confused and stood at his body. She remained patient in expectation of reward and said nothing besides, "Be blessed in what you have received. You have gone to the mercy of the Rabb of all the worlds and to the wide-eyed virgin damsels of Paradise. You have gone to that Rabb of all the worlds who united us and then separated us. By Allah! Because I long for you, I will engage in Jihad to such an extent that I will be united with you. This is because neither have I seen you properly and taken comfort in you, and neither have you. Allah decided that my desire should not be fulfilled. I have made it forbidden upon myself that any man after you should touch me and I dedicate myself to the Path of Allah. I am hoping that we shall meet soon."
It is said that no women was found who was more patient than her. The burial preparations were made with Khalid • leading the Salatul Janazah and then he was buried. His grave is visited up to this day. Umm Aban did not wait at all at the grave, but armed herself with his weapons and joined the army without informing Khalid •. She asked the men, "At which gate was my husband martyred?"
They replied, "At the Thomas Gate which is named after Heraclius's son-in-law. In fact, Thomas killed your husband."
Shurahbil .• uarrates:
I was that day at the Thomas Gate and saw someone in front of Thomas who was carrying a cross and gesturing to his army. He was shouting, "0 God, help the Cross and help him who seeks the Cross's protection. 0 God, manifest his victory and increase his prestige."
I was still looking at him when Umm Aban fired an arrow which hit its target. He dropped the cross with its glittering jewels. Every Muslim rushed to pick it up and we were showered with stones. Yet the Muslims still rushed ahead, falling over each other to be the first to get it. When Allah's enemy, Thomas, saw the Muslims rushing in droves at the cross, he felt humiliated and sensed his destruction. He thought to himself that Heraclius would certainly discover that he had let the' Arabs get the cross, so he tightened his belt, took his sword and shield and said to his men, "'Whoever wants to come with me, come, and whoever wants to stay, stay. I am going to fight them and drive them off, thus giving my heart peace."
He then ordered his men to open the gate and rushed forth. When his men saw this
and realised his bravery, they all followed him and swarmed out like locusts. The Muslims were surrounding the cross, but when they saw the Romans charging they banded it over to Shurahbil ~ and split up to take on the enemy in single combat. From above the gate and from every direction they were struck with stones and arrows, so Shurahbil
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called out, "0 Muslims, fall back to save yourselves from the arrows coming from Allah's enemies."They fell back until they were safe from the arrows. Thomas came rushing after them striking left and right, bellowing like a camel with his warriors all around him. Shurahbil • called out, "0 people, give up your lives to seek Paradise. Please your Creator through your actions for He is not pleased with fleeing. Do not flee, but attack them and go towards them. May Allah bless you."
The Muslims launched a vicious attack in which the two parties ended up mixed amongst each other, striking with their swords and firing arrows. When the Damascenes heard that Thomas had gone out of his gate and that the Great Cross had fallen from the bearer's hands, they were absolutely terrified. Thomas began searching for it until he found it with Shurahbil •. He could not control himself and attacked saying, "Hand over the Cross! 0 motherless one, you have met great misfortune. "
Futiihushdm
Shurahbil ~ flung the cross and confronted Thomas. When he saw the cross lying on the ground, he and his companions shrieked terrifyingly. When Aban's ~ widow saw Allah's enemy, Thomas, attacking Shurahbil ~ she asked, "Who is that?"
Someone said, "He is Caesar's son-in-law, your husband's killer."
When she heard that, she attacked fiercely until she got near enough to Thomas to shoot an arrow at him. The Romans threatened her, but she never turned to them until she had him in her target saying, "In name of Allah and through the blessings of Rasulullah ~."
Thomas was reaching out to Shurahbil ~ when her arrow struck him square in the right eye and stuck there. He fled screaming, while she tried to get another shot at him. The Romans tried to avoid their misfortune and rushed to her, so a group of Muslims ran to defend her. When she was safe, she started firing again, hitting a Christian in the chest who fell to the ground.
The first to flee that day was Thomas, shrieking all the way to the gate due to the intense pain caused by the arrow. Shurahbil ~ called out, "Be destroyed! Catch the Roman dog. Attack the dogs to catch the enemy of Allah."
So they attacked until they drove the Romans back to the gate where the people defended them with arrows and stones. The Muslims returned to their camp after having killed great numbers of the enemy and seizing their booty, wealth and cross.
Thomas entered the city and shut the gates. The doctors came to extract the arrow from his eye but were unsuccessful, so they sawed it off, leaving the point in his eye. They asked to take him to his house, but he refused and sat at the gate entrance until the pain subsided. They said, "Go home for the remainder of the night, for today we have suffered two tragedies - the tragedy of the Cross and the tragedy of your eye. All this has been caused by the archer. That nation is invincible, so we ask you to surrender."
Thomas became angry and said, "Be destroyed! Should I forget about the Great Cross being taken and my eye being lost? When this news reaches Caesar, he will accuse me of weakness and helplessness. No, they will be pursued under all circumstances. I will recover my Cross and avenge my eyes with 1,000 of their eyes and take back all that they have looted. Then I will go to their master in al-Hijaz, wipe out his traces, destroy their houses, level the habitations and turn their cities into abodes of wild animals."
The accursed one went to the top of the wall with his eye bandaged and encouraged the people, "Do not be afraid and do not fear that which has appeared to you from the 'Arabs. I guarantee that the Cross will strike them down."
So they became firm and launched a violent assault until Shurahbil ~ sent a message to Khalid ~ to inform him of the situation. The messenger said, "Thomas, the enemy of Allah, has launched a massive attack against us, so we request reinforcements because the battle is fiercer here than at the other gate."
Khdlid ~ : All praise belongs to Allah! But how did you manage to capture the cross from the Romans?
Messenger: A man was carrying it in front of Thomas when Aban's widow shot him with an arrow. It fell towards us so Allah's enemy came out, but Aban's widow shot him in the right eye.
Khdlid ~ : Thomas is greatly respected by Caesar and is the one that is preventing
them from surrendering. May Allah suffice us from his evil. Return to Shurahbil and
II
tell him, "Guard that which I have ordered you to, for every division is engaged in ; its own problems and cannot come to you. However, remember that I am nearby and ~ that .Qirar is patrolling the city and is therefore also there for you." ~,
The messenger returned and informed Shurahbil ~ who remained patient and fought on for the rest of the day.
AbU 'Ubaydah ~ rejoiced when he heard of what had occured between Shurahbil ~ and Thomas and his capture of the cross.