Battle of Ajnadayn

Battle of Ajnadayn
Part of the Muslim conquest of Syria (Arab–Byzantine wars)

Wadi al-Simt valley (pictured in 2014), identified as the battlefield of Ajnadayn
DateJuly/August 634
Location
Ajnadayn, Palaestina Prima (Palestine)
Result Rashidun Caliphate victory
Territorial
changes
Southern Syria and Palestine annexed by Muslims[1]
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire Rashidun Caliphate
Commanders and leaders
Vardan 
Theodore
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Amr ibn al-As
Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah
Shurahbil ibn Hasana
Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan
Ubadah ibn al-Samit
Strength
max. 40,000[2] – ca. 60,000[3] max. 10,000[2] – ca. 20,000[3]
Casualties and losses
50,000 (Al-Waqidi),[4]
Modern estimates unknown.
575 (Al-Waqidi)[4]
Modern estimates unknown.

The Battle of Ajnadayn (Arabic: معركة أجنادين) was fought in July or August 634 (Jumada I or II, 13 AH),[2] in a location close to Beit Guvrin in the Roman-era Palestine region (present-day Israel); it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the army of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory. The details of this battle are mostly known through Muslim sources, such as the ninth-century historian al-Waqidi.

  1. ^ Irfan Shahid (1996). Review of Walter E. Kaegi (1992), Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests. Journal of the American Oriental Society 116 (4), p. 784.
  2. ^ a b c Gibb 1986, p. 208.
  3. ^ a b Morray 2001, pp. 23–24.
  4. ^ a b Lieutenant-General Agha Ibrahim Akram (1970). The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns, page 467. Nat. Publishing House. Rawalpindi. ISBN 978-0-7101-0104-4.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search