Bismillah Hir Rahmaan Nir RaheemPlaces for migration are Madinah or Bahrain or Qansarayn.
Prophet Muhammad salla lahu alahi wa sallam said:
I have been given revelation, meaning these three have been revealed and they are the places of your migration: Madinah or Bahrain or Qansarayn.
[Qansarayn: It is a place in Syria close to Halab, it was conquered by Khalid bin al-Walid in the year 18 Hijri and it contains the grave of the Prophet Salih (Upon him be peace). See Mujam al-Buldan (7/169).
Al-Tirmidhi (13/378) and by al-Hakim (3/2,3) via another chain who commented that this hadith has a Sahih chain but they both did not narrate it.]
the author of the book Sword of Allah [Khalid ibn waleed] Lieutenant-General A.I. Akram, Rawalpindi, Pakistan in his own words:One of the most interesting days which I spent in Syria was the one on which I searched for and found Qinassareen (the ancient Chalcis), which Khalid had captured, and at which he had held his last command. Many people in Aleppo had heard of Qinassareen and knew that it was somewhere near their city. It was also marked on archaeological maps as a site of ancient ruins. But nobody knew just where it was and how one could get there; for no visitor in living memory had ever come to see Qinassareen. However, I engaged a taxi and by good fortune found a Bedouin in the city (a man whom I took to be a simple peasant) who lived two miles from Qinassareen and had come to Aleppo on a visit. If I would drop him at his village, he would point out to me the rest of the way to Qinassareen. I took him along. We drove on a good road to Zarba, 14 miles south-west of Aleppo, and here, on the Bedouin's instructions, turned off the road on to a small country track which later became so bad that the car lurched along with difficulty. After five miles of this, we reached the Bedouin's village where he alighted from the car and told us to "keep going round the hill" and we would find Qinassareen, The driver and I did keep going round the hill, and not only found Qinassareen, but also that we were back on the very road we had left a few miles back! Qinassareen, or rather the site of it, for there is no Qinassareen left, is actually on this road, and we could have driven straight down to it, but were made to do a wide detour just so the Bedouin could get to his village. Clever Bedouin! But he was a pleasant fellow and did me a service by getting me to within two miles of Qinassareen; for while everybody in the surrounding villages knew the location of Qinassareen nobody in Aleppo did.
HistoryThe people of Qinassareen (the ancient Calchis) now heard of the peaceful way in which the citizens of Emessa had avoided battle with the Muslims, and decided to do the same. A truce was not as dishonourable as a surrender and was a convenient way of postponing a difficult decision. Consequently an envoy was sent to Emessa by the governor of Qinassareen, who made a similar truce with Abu Ubaidah for one year. But both governors, of Emessa and Qinassareen, made the truce for reasons of expediency. Both hoped that their garrisons would before long be reinforced by Heraclius, and as soon as that happened they would resume hostilities against the Muslims. The common man in the region, however, was completely won over by the kindness and fair dealing of the Muslims and the absence in them of the arrogance and cruelty which had characterised Roman rule over Syria.
Having temporarily solved the problems of Emessa and Qinassareen, Abu Ubaidah despatched the bulk of his army, in groups, to raid Northern Syria. Muslim columns travelled as far north as Aleppo, and leaving the District of Qinassareen unmolested, raided any locality through which they passed and brought in captives and booty to the Muslim camp near Emessa. Thousands of these captives, however, begged for their freedom and all who agreed to pay the Jizya and pledge loyalty to the Muslims were freed, with their families and goods, and allowed to return to their homes with a guarantee of safety from Muslim raiding columns.
This went on for some months and most of the summer was spent in this manner. Meanwhile Umar was getting impatient at Madinah. The campaign was progressing satisfactorily in Palestine, but in Northern Syria, i.e. in Abu Ubaidah's sector, there seemed to be a lull. Consequently, some time in the autumn of 635, Umar wrote a letter to Abu Ubaidah in which he hinted that the general should get on with the conquest of Syria. On receipt of this letter Abu Ubaidah held a council of war, at which it was agreed that the Muslim army should proceed north and conquer more territory. Emessa and Qinassareen could not be touched as they were secure under the terms of the truce; but for other places there was no such truce, and they could be attacked and taken.
1. There are other versions of how Baalbeck was taken, including Waqidi's, according to which a great battle was fought by Abu Ubaidah before Baalbeck surrendered to the Muslims. Other historians, however, have said that Baalbeck surrendered peacefully, and I too feel that this is, what happened.
At Qinassareen the part of the Roman garrison which had not accompanied Meenas to Hazir shut itself up in the fort. As soon as Khalid arrived, he sent a message to the garrison: "If you were in the clouds, Allah would raise us to you or lower you to us for battle." 1 Without further delay Qinassareen surrendered to Khalid. The Battle of Hazir and the surrender of Qinassareen took place about June 637 (Jamadi-ul-Awwal, 16 Hijri). [Qinassareen lay in a South-South-Westerly direction from Aleppo, 20 miles by road and about 18 as the crow flies. It was built on a low ridge which runs astride the present Aleppo-Saraqib road, but most of it was on the Southern slope of the Eastern part of the ridge, i.e. on the East side of the road. The ridge is now known as Al Laees, and this is also the name of a small village which stands on that was probably the South-Eastern corner of Qinassareen. The visitor to Qinassareen today imagines that he can see the ruins of the city-ancient ruins such as one sees in many places in Syria. But on closer examination he finds that they are not ruins but immense whitish rocks and caves shaped by nature into semblance of ruins. Actually nothing remains of Qinassareen-not a stone, not a brick.]
Abu Ubaidah now joined Khalid at Qinassareen, and the army marched to Aleppo, where a strong garrison under a Roman general named Joachim held the fort. This general, following the same line of thought as the commander of Qinassareen, set out to meet the Muslims in the open and clashed with the Mobile Guard 6 miles south of the city. A bloody engagement took place here, in which the Romans were worsted; and Joachim; now wiser, pulled back in haste and regained the safety of the fort.
There was sorrow in the eyes of Abu Ubaidah, and a great deal of affection and commiseration, as he replied, "By Allah, I knew that this would hurt you. I would never hurt you if I could find a way." 1
Khalid went back to Qinassareen, got the Mobile Guard together, and addressed the warriors whom he had led to victory and glory in battle after battle-warriors who had followed him with unquestioning loyalty and faith. He informed them that he had been dismissed from command, and that he was now proceeding to Madinah on the instructions of the Caliph. Then he bade farewell to the Mobile Guard-a body of men which under Khalid had not known the meaning of defeat.
From Qinassareen he rode again to Emessa, said his farewells, and then continued his journey to Madinah. He was going to Madinah not as a hero returning home from the wars to receive honours from a grateful government, but as a man under disgrace.
Khalid arrived at Madinah and proceeded towards the house of the Caliph. But he met Umar in the street. As these two strong men drew closer to each other-the greatest ruler of the time and the greatest soldier of the time-there was no fear in the eyes of either. Umar was the first to speak. He extemporised a verse in acknowledgement of Khalid's achievements and recited it:
You have done;
And no man has done as you have done.
But it is not people who do;
It is Allah who does. 2
In reply Khalid said, "I protest to the Muslims against what you have done. By Allah, you have been unjust to me, O Umar!"
"Whence comes all this wealth?" countered Umar.
"It is what is left of my share of the spoils. Whatever exceeds 60,000 dirhams is yours." 3
Umar had a check made of all Khalid's possessions, which consisted mainly of military equipment and slaves, and found that it was valued at 80,000 dirhams. He confiscated the surplus of 20,000 dirhams.
When this had been done, Umar said to Khalid, "O Khalid! By Allah, you are honourable in my eyes, and you are dear to me. You will not have cause to complain of me after this day." 4 The point was academic, however, for there was not much more that could be done to Khalid!
After a few days, Khalid left Madinah for Qinassareen, never to return to Arabia. Hardly had he left, when the people of Madinah came to Umar and appealed to him to return Khalid's property to him. To this Umar replied, "I do not trade with what belongs to Allah and the Muslims." 5 But after this, according to Tabari, Umar's heart was 'cured' of Khalid.
Very soon it became evident to Umar that his treatment of Khalid was being deeply resented by the Muslims. It was openly said that Khalid had suffered because of Umar's personal hostility towards him. This popular disapproval of Umar's action became so widespread that the Caliph found it necessary to write to all his commanders and administrators:
I have not dismissed Khalid because of my anger or because of any dishonesty on his part, but because people glorified him and were misled. I feared that people would rely on him. 6 I want them to know that it is Allah who does all things; and there should be no mischief in the land. 7
In this letter Umar, unwittingly paid, Khalid the highest compliment that any general could hope to earn: that his men regarded him as a god! But Khalid returned to Qinassareen an embittered man. The Destroyer of the Apostasy, the Conqueror of Iraq and Syria, came home as a nobody-dismissed and disgraced. As his wife greeted him at the door, he said: "Umar appointed me over Syria until it turned to wheat and honey; then dismissed me!" 8
1. Tabari: Vol. 3, p. 167.
2. Ibid: Vol. 3, p. 168.
3. Tabari: Vol. 3, p. 167.
4. Ibid.
5. Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 625.
6. i.e. rather than Allah, for victory.
7. Tabari: Vol. 3, p. 167.
8. Tabari: Vol. 3, p. 99.
