636), the Christians invariably were defeated, till at last, Mahan's
vast army being broken and dispersed, he was forced to flee, thus
leaving the Saracens masters of the field, and wholly delivered from
those terrible apprehensions with which the news of his great
preparations had filled them.

A short time after Abu Obeidah wrote to the Caliph the following letter:

"In the name of the most merciful God, etc.

"This is to acquaint thee that I encamped at Yermouk, where Mahan
was near us with such an army as that the Mussulmans never beheld
a greater. But God, of his abundant grace and goodness, overthrew
this multitude and gave us the victory over them. We killed of them
about a hundred and fifty thousand, and took forty thousand
prisoners. Of the Mussulmans were killed four thousand and thirty,
to whom God had decreed the honor of martyrdom. Finding some heads
cut off, and not knowing whether they belonged to the Mussulmans or
Christians, I prayed over them and buried them. Mahan was afterward
killed at Damascus by Nooman Ebn Alkamah. There was one Abu Joaid
that before the battle had belonged to them, having come from Hems;
he drowned of them a great number unknown to any but God. As for
those that fled into the deserts and mountains, we have destroyed
them all, and stopped all the roads and passages, and God has made
us masters of their country, and wealth, and children. Written
after the victory from Damascus, where I stay expecting thy orders
concerning the division of the spoil. Fare thee well, and the mercy
and blessing of God be upon thee and all the Mussulmans."

Omar, in a short letter, expressed his satisfaction, and gave the
Saracens thanks for their perseverance and diligence, commanding Abu
Obeidah to continue where he was till further orders. As Omar had
mentioned nothing concerning the spoil, Abu Obeidah regarded it as left
to his own discretion and divided it without waiting for fresh
instructions. To a horseman he gave thrice as much as to a footman, and
made a further difference between those horses which were of the right
Arabian breed (which they looked upon to be far the best) and those that
were not, allowing twice as much to the former as to the latter. And
when they were not satisfied with this distribution, Abu Obeidah told
them that the prophet had done the same after the battle of Khaibar;
whic