Elementos metacognitivos conscientes que potencian el conocimiento declarativo,

I was in the Damascus army of Khalid bin al- Walid •. It was he who put me in Qiriir's • cavalry which had to patrol the city from the Eastern Gate to the Thomas Gate to the Peace Gate to al-Jabiyah Gate to the Small Gate to the Songstresses' Gate. One day, before the conquest of Damascus, we heard the screeching of the gate. A horseman emerged whom we left until he came near. Then we seized him by the hand and said, "Say a word and we will kill you." He was silent. Then another came out calling for the first one whom we had captured, so we said to the prisoner, "Speak to him until he comes here." So he said in his gibberish Greek, "The bird is in the net."

The other realised that he was captured and so returned and locked the gate. We wanted to kill the prisoner but some said, "Do not kill him until we take him to Commander Khiilid."

So we took him to Khalid ~ who asked him, "Who are you?"

Jonah : I am from the Roman lands. I had married a girl of my nation before your invasion. I love her very much, so when the siege lengthened, I asked her family to send her to me, but they refused, saying, "We are too busy to send her to you."

I wanted to meet her, so we agreed to meet at a recreation ground in which we used to spend time. We met there where she asked me to go with her outside the city. We opened the gate and I went out to see the situation when your men captured me. She called out to me so I said, "The bird is in the net," to warn her against you for I feared for her. If it was someone else I would not have bothered.

Khdlid ~ : What is your opinion of Islam?

Jonah : I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,

Thereafter he fought with us and fought fiercely. When we entered the city peacefully he went to seek his wife. It was said to him, "She has become a nun."

He went to her but she did not recognise him. He said, "Why have you become a nun?"

Futiihushdm

that we were Christian 'Arabs ofLakhm and Jutham until the guide brought us close to the coast. He continued following the tracks until he found that they had come to Antioch but had not entered. Confused, he went to a nearby village to question the people. They replied that Caesar had been informed that Thomas and Herbius had surrendered Damascus to the 'Arabs and was therefore angry at them. He did not allow them to come to him because he had gathered great armies to be sent to al- Yarmfik and feared that if the two of them spoke to the soldiers their hearts would weaken when hearing of the bravery of the 'Arabs. He therefore sent them to Constantinople.

Yfinus had separated from the Muslims to investigate.

Khiilid ~ had finished leading the Muslims in .s.aliih when Yfmus returned and said, "0 commander! I have led you to a dead end."

Khdlid ~ : How is that?

yitnus :

You sent me in their tracks to this place hoping to catch them, but Caesar

prohibited them from entering Antioch so that they do not scare his army. He has ordered them to head for Constantinople; there is this great mountain between you and them. You are by a mountain deep in Heraclius's territory and he is gathering an army to fight you. I fear that if you cross the mountain you will be destroyed, but the choice is yours. I have done whatever you have ordered me to.

52) Khilid's"

dream

I!irar .• narrates:

I saw Khalid's ~ colour change to green out offear, a quality I did not associate with him, so I said, "0 commander, what frightens you?"

Khdlid ~ : 0 Qiriir, by Alliih! I do not fear death nor being killed. What I fear is that the Muslims will suffer due to me for I have seen a frightening dream before the conquest of Damascus and await its interpretation. I hope that Allah will grant us goodness and victory over the enemy.

!.2iriir ~ :

Goodness! Allah willing, I only see goodness! What did you see?

Khdlid ~ : I saw us travelling in a barren land when we came across a herd of wild donkeys, big-bodied but small-hoofed. Our spears could not wound them and they were not concerned about our swords hitting them and hurting them, nor showed any

anxiety whatsoever. This carried on with great effort from our side and from our horses. I then split up my men to attack them from all four sides so they shied away from us and went to mountain passes, hills and fertile valleys. We only caught a few. While we were roasting them, the others returned to fight us. I was looking at them when the mountain passes and jungles called out to the Muslims, "Mount your horses in pursuit of them. May Allah bless you."

The Muslims and myself mounted and chased them until I caught a great donkey and killed him. The Muslims started hunting and killing until only a few were left. I was overjoyed and wanted to return with the Muslims to their homeland when I fell off my horse and my turban flew off my head. I wanted to pick it up but awoke afraid and frightened. Can any of you interpret this? I think it is about our current state.

Everyone took this badly and Khalid ~ intended to return when 'Abdurahman bin Abi Bakr ~ said, "The donkeys are the Romans we are chasing. Your falling from your horse is your decline from a high position to a low position. As for the falling of your turban, well turbans are the crowns of 'Arabs, so it is some lowering of status you will encouter."

Khdlid ~ : If that is the interpretation then I ask Allah to make it a matter of the world and not the Hereafter. I seek Allah's help and rely upon Him in every matter.

Khalid ~, with the guide ahead, crossed the mountain. We hoped to capture the Romans the following morning and that night, it rained as if water was being poured from waterskins. Through Allah's mercy, the rain stopped the Romans from further travel.

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