Iyad ibn Ghanm

ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm ibn Zuhayr al-Fihrī
Allegiance	Rashidun Caliphate (632–641)
Battles/wars	Battle of Dumat al-Jandal (632) Muslim conquest of northern Syria (638) Muslim conquest of Upper Mesopotamia (August 639–640)
Other work	Governor of Dumat al-Jandal (634) Governor of al-Jazira Governor of Governor of Jund Hims, Jund Qinnasrin and al-Jazira (639–641)

ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm ibn Zuhayr al-Fihrī (Arabic: عياض بن غانم بن زهير الفهري‎‎) (d. 641) was an Arab general who played a leading role in the Muslim conquests of Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria. He was among the handful of Qurayshi tribesmen to embrace Islam early on, and was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Under Caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634), he governed the north Arabian oasis town of Dumat al-Jandal. Later, in 637, he became governor of al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), but was dismissed by Caliph Umar (r. 634–644) for alleged improprieties. Afterward, he became a top military aide of his cousin and nephew, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, under whose direction Iyad subjected much of Byzantine-held northern Syria, including Aleppo, Manbij and Cyrrhus.

When Abu Ubayda died in 639, Iyad succeeded him as governor of Hims, Qinnasrin and al-Jazira. In the latter territory, he launched a campaign to assert Muslim rule, first capturing Raqqa after besieging it and plundering its countryside. This was followed by the conquests of Edessa, Harran and Samosata under similar circumstances. With the exception of heavy fighting at Ras al-Ayn and Dara, Iyad received the surrenders of a string of other Mesopotamian towns with relatively little blood spilled. Overall, Iyad's conquest of Upper Mesopotamia left much of the captured towns and their inhabitants intact to maintain their tax payments to the nascent caliphate. According to historian Leif Inge Ree Petersen, Iyad "received little attention" but was "clearly of great ability".

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