The signing of surrender agreements allowed many of the inhabitants of the newly conquered territories to go on with their lives as they had before, even if this may have involved at times a certain measure of interruption or change, such as the Muslim occupation of houses deserted by Byzantines or the erection of a Muslim house on a plot allotted especially for this purpose. The signed agreements were considered valid and binding by both the conquerors and the conquered.

This arrangement seems to have been sufficient for the initial period, a period in which the Muslims were occupied with ongoing conquests, trying to adjust to their new role as conquerors, and familiarizing themselves with the conquered territories and their various cultures and languages.