At a glance
Era 1- Dates
- Died 43 AH (664 CE)
- Who
- Quraysh leader and commander who brought Egypt into the caliphate
- Era
- The Rightly Guided Caliphs
ProfileAmr ibn al-As
Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) was a shrewd and eloquent leader of Quraysh. He accepted Islam around 8 AH, in the same period as Khalid ibn al-Walid, and the Prophet ﷺ soon gave him command of an expedition.
In the caliphate of Umar he led a small army into Egypt, then a province of the Byzantine Empire. Between about 640 and 642 CE he took the fortress of Babylon on the Nile and then Alexandria. Beside the Nile he founded a new city, Fustat, and built its mosque, the first in Africa, which still bears his name. Fustat grew into the heart of what later became Cairo.
He governed Egypt for several years, and again later in life, and he was known for his intelligence, his good sense in war and his quick wit. He died in Egypt in 43 AH, as an old man.
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SourcesSources for this profile
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