Amr ibn al-As Conquers Byzantine Egypt for Islam
A Rashidun army defeats an imperial force at Heliopolis and takes the Nile valley within two years
Quick facts
- Rashidun commander
- Amr ibn al-As
- Key battle
- Heliopolis, 640 CE
- New capital founded
- Fustat
- Byzantine counterattack repelled
- 646 CE
What happened
The Rashidun commander Amr ibn al-As persuaded Caliph Umar to authorize an invasion of Byzantine Egypt, arguing that leaving it in Byzantine hands would threaten Muslim territory to the north. Reinforced by Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Amr defeated an imperial army at Heliopolis in 640 CE, and within two years most of Egypt had fallen to the Rashidun forces, ending some six and a half centuries of Roman and Byzantine rule. Amr founded a new garrison capital, Fustat, on the east bank of the Nile near the old fortress of Babylon, and it grew into Egypt's administrative center under early Islamic rule. Byzantine forces tried and failed to retake Alexandria by sea in 646 CE, and the failed counterattack ended any realistic hope of restoring Byzantine control over Egypt.
Why it matters
The conquest gave the Rashidun Caliphate its wealthiest province and ended Egypt's three-way rotation between Ptolemaic, Roman, and Byzantine rule with a new political and religious order that has shaped the country ever since. Fustat's founding began thirteen centuries of continuous Islamic governance in Egypt, interrupted only by short foreign occupations, and the city grew into the nucleus of what later became Cairo.
How we know
The campaign against Byzantine Egypt, the victory at Heliopolis, and the subsequent Byzantine attempt to retake Alexandria are described in the World History Encyclopedia's account of the early Rashidun conquests, drawing on the Arabic historical tradition for the period.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Early Muslim Conquests (622-656 CE) · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Rashidun Caliphate · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Related timelines
- The Rise of Islam → · The conquest of Egypt was part of the wider Rashidun conquests that followed Muhammad's death; see the Rise of Islam timeline for the full campaign across Syria, Iraq, and North Africa.