Amr ibn al-As

Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) was the shrewdest diplomat of Mecca. Sent to argue on behalf of the polytheists, he embraced Islam in the last hour of the old order, and then became the commander who brought Egypt to Islam.

A Qurayshi of Banu Sahm, Amr appears in the sources first as Mecca's cunning envoy. He argued at the court of the Negus for the return of the Abyssinia migrants, and failed ¹. Between Hudaybiyya and the conquest he read the wind, rode to Medina and embraced Islam around 629–630 CE ².

The Prophet made use of his shrewdness and sent him to Oman. Under Umar he led in Syria; then he asked for permission to conquer Egypt, and it was granted. He took Fustat in 641 CE and Alexandria after it ³. In the first civil war he sided with Mu'awiya, and at the arbitration of Siffin he outmanoeuvred Ali's party, a famous ruse that the sources recount with grudging admiration ². He died as governor of Egypt around 663 CE ².

Egypt became Islamic through his hand, and it stayed so. Politically he is the tradition's emblem of the brilliant pragmatist: the man who always landed on the winning side, including, last of all, the caliphate.

The Prophet sent him to rouse the Arabs for Syria, because his father al-As ibn Wa'il's mother was from Bali. When he feared for the water of al-Salsal in the land of Judham, he asked the Prophet ﷺ for reinforcements. Abu Ubayda came with the earliest emigrants, and they disputed the command until Abu Ubayda said: "It is yours." So Amr led the people in prayer. See the expedition of Dhat al-Salasil. ⁴

The Sheikh's view is that a harmful fatwa issued by a scholar who slipped stays in the scale of his bad deeds after his death, so his sins do not die with him; he contrasts this with someone who did good, whose reward continues (the Sheikh's view) ⁵.

He says that whenever he sees an Egyptian praying, fasting, performing the pilgrimage, paying zakat, giving charity, teaching or learning, he remembers Amr ibn al-As, because he brought Islam into this land, and he holds that all these deeds are in his scale (the Sheikh's view) ^{5 6}.

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy recounts that Umar wrote to Amr ibn al-As at al-Arish, telling him to wait until the order reached him (needs_source: the letter is given in paraphrase) ⁷. When the letter reached him, Amr crossed al-Arish and entered the borders of Egypt, and then asked for reinforcements; Umar sent four veterans of Badr, and the sheikh gives conflicting figures for their value (needs_source: the figures have not been checked) ^{8 9}.

He recounts Umar's letter to Amr rebuking him for sitting at ease in the seat of judgement, and urging him to be humble among the people (needs_source: the letter is given in paraphrase) ¹⁰. He recounts that Uthman dismissed Amr from Egypt and appointed Abdullah ibn Abi al-Sarh, and that when the Romans attacked, Abdullah called on Amr for help (needs_source) ¹¹.

He recounts that Umar asked Amr for help in the year of famine, and that Amr answered that he would send a caravan to the Commander of the Faithful (needs_source: the number of months is as the sheikh gives it) ^{12 13 14}. He recounts that the Copts of Egypt sought refuge with Amr and said that the Muslims were kinder to them than the Byzantines (needs_source) ¹⁵.

He recounts that Amr asked the Prophet what God would do with him for the sins of his past before he became Muslim, and that the Prophet told him that Islam wipes out what came before it (needs_source: the exchange is garbled in the automatic transcript) ^{16 17}. He recounts that Amr applied the penalty to Umar's son after the news reached Umar (needs_source) ¹⁸.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), in the entry AL-SAHMI by A. J. Wensinck, calls 'Amr one of the most wily politicians of his time. After the failed siege of Medina the more far-sighted Meccans already saw that he was the turning point of Muhammad's career; he converted before the capture of Mecca. ¹⁹

Sent on a small expedition to 'Uman, he negotiated with its two rulers, Jayfar and 'Abbad ibn Julanda, who accepted Islam; he returned to Medina on news of the Prophet's death. In 12/633 Abu Bakr sent him with an army into Palestine, where he subjected the country west of the Jordan and took part in the battles of Ajnadayn and the Yarmuk and the capture of Damascus. ¹⁹

His real fame rests on the conquest of Egypt, where he also regulated government, justice and taxation and founded Fustat. Uthman recalled him in favour of Abd Allah ibn Sa'd, and he withdrew in disgust, secretly inciting 'Ali, Talha and al-Zubayr against the caliph. After the Battle of the Camel he joined Mu'awiya and commanded the Syrian cavalry at Siffin, where he devised the ruse of raising leaves of the Qur'an on the lances. ¹⁹

Before the arbitration he secured Egypt for Mu'awiya, defeating and executing the 'Alid governor Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr early in 38/658. At Adhruh, Abu Musa declared both 'Ali and Mu'awiya unworthy of the office, so 'Ali lost the caliphal title while Mu'awiya lost nothing. 'Amr governed Egypt until his death. On 15 Ramadan 40 (22 January 661) he escaped assassination by chance: he was unwell that day and had left the leading of the prayer to Kharija ibn Hudhafa, who was mortally wounded instead. The assassin is reported to have said: "I meant 'Amr, but God meant Kharija." ¹⁹