ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, instructing him to march on Egypt. ʿAmr set out, and ʿUmar sent al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām as a reinforcement, accompanied by Busr ibn Artātah, ʿUmayr ibn Wahb al-Jumaḥī, and Khārijah ibn Ḥudhāfah al-ʿAdawī. When they reached Bāb Alyūn the defenders barricaded themselves, but ʿAmr stormed the fortress and took it by force; its inhabitants then made terms with him. Al-Zubayr was the first man to scale the city wall, whereupon the rest followed. Al-Zubayr urged ʿAmr to divide the town among those who had captured it, so ʿAmr wrote to ʿUmar. ʿUmar replied, “A single meal—and many meals are better than one—so leave it as it is.”

It is related from ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ that he once said from the pulpit: “I am sitting here with no Copt of Egypt bound to me by covenant or pact: if I wish, I kill; if I wish, I sell; if I wish, I take the khums—except for the people of Antābulus, for they have a treaty that we shall honour.”

ʿAlī ibn Rabāḥ said, “The entire Maghrib was taken by force.”

Ibn ʿUmar stated, “Egypt was conquered with no treaty,” and several others said the same. Conversely, Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb maintained, “All of Egypt was taken by pact except Alexandria.”

The Expedition of Tustar

Al-Walīd ibn Hishām al-Qaḥdhami narrated—through his father and uncle—that when Abū Mūsā had completed the campaigns of Ahwāz, Nahr Tīrā, Jundaysābūr, and Rāmhurmuz, he moved on to Tustar. He encamped at Bāb al-Sharqī and wrote to ʿUmar asking for reinforcements. ʿUmar wrote to ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir to support him; ʿAmmār then wrote to Jarīr, who was at Hulwān, telling him to proceed to Abū Mūsā. Jarīr marched with a thousand men, and they remained for a month. Abū Mūsā then wrote to ʿUmar: “They have not proved of any use…”