Note 367 — Chapter XXIV · CONQUEST OF EGYPT. A.H. XX. A.D. 641.

The narrative is almost more fugitive, and the chronology less certain, than in the case of Syria. The expedition is variously placed at from A.H. XVI. to XXV. The earlier date is due probably to the notion (before explained) that Amru assisted Medîna with corn in the year of famine; the later date, to the attempt of the Greeks to retake Alexandria, A.H. 25. The best authenticated date is that which I have followed. The received account is this. Amru obtained permission for the campaign from Omar at Jâbia, probably on his last visit to Syria. When the Caliph returned to Medîna and reflected on the seriousness of the enterprise, he repented of having allowed Amru to go on with so small a force, and sent orders that if he had not already entered Egypt, he was to return. Warned probably of its purport, Amru did not open the packet till he had crossed the boundary; and so he went forward. When Omar was informed of this he sent Zobeir with 12,000 men to reinforce him. Other accounts say that Amru’s entire force consisted of 12,000 men, despatched from Palestine and Medîna, in three bodies, one after another. Some stories are told, but they look apocryphal, of Amru having visited Alexandria, before his conversion, many years previously.