The Pepper House (Dar al-Fulful), al-Fustat

Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports that Qays ibn Sa'd built a house in Egypt while he was its governor, using the Muslims' funds, and it is said that on his deathbed he willed it to the Muslims as a lodging for their governors. ²

Others say the Pepper House and the house beside it belonged to Nafi' ibn Abd al-Qays al-Fihri, or to Uqba ibn Nafi', and that Qays took it from him and compensated him. Others again say it was Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas's, who gave it to the Muslims as alms. ²

It was called the Pepper House because Usama ibn Zayd al-Tanukhi, in charge of Egypt's land tax, bought from Musa ibn Wardan pepper worth twenty thousand dinars, which al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik had ordered as a gift for the Byzantine ruler, and stored it there. ² When Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz became caliph, Musa ibn Wardan asked him for a letter to his governor to collect the twenty thousand; asked where it came from, he said he had been a merchant, and Umar struck with his staff and said, "The merchant is a sinner," and never received him again. ³