Conquest of al-Fayyum

Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports from Sa'id ibn Ufayr and others that when the conquest of Egypt was complete, Amr sent cavalry detachments to the villages round about, and al-Fayyum remained for a year without the Muslims knowing where it was, until a man came and told them. Amr sent Rabi'a ibn Hubaysh ibn Urfuta al-Sadafi with him. ¹

When they had gone into the desert track and seen nothing, they were about to turn back, but the man said: "Do not hurry; go on; if I have lied, you have me in your power." They had gone only a little further when the dark mass of al-Fayyum came into view; they fell upon it, its people offered no fight, and they surrendered. ²

It is also said that Malik ibn Na'ima al-Sadafi, owner of the chestnut horse, rode out scouring the desert track, and on seeing al-Fayyum returned to tell Amr. ² The editor's footnote reports the Western historians' account, based on John of Nikiu, that Amr marched on al-Fayyum during the siege of Babylon, while the Arab historians place its conquest after the fall of the fortress; this is the editor's note. ¹