The Muslim victory of victories at Nahavand in 642 finally broke the back of the Sassanid
Empire and rendered its domains west of the Zagros barrier all-but defenceless to annexation
into the Caliphate.
Unbeknownst to the Caliph, this climactic clash was also to have unexpected consequences
for him personally.
Another unexpected curveball was thrown at the ascending Islamic world, and particularly
one of its most recent acquisitions - Egypt - by the Byzantines, newly emerged from a
period of internal post-Heraclian division.
It would forcibly bring the Nile’s Arab conqueror - Amr Ibn al-As - back to the forefront
of world events.
Welcome to the penultimate video in our second season on the Early Muslim Expansion, the
dawning of a new age in Rashidun history, a long-overdue attempted Roman counterattack,
and the Battle of Nikiou.
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In late 643, shortly after Amr returned from his expedition against the so-called Pentapolis
, the Egyptian governor travelled back to Medina in order to meet with Umar, with whom
he already had a somewhat tense relationship.
Mistrusted by the caliph, Amr received a frosty reception from the very start.
The tension between the two men wasn’t helped by the fact that Umar, who always kept a close
eye on his governors via an internal spy network, suspected Amr of unjustly appropriating Egypt’s
wealth.
So, when the latter returned to his province, the caliph dispatched a trusted inspector
- Muhammad bin Maslama - to appraise Amr’s assets.
The latter produced an account of his assets and he was found guilty of taking too much.
The excess was confiscated and taken back to Medina.
That wasn’t the end of the caliph’s incessant prodding.
A short while thereafter, unsatisfied at the lacklustre revenues flowing into the treasury
from Egypt, Umar had a heated debate with Amr by letter.
After that ended in a deadlock, a Copt was sent to Medina to inform the caliph of his
province’s financial situation.
He bluntly informed Umar that previous rulers of Egypt had seen to the land’s prosperity
before taking anything from it, while Muslim governors only extracted.
In response, Umar carved Egypt into two separate administrative districts during late 644,
giving Amr Lower Egypt to govern from Fustat, while Upper Egypt would be ruled from Fayyum
by Abdullah ibn Sa’d ibn Abi Sarh, the foster brother of Uthman.
Predictably, Amr was, once again, infuriated at this deliberate diminishing of his authority.
Back in Medina a deadly plot had formed, centring around Hormuzan, who had converted to Islam
and used his vast experience in Sassanid administration and governance to become one of Umar’s key
advisors.
Despite this, the Persian noble never forgot the injury done to his home.
It seems that Hormuzan made contact with Firuz, a Sassanid soldier who was enslaved after
Qadisiyyah or Nahavand and brought to the Caliphate’s capital, and in November of
644 Firuz knifed Umar.
Before passing away three days after, the second caliph appointed a shūrā - or “counsel”
of six men1 - to appoint his successor from among their ranks.
After deep debate, they decided that Uthman would become the third Rashidun caliph.
It is worth noting that while Sunni Islam views Uthman as one of the rightly guided
caliphs, Shia Muslims believe this election should not have occurred at all and Ali was
to be the next in line.
Shortly after, Amr Ibn al-As visited Uthman in order to lobby for his Upper Egyptian colleague’s
removal.
The new caliph refused outright, prompting him to declare that he wouldn’t return to
Egypt until Abdullah ibn Sa’d was removed.
In response to this threat, Uthman appointed his foster brother governor of all Egypt2,
further deepening the dispute between the two men.
The Romans in Egypt were not happy with Amr’s policies, but Abdullah’s attempts to increase
the incomes from the province were even less popular.
Alexandria in particular bore the brunt of this new lust for revenue, leading its notoriously
riotous population to undertake drastic measures.
A group of prominent Romans dispatched messages to the new emperor Constans II.
These letters outlined the outrages of Muslim rule and its jizya tax, but also pointed out
that Abdullah had let the Nile realm’s defence slip into a pitiful state and the city was
only garrisoned by a paltry thousand men, and could be easily taken.
Perceiving an opportunity to regain control of Egypt and remedy the wound which its loss
had dealt to his empire and his pride, Constans began secretly amassing a great strikeforce
of 300 ships and many thousands of soldiers, command of which he bestowed on a eunuch known
as Manuel.
Constans’ fleet was ready after almost a year.
Because the reduced Byzantine Empire was still the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean
- the Caliphate having not yet developed any seaborne capacity - there was nothing to stop
this fleet from unexpectedly sailing straight into the harbour at Alexandria in early 646.
As the Roman sympathisers predicted, the thousand strong Muslim garrison was no adequate defence
against this shock assault from the sea.
When Roman forces landed almost unopposed, Alexandria’s population simultaneously rose
up against the occupying Arabs.
Most of the city’s garrison was slain in the brief clash that followed.
However, while the invasion army began ravaging the vicinity around Alexandria, some of the
Muslims that escaped travelled to Fustat and informed the governor what was happening.
Abdullah ibn Sa’d didn’t even have a chance to react.
Lacking confidence in their new viceroy’s martial ability, the Muslims of Egypt sent
a delegation to Caliph Uthman, urging him to send Amr back so that he could put an end
to the crisis.
Understanding that Amr was both a man of formidable military talent and feared by the Romans,
Uthman bit his tongue and asked Amr to take his post back.
Wasting no time, the man who had conquered the Romans once before travelled to Fustat
as quickly as possible with the aim of emulating his previous achievement.
Upon his arrival, the morale of Islam’s warriors was boosted significantly and they
prepared for war eagerly, while Amr started planning.
Informed by spies and agents that the Romans were advancing leisurely from Alexandria to
Fustat, many of Amr’s brash officers pressed for their commander to attack and confine
the enemy to the treacherous Mediterranean metropolis before all Egypt revolted against
the Muslim regime.
Amr did not agree with this appraisal, as he believed that this advance would stretch
Roman supply and communication lines to the limit.
Manuel and his army marched under the close observation of Amr’s informants, who constantly
reported the Romans’ position and strength.
The land forces made their way up the eastern bank of the Nile accompanied by a large flotilla
of supporting warships sailing parallel to them on the river itself.
Byzantine indiscipline began causing problems almost immediately.
Roman soldiers moved from town to town and the population was not happy with their behaviour.
When Manuel neared the halfway point between Alexandria and Fustat, Amr began a countermarch
with 15,000 warriors of his own, moving on a direct collision course with the Romans.
Both armies finally came into contact with one another near a large town known as Nikiou,
or Naqyus.
After resting for the night in their respective camps, the Romans and Muslims deployed on
the cultivated, featureless, and flat terrain just south of Nikiou.
Amr’s left - a cavalry regiment under the command of Shareek bin Sumayy, rested on the
Nile River, as did the Roman right.
In addition to their organisation in neat formations, a large number of Roman archers
also embarked on the riverine ships.
Once his preparations for battle were complete, Manuel ordered the Byzantine ground forces
into effective bow range before coming to a halt and unleashing a destructive barrage
of arrows against the Muslim position.
On the river, Manuel had prepared a clever stratagem.
His ships continued sailing until they passed by Amr’s flank, at which point their on-board
archers struck the Muslims in the flank as well.
Amr’s men had already been struggling to deal with the frontal volley, and so suffered
terribly from the multidirectional bombardment.
Sumayy’s regiment in particular was almost totally decimated, having been positioned
closest to the river, but even Amr had a horse shot out from under him.
Despite this punishment, however, the Muslims were unwilling to surrender the battlefield,
and so endured the storm with considerable tenacity.
Once Manuel believed that his enemy was sufficiently weakened, he called back the flanking vessels
and had their on-board troops fall into ranks behind the main army, and then began yet another
arrow attack against the Muslim line.
The moment after the Byzantine eunuch general ordered a halt to his preliminary barrage,
he directed his infantry to advance into spear and sword range.
Although early Muslim armies were generally portrayed as being most comfortable in this
kind of close quarters engagement, the Roman soldiers nevertheless impacted Amr’s battered
host with considerable ferocity, cracking their already faltering line.
Sumayy’s regiment, which had endured the brunt of Manuel’s seaborne missile attack,
actually did break and run.
Amr hastily pulled the remainder of his men away from the Romans’ attack and halted
only a short distance away, in order to regroup as best he could.
However Manuel, believing that the Muslims were already beaten, did not advance and finish
his enemy off, instead simply waiting where they were.
After a brief, eerie pause in the fighting, a magnificently dressed Roman champion, clad
in gold-studded armour, rode out into the open space between the two armies and challenged
the Muslims to single combat.
This would give the latter time to take a breath, reform and reorganise.
So, one of Amr’s favoured mubarizun - an Arab known as Haumal - accepted the Roman
offer and strode out to meet the enemy fighter.
With the remainder of both armies bearing witness, their respective champions initially
clashed with spears, and neither combatant was able to score a decisive blow.
Dropping their polearms after a certain amount of time had gone by, the champions clashed
with sword and shield, but again neither warrior could get an edge over the other.
This continued until the larger Roman duelist managed to disarm and severely wound Haumal
with a series of fierce thrusts.
As the hulking Roman was about to finish Haumal off, the Arab champion unsheathed his short
dagger and plunged it into his unsuspecting counterpart’s throat with prodigious speed.
Although Haumal managed to win the duel by the skin of his teeth, he died of his wounds
a few days later, much to Amr’s sorrow.
This traditional single combat had given the Muslim general time to get his army back in
order, and by the time Haumal had won, Amr was ready - Sumayy’s routed regiment even
returned to the battlefield and formed up.
When the whole Muslim army was ready, they charged and engaged in a grinding melee with
Manuel’s forces, combat which they were far better suited to.
After a few hours of Roman resistance, the eunuch’s soldiers broke and ran, pursued
and hunted all the way to Alexandria.
Amr brought up a number of catapults and launched boulders at the recalcitrant city, whose own
artillerists fired back.
The defences nevertheless held firm under such bombardment, until one of the gatekeepers
- Ibn Bassana - offered to let Amr’s troops inside if he, his family, and property were
retained, terms which the Muslim commander found agreeable.
Therefore, at some point in the middle of 646, Alexandria’s gates were opened and
the Islamic army poured inside.
Any Roman unit opposing the incursion was swiftly dealt with, and even those coming
up to reinforce the breach were pushed away.
As the rebellious city began falling victim to a sacking, the surviving imperial soldiers
withdrew to their ships and sailed away.
Before the vengeful Arabs could truly wreak havoc on the ancient Mediterranean metropolis
and its vanquished inhabitants, an unknown Muslim approached Amr and beseeched him to
stop the violence.
Although the conqueror of Egypt was by no means a merciful man by nature, his kinsman’s
words had such an impact that Amr immediately ordered the cessation of hostilities.
At the very spot where this was proclaimed, a mosque was constructed known as the ‘Mosque
of Mercy’.
Still, large numbers of Romans including Manuel died in the battle and the revolt was quelled.
In the aftermath of the Second Siege of Alexandria, Amr ripped down the walls and made the city,
in his words “Like the house of an adultress, accessible from all sides.”
The neglect of Egypt’s defence was also remedied with the new division of its Muslim
garrison into four parts - two in Fustat, and one each in Alexandria and on the northern
coast to be moved around where necessary.
It would also be rotated and the troops replaced every six months.
Not only had Amr ibn Al-As both conquered and reconquered Egypt in difficult circumstances,
he had built the foundations of a rule that would secure Muslim hegemony over the fruitful
country.
For this, Amr well expected to be rewarded by Uthman, but he was to be disappointed.
Uthman wanted his tax fiend of a brother to occupy the plum position, but was aware that
Amr probably deserved some reward for his deeds.
So, summoning the conqueror to his place of residence, Uthman enquired if he would like
to remain in military command of Egypt while Abdullah ibn Sa’d managed civilian administration.
Amr responded with the witty barb: “In that case I would be like the man holding the horns
of the cow while another milks it.”
For the remainder of Uthman’s caliphate, Amr would bear a potent grudge and even oppose
him publicly.
This mutual resentment was to have serious consequences for Islamic history in the near
future.
The second season of our series on the early Muslim Expansion will conclude next time with
the coverage of the battle Sufetula, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the
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