The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

i66 "OMAR [chap. xxii.
A.H. 19-20. "Cast thi.s letter," wrote the Caliph, "into the stream, and
it is enough." It was done, and the fertilising tide began
to rise abundantly !
Alexandria 'Amr, with the restless spirit of the Faith, soon pushed
'Z^^*^^"' his conquests westward, establi.shed himself in Barka, and
' •
finally n
reduced, reached even to Tripoli. The subject races were taxed
l^^'!^^ in fixed tribute of Berber slaves, thus early sanctioning in
that unhappy land traffic in human flesh and blood. The
maritime settlements received little aid from the Byzantine
fleets. But a few years after, in the Caliphate of 'Othman,
. great
a desperate attempt was made to regain possession of
Alexandria. The Muslims, busy with their conquests elsewhere,
had left the city insufficiently protected. The Greek
and other inhabitants, already weary of the Muslim rule,
conspired with the Byzantine Court ;
and a fleet of 300 ships,
under command of Manuel, drove out the garrison and took
possession of the city. 'Amr hastened to its rescue. A
battle was fought outside the walls : the Greeks were
defeated, and the town subjected to the miseries of a siege.
It was at last taken by storm and given up to plunder. To
obviate the recurrence of similar mishap, 'Amr razed the
fortifications, and quartered in the vicinity a strong garrison,
which twice a year was relieved from Upper Egypt. The
Muslim court was transferred to Fustat, and Alexandria
ceased to be the capital of Egypt. A reminiscence of the
fact that Alexandria underwent two investments (one of
which ended in a capitulation, the other in its capture) is
preserved in the divergent dates given by the Arab historians
for the one siege which they know of—20 A.II. and 25 A.H.
The story of the burning of the library of Alexandria by
the Arabs is a late invention.
Within Egypt, as outside of it, the Arabs maintained
the divisions of the country which they found already
existing. The largest division of both Upper and Lower
Egypt was into eparchies, each under a dux. The
Frontier is, as elsewhere, speciall}- mentioned. But more
important were the smaller pagarchies, roughly answering to
the ancient nomes, each under a pagarch, who was frequently
an Arab ;
and lastly, the village communities under their
headmen. Under Roman rule the great landowner (who
was often the pagarch) often enjoyed the privilege of paying