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Islam they invaded Nubia (in 642 and again in 652). By the time they launched their attack on the<br />
Christian Kingdoms, there were already an Islamic community in the nations who joined forces<br />
with the attackers. They laid siege to the city of Dongulah and destroyed its cathedral.<br />
At this period, Egypt was part of the Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at<br />
Constantinople. In AD 641 'Amr ibn al'As conquered Egypt. Amr: extracted the taxes which<br />
had been determined upon ( which even the Romans did) but he took none of the property of the<br />
churches, and he committed no act of spoliation or plunder, and he preserved them throughout<br />
all his days'" As a result Amr ibn alAas had popular support in Egypt among the Coptic<br />
Christian population. Again Cyrus the Roman governor had expelled the Coptic patriarch<br />
Benjamin into exile. When Amr occupied Alexandria, he was invited to return to Alexandria.<br />
When he arrived, after thirteen years in concealment, Amr treated him with respect. He was then<br />
instructed by the governor to resume control over the Coptic Church. He arranged for the<br />
restoration of the monasteries in the Wadi Natrun that had been ruined by the Chalcedonian<br />
Christians. ("The Great Arab Conquests" Hugh Kennedy)<br />
By the 7th century, Makuria expanded becoming the dominant power in the region. It was strong<br />
enough to halt the southern expansion of Islam after the Arabs had taken Egypt. After several<br />
failed invasions the new rulers agreed to a treaty with Dongola allowing for peaceful coexistence<br />
and trade. This treaty held for six hundred years. Over time the influx of Arab traders introduced<br />
Islam to Nubia and it gradually supplanted Christianity.<br />
In 1275 the Mameluke sultan Djahn Beibars sent an army from Egypt into Nubia. Dongola was<br />
conquered, the Christian king David was obliged to flee, and the churches were plundered. in<br />
1276 the Christian king Shekanda was installed on the Makurian throne in Old Dongola, but as a<br />
representative of the Sultan. The inhabitants escaped forcible conversion to Mohammedanism<br />
only by payment of an infidaltax.(jiza). In 1317, Sayf al Din Abd Allah Barshambu was crowned<br />
as the first Muslim King to ascend to the throne of Christian Muqurra (Nubia). Barshambu<br />
commemorated this by converting the Christian Church of Dunqula into a mosque (Yusuf Fadl<br />
Hasan, 2003: 25). In1323 Kanz edDawla became the first Muslim ruler of Makuria. Old<br />
Dongola was abandoned in 13656 as the capital of northern Nubia and the court moved to Daw<br />
(probably Jebel Adda some 55 km south of Qasr Ibrim).<br />
In 1820, the Egyptian wāli &' army commanded by his son Ismail Pasha<br />
gained control of <strong>Sudan</strong> declaring a “Unity of Nile Valley". During the period of Muhammad Ali's
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