The history of the conquest of Egypt, being a partial translation of Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam's

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two parts. Part one is a translation of the Egyptian history within the Futuh Misr wa Akhbaruha of Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam. The Futuh Misr, as I refer to it in this dissertation, is a ninth century history written by the Egyptian historian/legalist, Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam. Its pages encompass the history of pre-Islamic Egypt, as Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam saw it, the conquest of Egypt, North Africa and Spain. The section on Egypt, and even North Africa and Spain, is one of the oldest histories we have dealing with this conquest. The second half of this dissertation is an historical analysis of Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam's history on the conquest of Egypt. Although at first glance the Futuh Misr does not seem to yield much useful information, it is surprisingly deceptive, particularly the Egyptian section. I have examined this section and have analyzed the contents to see what they reveal about the history of that time. From the themes that emerge, it is obvious that Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam's Futuh Misr not only provides useful information about the Arab conquest of 640 CE, but gives modern scholars an incite into the mentality of the author and his time period, and thus adds to our understanding of the attitude of historians during the medieval period in the Islamic world.