The Islamic state in Egypt: periods of power 

‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas, May Allaah Be Pleased with him, hastened to implant the seeds of the Islamic civilization in the Egyptian lands. He was keen to spread Islam all over the country. The first thing he did was building a new city named Al-Fustaat to make it the new capital of the country and the seat of rule. It was said that after ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas, May Allaah Be Pleased with him, conquered the city of Alexandria, he wanted to render it the capital of the Muslim state in Egypt, as it was before since Alexander the Great until the end of the Byzantine era in Egypt.

He wrote to the Caliph ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattaab, May Allaah Be Pleased with him, asking for permission to do so. However, the Commander of the Believers refused and wrote back to ‘Amr saying, "I do not like the Muslims to settle in a place where water hinders me from reaching them in winter or summer." Therefore, ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas, May Allaah Be Pleased with him, chose the capital of Egypt further inland to be easily accessed from Arabia. The new capital was established at a central place, where no mass of water intervened between it and Arabia.

The location of the new capital was chosen in a middle position from which ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas, May Allaah Be Pleased with him, could observe the northern and southern sections of the country; so as to render it easy for him to rule the whole country from the new capital.
Al-Fustaat was located in a stretch of empty land and farms between the banks of the Nile and the Muqattam Mountain. There was nothing in this area, aside from the fortress of Babylon, in which the Byzantine garrison used to stay.

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