Woman Between Islam and Western Society
1. A Survey
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went to ‘Amr ibn al-’As, the Amir (governor) of
Egypt at that time, and told him that when,
according to the local calendar, the month of Bauna
came round, the river Nile had to be offered the
customary sacrifice, without which it would not
flow. It seemed that after the twelfth night of that
month, they had to find a young girl who was a
virgin and the only child of her parents, then they
had to persuade her parents to give her in sacrifice,
whereupon they dressed her in the finest clothes
and jewels and cast her into the river Nile.”
‘Amr ibn al-’As told them that such practices were
prohibited by Islam, which indeed had put an end
to all idolatrous practices which had been prevalent
prior to its advent.
The people of Egypt, therefore, refrained from
making the sacrifice, and waited for the water to
flow into the bed of the Nile, but the entire month
of Bauna passed without the water making its
appearance. They then decided to migrate.
At this point, ‘Amr ibn al-’As wrote to explain the
entire situation to the Caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab.
The latter replied that the action he had taken was
