Iirc it was the ~~Abbasid~~ Rashidun Caliphate that was the first Muslims to take over Egypt. The ~~1000~~ years prior or so, it'd been Roman territory (Byzantine after the fall of Western Rome, but same difference).

Edit: My memory was shakey and I appreciate the correction.

[–] Birbatron@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate some 1400 years ago, It had been a Roman Province for I believe just under 700 years.

Egypt's first major power since the Hellenic Lagid (Ptolemaic) Dynasty was the Later Fatimid Caliphate (The Earlier one was in Tunisia). The Fatimids were a highly underrated (both by westerners, because they aren't ancient, and by us Egyptians, because they followed a different sect of Islam which most consider heretical) golden age for Egypt, they established Cairo, and along with it one of the oldest operating universities on Earth, and were probably the most tolerant state of their time, they were Shia Muslims ruling over a majority Sunni and Christian Population, but Unlike the Safavids in Persia (who forcefully converted a major portion of their population to Shiism and were much more radical than the Fatimids), they were very tolerant and most positions of power were gained out of merit, in fact, the guy who founded Cairo (and prior to that invaded the entirety of north Africa and Egypt for the Fatimid caliphate) was a random slave's son from Sicily. The cultural renaissance that occured during their period caused accelerated arabization in Egypt as more and more people started to speak Arabic since that was the language of the new cultural powerhouse of the region.

We do not talk about al Hakim.

[–] RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Thank you for the correction! I always seem to misremember which Caliphate was when.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Thank you for the reference!