12/13/2025
When the Muslim army, led by the great general Amr ibn al-Aas (R.A.), was preparing to leave Egypt to continue their march, the soldiers began packing up the camp.
They took down every tent, loaded every camel, and prepared every horse. But when they came to the General's tent, they stopped.
They found that a dove had built a nest on top of the General's tent and laid her eggs.
They went to Amr ibn al-Aas and told him about the bird. He was a conqueror. He commanded thousands of men. He could have easily ordered them to shoo the bird away. It was just a bird.
But his answer wrote history. He said: "She has sought protection in our shelter. Do not disturb her. We will leave, but this tent will stay standing until her eggs hatch and she flies away in peace."
Imagine the scene. An entire army marched away, but they left the Commanderās huge tent standing in the middle of the desertājust for one small bird.
That tent remained there for so long that people started building houses around it. It became a settlement. That settlement grew into a city. And that city is what we know today as "Fustat" (The Tent)āwhich later became Old Cairo.
The capital of Egypt was not founded on war or gold. It was founded on an act of kindness to a dove.
It reminds us: You are never too powerful to be kind.
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