After the Muslims began to rule, when the month of Baoonah (the tenth month in the Coptic calendar) commenced, the people of Egypt approached Hazrat Amr bin Aas (Radhiyallahu Anhu) and said, “O leader! The Nile has a special ritual that must be performed. Without performing this ritual, the river will not rise (and we will not be able to farm).” Hazrat Amr (Radiyallahu Anhu) asked them, “What is this ritual?” The people answered, “When it is the twelfth night of this month, we go to a young, virgin girl. We then make her parents happy (by remunerating them greatly so they may consent us taking her away), after which we adorn her with the best of jewellery and dress her in the finest of garments. We then cast her into the Nile (as a human sacrifice).”

When Hazrat Amr (Radiyallahu Anhu) heard this, he said, “This ritual cannot be carried out in Islam, as Islam has abrogated and cancelled all customs and rituals of Jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic era).” The people thus desisted from performing this ritual. However, the remainder of Baoonah passed, as well as the next two months, without the water level of the Nile rising. Eventually, the people resolved to leave the area and move elsewhere.

When Hazrat ‘Amr (Radiyallahu Anhu) saw that the situation had reached this point, he wrote a letter to Hazrat Umar (Radiyallahu Anhu), informing him of the predicament in Egypt. On receiving his letter and reading it, Hazrat Umar (Radiyallahu Anhu) sent him the following reply, “You have acted correctly (in refusing to carry out this custom), as Islam has cancelled all rituals and customs from Jahiliyyah.” Hazrat Umar (Radiyallahu Anhu) also wrote a small note, on a separate piece of paper, and included it within the letter. Regarding this note, he instructed Hazrat Amr (Radiyallahu Anhu), “I have sent a note to you, included with your letter. Cast this note into the Nile.”

When Hazrat Amr (Radiyallahu Anhu) received the letter, he took the note and saw that Hazrat Umar (Radiyallahu Anhu) had written the following, “From the servant of Allah Ta‘ala, ‘Umar, Ameerul Mu-mineen, to the Nile of Egypt. If your flowing is of your own accord, then you may abstain from rising. However, if it is that Being, who is One and All-Powerful, that causes you to flow, then we ask Him Who is Alone and All-Powerful to make you flow.”

Hazrat Amr (Radiyallahu Anhu) cast the letter into the Nile one day before Holy Cross Day (a day celebrated by the Christians). At that time all the people had prepared to migrate elsewhere, as they could not live in the region and see to their needs without the water of the Nile. The following morning, when the people awoke, they found that Allah Ta‘ala had caused the level of the Nile to rise by almost seven meters in a single night!

In this manner, Allah Ta‘ala brought an end to that bad custom of human sacrifice for the Nile, and it has never again been practiced till this day.(Taareekh Ibni ‘Asaakir vol. 44, pg. 337)