Amr 3 was an Arab governor, in Syria, probably at Damascus or Antioch; he is styled "emir" and "ruler" as well as "Arab commander": Chron. 1234, §§128, 129. "An Arab commander whose name was `Amrou son of Sa`îd" (`mrw br S`d), he listened to his advisers and "armed himself against the Christians in his jurisdiction"; he ordered that crosses on walls and in streets be removed and the sign of the cross not displayed on holy days; local Jews carried the instructions too far and removed crosses from the tops of churches, whereupon `Amr took action to stop them after protests from a Christian who was among those close to him: Chron. 1234, §128 (pp. 262-263). The date was perhaps in or soon after 644 (it is recounted after the accession of Othman 1). On another occasion he summoned to his presence Ioannes the patriarch (Ioannes 142; probably John I, Jacobite patriarch of Antioch from 631 to 648) and after testing him with difficult questions instructed him to translate the Gospels faithfully into Arabic, omitting all references however to Christ as God or to baptism or to the Cross; Ioannes refused to do so even if it meant his death and `Amr then told him to proceed with the translation as he wished; the final polished version was eventually delivered to `Amr by Ioannes in a finely bound copy ("it was taken to the ruler (slyt') `Amrou son of Sa`îd"): Chron. 1234, §129 (pp. 263-264). Since Ioannes died in 648 `Amr was apparently in office in the mid 640s. Possibly identical with `Umar son of Sa`îd (`Wmr br S`yd) who in 683 was one of three candidates for the caliphate; the successful one was Marwan 1: Chron. 1234, §144 (p. 291). Early in the reign of Marwan' s son and successor Abdelmalik (Abdulmalik 1) `Umar son of Sa`îd son of `Asi (`Wmr br S`yd br `S) rebelled; Abdulmalik besieged him in Damascus and eventually persuaded him to surrender but later had him put to death: Chron. 1234, §147 (pp. 292-293). See further Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, pp. 453-454 (`Amr ibn Sa`îd ibn al-`Âs ibn Umayya al-Umawî, known as al-Ashdak, Umayyad governor and general. He was governor of Mecca in 680 and became governor of Medina in the same year. His revolt at Damascus was in 689. The article says nothing about his earlier career and cites only Arabic sources.)

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