al-walid appointed qurra governor of egypt in place of his own brother abd allah, whose corruption was blamed for famine in the province. qurra's governance was effective, and the chronicler al-kindi reports that he "reorganized the "dīwān"" (the army registers, with the names of those entitled to "ʿatāʾ", government salary), rebuilt the mosque of fustat and began irrigation works in the desert. according to hugh n. kennedy, "in some ways qurra is the best-known of all the umayyad governors of egypt", since "it is from his period of office that the richest collection of administrative papyri survive". he died in office in 715.