Although the incumbent governor, Sa'id ibn Yazid, gave way, the resident Arab elites of the province barely tolerated his presence, and began contacts with the Umayyad caliph Marwan I in Damascus.
These contacts encouraged Marwan to march against Egypt, where Abd al-Rahman vainly tried to muster a defence.
Although he fortified the capital, Fustat, an army he sent to stop the Umayyad advance at Ayla melted away and his fleet was wrecked by storms.
Marwan entered Egypt unopposed, and after a couple of days of clashes before Fustat, the city's elite surrendered it to him.
Abd al-Rahman was allowed to leave Egypt with his possessions.