Is it proven that ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote a letter to the Nile in Egypt so that its water would flow by Allah’s leave?

Ibn
Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

It was
narrated to us via Ibn Luhay‘ah from Qays ibn al-Hajjaj from someone who
told him: When Egypt was conquered, its people came to ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (may
Allah be pleased with him) and said to him: O Ameer, this Nile of ours is
used to something and cannot flow unless it is done. He said: What is that?
They said: On the twelfth night of this month, we take a young girl from her
parents, and we placate her parents, then we dress her in jewellery and the
finest garments there can be, then we throw her into this Nile. 

‘Amr (may
Allah be pleased with him) said to them: This is something that cannot
happen in Islam; Islam erases that which came before it (of bad customs). 

So they
stayed for a while, during which the Nile did not flow at all, neither a
little nor a lot, until they thought of leaving. Then ‘Amr (may Allah be
pleased with him) wrote to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with
him), telling him about this. He wrote to him, saying: You did the right
thing. I am sending you a piece of paper with my letter; throw it into the
Nile. 

When his
letter came, ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) took the piece of paper on
which was written: 

“From the
slave of Allah ‘Umar, Ameer al-Mumineen, to the Nile of the people of Egypt.

To
proceed: If you only flow on your own initiative, then do not flow, for we
have no need of you. But if you only flow on the command of Allah, the One,
the Subduer, and He is the One Who causes you to flow, then we ask Allah,
may He be exalted, to make you flow.” 

He threw
the paper in the Nile and by Saturday morning, Allah had caused the Nile to
flow (to a depth or width of) sixteen cubits in one night, and Allah put an
end to this particular custom of the people of Egypt until today.

End quote
from al-Bidayah wa’n-Nihayah, 7/114-115 

Similar
reports were also narrated by Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam in Futooh Misr, p. 165;
al-Lalkai in Sharh I‘tiqad Ahl as-Sunnah, 6/463; Ibn ‘Asakir in Tareekh
Dimashq, 44/336; Abu’sh-Shaykh in al-‘Azamah, 4/1424, via Ibn Luhay‘ah. 

This is a
da‘eef isnad (weak chain of narration) that is not saheeh, and this report
cannot be proven with such an isnad. Ibn Luhay‘ah – whose full name was
‘Abdullah ibn Luhay‘ah ibn ‘Uqbah – is da ‘eef as he used to get mixed up,
and in addition to that he is mudallis (one
who
narrates from someone he met something he did not hear).
See at-Tahdheeb, 5/327-33; Mizan al-I‘tidaal, 2/475-484 

Qays ibn
al-Hajjaj is sadooq (trustworthy), from the sixth level of hadeeth narrators
(tabaqah) according to al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar; they are the ones who it is not
proven that they met any of the Sahabah/Companions (may Allah be pleased
with them). See: Taqreeb at-Tahdheeb, 1/25 

Sometimes
he narrated it as a mursal (the
link between the Successor and the Prophet is missing)
report and
sometimes he narrated it from the one who told him, but the one who told him
is majhool and not known. 

So the
report is da‘eef (weak) and is not saheeh (sound) 

If this
story were true, everyone would know about it and it would be well known,
and it would have been widely narrated through confirmed isnads, because it
is an important and significant event, the like of which should not be
ignored; rather an incident less significant than this would not be
overlooked by historians and narrators. 

And Allah
knows best.