Islamization of Egypt
{{Short description|Spread of Islam after the Arab conquests}}{{History of Egypt}}The Islamization of Egypt occurred after the seventh-century Muslim conquest, in which the Islamic Rashidun Caliphate seized control of Egypt from the Christian dominated Byzantine Empire. Egypt and other conquered territories in Africa gradually underwent a large-scale conversion from Christianity to Islam, motivated in part by a jizya tax for those who refused to convert.{{Citation|title=Conversion, Exemption, and Manipulation: Social Benefits and Conversion to Islam in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Forcing taxes on those who refuse to convert|url=https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00372f27.pdf|quote= ʿUmar is depicted as having ordered that "the poll-tax should be taken from all men who would not become Muslims"}} Islam became the faith of the majority of the population at some point between the 10th and 12th centuries, and Arabic became the main language, replacing Coptic and Greek, which had previously served as the vernacular and governmental languages, respectively.Clive Holes, Modern Arabic: structures, functions, and varieties, Georgetown University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-1-58901-022-2}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8E0Rr1xY4TQC&q=%2C&pg=PA29 M1 Google Print, p. 29].
History
{{See also|Arab conquest of Egypt}}File:Kairo Hanging Church BW 1.jpg in Old Cairo was founded in the third century, making it one of the oldest churches in Egypt.]]In the mid 7th century, the Rashidun Caliphate successfully conquered Egypt from the Byzantine Empire. This ended seven centuries of mostly uninterrupted Roman rule over Egypt.{{NoteTag|The Sasanian Empire, which generally followed Zoroastrianism, held Egypt for around a decade in the early 7th century.}} However, local resistance by the Egyptians occurred during the Umayyad Caliphate that lasted until at least the ninth century.Mawaiz wa al-'i'tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-'athar (2 vols., Bulaq, 1854), by Al-MaqriziChronicles, by John of Nikiû{{cite book |author=Marina Rustow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGWsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT219 |title=Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate |date=3 October 2014 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-5529-2 |pages=219–}}
One contributing factor to this resistance was taxation. Under the Rashidun Caliphate and its successors, non-Muslims were required to pay a special tax called jizya and were given status as dhimmis. The taxation was argued as being justified as local Christians were never drafted to serve in the army.{{Cite journal |last1=Ahmed |first1=Ziauddin |last2=Ahmad |first2=Ziauddin |date=1985 |title=Jizyah and Kharāj in Early Islamic Egypt |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20839731 |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=377–387 |jstor=20839731 |issn=0578-8072}}
This resistance escalated to armed rebellions against the Umayyads and Abbasids in a number of instances, such as during the Bashmurian revolts in the Nile Delta.{{sfn|Feder|2017|pp=33–35}}Image:Le Caire mosquée Amr ibn al-As.jpg was the first mosque built in both Egypt and Africa. It was built in Fustat (now Old Cairo), the newly founded capital of Rashidun Egypt.]]
Religious life remained largely undisturbed following the establishment of Arab rule, as evidence by the rich output of Coptic Orthodox Christian arts in monastic centers in Old Cairo (Fustat) and throughout Egypt. Conditions, however, worsened shortly after that, and in the eighth and ninth centuries when Muslim rulers banned the use of human forms in art (taking advantage of an iconoclastic conflict in the European-ruled Byzantium) and consequently destroyed many Coptic Christian paintings mainly of Jesus and frescoes in churches.{{sfn|Kamil|1990|p=41}}
Under the Fatimid Caliphate, Egypt experienced a period of relative tolerance. The Fatimid rulers employed Copts in the government and participated in Coptic and local Egyptian feasts. Major renovation and reconstruction of churches and monasteries were also undertaken. Coptic arts flourished, reaching new heights in Middle and Upper Egypt.{{sfn|Kamil|1990|p=41}} Despite this, by this time, Coptic Christians had lost their majority status,{{cite journal |last1=Shea |first1=Nina |date=June 2017 |title=Do Copts have a future in Egypt |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/egypt/2017-06-20/do-copts-have-future-egypt |url-status=live |journal=Foreign Affairs |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620201311/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/egypt/2017-06-20/do-copts-have-future-egypt |archive-date=2017-06-20}} as a result of the intermittent persecution and the destruction of the Christian churches{{sfn|Etheredge|2011|p=161}} and forced conversions to Islam.{{cite book |last=N. Swanson |first=Mark |title=The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641-1517) |publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press |year=2010 |isbn=9789774160936 |page=54}}{{cite book|title=Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice|isbn=0691125740|author=Michael Bonner|year=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/originsofjihadsh00bonn}}{{cite book|title=The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641-1517)| first=Mark |last= N. Swanson|year= 2010| isbn= 9789774160936| page =54|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|quote= By late 1012 the persecution had moved into high gear with demolitions of churches and the forced conversion of Christian ...}}ha-Mizraḥit ha-Yiśreʼelit, Ḥevrah (1988). Asian and African Studies, Volume 22. Jerusalem Academic Press. Muslim historians note the destruction of dozens of churches and the forced conversion of dozens of people to Islam under al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in Egypt ...These events also reflect the Muslim attitude toward forced conversion and toward converts.
However, the subsequent Mamluk Sultanate returned to previous practices of levying jizya and forcing conversions.{{sfn|Etheredge|2011|p=161}}{{cite book |last=Katō |first=Hiroshi |title=Islam in the Middle Eastern Studies: Muslims and Minorities |publisher=University of California Press |year=2011 |isbn=9784901838023 |page=133 |quote=The Mamluk era, in which many Dhimmīs were forced to convert to Islam, was a time of great turbulence in society.}}{{cite book |last=Naiem |first=Girgis |title=Egypt's Identities in Conflict: The Political and Religious Landscape of Copts and Muslims |publisher=McFarland |year=2018 |isbn=9781476671208 |page=69}}{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Robert |title=History of the Coptic Orthodox People and the Church of Egypt |publisher=FriesenPress |year=2016 |isbn=9781460280270 |page=342}}{{cite book |last=Documentation Center |first=Middle East |title=Mamlūk Studies Review |publisher=University of Chicago |year=2006 |isbn=9781460280270 |page=73}} The Coptic decline in Egypt occurred under the Bahri sultans and accelerated further under the Burji regime.{{sfn|Teule|2013|p=10}} There were several instances of Egyptian Muslim protests against the wealth of Copts and their employment with the state, and both Muslim and Christian rioters burned down each other's houses of worship during intercommunal clashes.{{sfn|Etheredge|2011|p=16}}
As a result of popular pressure, Copts had their employment in the bureaucracy terminated at least nine times between the late 13th and mid-15th centuries, and on one occasion.{{sfn|Etheredge|2011|p=16}}
Coptic bureaucrats were often restored to their positions after tensions passed. Many Copts were forced to convert to Islam or at least adopted outward expressions of Muslim faith to protect their employment and avoid the jizya and official measures against them.{{sfn|Stilt|2011|p=120}} A large wave of Coptic conversions to Islam occurred in the 14th century,{{sfn|Stilt|2011|p=120}}{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Egypt : Copts of Egypt |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d2b2d.html |access-date=2020-06-15 |website=Refworld |language=en}}{{sfn|Etheredge|2011|p=16}}{{cite book |last=Goddard |first=Hugh |title=A History of Christian–Muslim Relations |date=2000 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=1566633400}}{{sfn|Stilt|2011|p=120}} as a result of persecution, destruction of churches,{{sfn|Etheredge|2011|p=16}}{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/614714|title=Coptic Conversion to Islam under the Baḥrī Mamlūks, 692-755/1293-1354|author=Little, Donald P.|year=1976|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London|volume=39|issue=3|pages=552–569|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00051004 |jstor=614714 |s2cid=170719417|url-access=subscription}}{{cite book|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/614714|title=Coptic Conversion to Islam Under the Mahri Mamlūks, 692–755/1293–1354|page=568|jstor=614714 }} and to retain employment.{{sfn|Stilt|2011|p=120}} By the end of the Mamluk period, the ratio of Muslims to Christians in Egypt may have risen to 10:1.{{sfn|Etheredge|2011|p=16}}
According to the medieval Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi, soon afterwards in "all the provinces of Egypt, both north and south, no church remained that had not been razed.... Thus did Islam spread among the Christians of Egypt."{{cite book|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/614714|title=Coptic Conversion to Islam Under the Mahri Mamlūks, 692–755/1293–1354|page=568|jstor=614714 }}
See also
{{Portal|Egypt|Islam}}
Notes
{{NoteFoot}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
Sources
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- {{cite book|editor1-last=Etheredge|editor1-first=Laura S.|title=Middle East, Region in Transition: Egypt|date=2011|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdecAAAAQBAJ|isbn=9781615303922}}
- {{cite book |first=Frank |last=Feder |chapter=The Bashmurite Revolts in the Delta and the ‘Bashmuric Dialect’ |title=Christianity and Monasticism in Northern Egypt: Beni Suef, Giza, Cairo, and the Nile Delta |editor1=Gawdat Gabra |editor2=Hany N. Takla |year=2017 |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |pages=33–36}}
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- {{cite book |last=Teule |first=Herman G. B. |editor1-last=Thomas |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Mallett |editor2-first=Alex |title=Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, Volume 5 (1350–1500) |year=2013 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-25278-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dgy7SN3ZixsC&pg=PA11 |chapter=Introduction: Constantinople and Granada, Christian-Muslim Interaction 1350–1516}}
- {{cite book| last=Kamil |first= Jill |title=Coptic Egypt: History and a Guide |edition= Revised |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |year= 1990}}
- {{Cite book |last=Meyendorff|first=John|author-link=John Meyendorff|year=1989|title=Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D.|series=The Church in history|volume=2|location=Crestwood, NY|publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press|isbn=978-0-88141-056-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J_YAAAAMAAJ}}
- {{cite book |last=Stilt |first=Kristen |title=Islamic Law in Action: Authority, Discretion, and Everyday Experiences in Mamluk Egypt |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-960243-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVaebZA94d4C}}
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{{Egypt topics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Islamization of Egypt}}
Category:Forced religious conversion