CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN TWENTIETH CENTURY EGYPT: CONFLICT AND COOPERATION

Abstract

PETER E. MAKARI [*] In the Middle East, where Judaism, Christianity and Islam all find their roots, the issue of Christian presence has recently taken on a significant urgency among church leaders. Manifestations of Christian presence can be many, including quantitative, and several forms of quantitative presence. In a region where the Christian population is a numerical minority, presence means daily interaction with, and acceptance by and of the larger Muslim majority. If the commitment to the transformation of society has relevance to the Christian population, that presence also means involvement in social, economic and political life to the extent possible. Egypt is the largest of the Middle Eastern countries, and it might be said that its religious composition is the most homogeneous in the region. Much has been written on Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt over the past fourteen centuries of interaction. It is rich in religious and intellectual history, and has been the focus of much attention. Tolerance by one community of the other is a particularly crucial issue. As we focus on the significance of Christian presence in the Middle East, it is appropriate to examine Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt, where social dynamics and personal identity are highly determined by religious association. Egyptian politics has been an important realm in which manifestations of Christian-Muslim relations have been found, and its examination is therefore relevant. We will focus on the social and political realms, recognizing their importance in 'the assertion of a Christian presence within the context of larger society. Egypt's religious communities: a brief historical background The vast majority of modem Egyptians adhere to one of two main faiths, Islam and Christianity. Historically, Egypt became Christian early in the history of Christian expansion. St. Mark the Evangelist brought Christianity to Egypt in the first century AD. The church he established in Alexandria is the Orthodox Church which today is the largest Christian church in the Middle East. The word Copt, which in common usage refers to Egyptian Christians, particularly Orthodox Christians, is a word borrowed by the Arabic from the language. was the fourth stage of the development of the ancient Egyptian pharaonic language. It borrowed the Greek alphabet, adding four characters to accommodate sounds of the Egyptian language not existing in Greek. The word Coptic literally means Egyptian. By the seventh century, most of Egypt's population, the Copts, was Christian. In 642, the Arab armies, under the leadership of 'Amr ibn al-'As, invaded Egypt, bringing with them the Arabic language and Islam. After less than three centuries the Christians no longer were a majority, most of Egypt's population having converted to Islam. The word Copt, though, has remained in Arabic usage since the Arab invasion, but came to refer to those Egyptians who did not convert to Islam, i.e., the Christians. The language faded as the predominant language as Arabic replaced it in administration and then in daily life, first in the cities, and later in the villages; yet it maintained its central place in the liturgy of the Orthodox Church. Islam had become the majority religion in Egypt by the end of the tenth century, and remains so to this day. According to the 1976 census, the percentage of Christians in Egypt was 6.2%. Many Christians feel this is not a fair representation, and the Orthodox church claimed an unofficial membership of 8 million, or nearly 22% of the population of 36.6 million in 1976. [1] It is therefore difficult to arrive at a reliable figure. Today, the Christian population in Egypt consists of members of the Orthodox Church as well as members of the Catholic Church and members of sixteen Protestant denominations. The largest Protestant church in Egypt, and in fact in the Middle East, is the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church, which was formally established in the 1860s as a result of the missionary efforts of the United Presbyterian Church of the United States. …