The Copts in Egyptian Politics (RLE Egypt)
The Copts in Egyptian Politics (RLE Egypt)

Author: B. L. Carter

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-11-23

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0415811244

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This book explores the political relationship between the Muslim majority and Coptic minority in Egypt between 1918 and 1952. Many Egyptians hoped to see the collaboration of the 1919 revolution spur the creation of both a new collective Egyptian identity and a state without religious bias. Traditional ways of governing, however, were not so easily cast aside. Some Egyptians held tenaciously to the traditional arrangements which had both guaranteed Muslim primacy and served relatively well to protect the Copts and afford them some autonomy. Differences within the Coptic community over the wisdom of trusting the genuineness and durability of Muslim support for equality were accentuated by a protracted struggle between reforming laymen and conservative clergy for control of the community. The unwillingness of all parties to compromise hampered the ability of the community both to determine and to defend its interests. The Copts met with modest success in their attempt to become full Egyptian citizens. Their influence in the Wafd, the pre-eminent political party, was very strong prior to and in the early years of the constitutional monarchy, and their formal representation was generally adequate and, in some parliaments, better than adequate. However, this very success produced a backlash which caused many Copts to believe, by the 1940s, that the experiment had failed: political activity has become fraught with risk for them. At the close of the monarchy, equality and shared power seemed motions as distant as in the disheartening years before the 1919 revolution.

The Role of the Copts in the National Movement in Egypt Until the 1919 Revolution
The Role of the Copts in the National Movement in Egypt Until the 1919 Revolution

Author: Kathrin Nina Wiedl

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-08

Total Pages: 77

ISBN-13: 3638714187

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Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Islamic Studies, grade: 1,3, Ben Gurion University (Middle East Institute), course: Religious and Ethnic Minorities/ Communities in the Modern Middle East, language: English, abstract: During the 1919 revolution, under the slogan "Egypt for Egyptians", the Copts fought hand in hand with their Muslim brothers for national independence of Egypt from Britain. The banner of the revolution was a cross within a crescent, the ancient incompatibility of Christianity and Islam seemed to be abolished. Only one decade earlier this unity seemed impossible, after the assassination of the Copt Prime Minister Butrus Ghali, the mob in the streets of Cairo had been praising the murder with slogans, such as: " Wasrani (the name of the killer), Wasrani, who killed the nasrani (Christian)". And the Coptic newspaper Al-Watan had stated in 1908 that "The Copts are the true Egyptians and the Islamic conquest of Egypt was oppressive". The role of the Copts in the national movement is as complex and ambiguous as the national movement itself. We have to weight and consider various factors together in order to understand the different roles of the Copts in the movement during this period. We also have to differentiate between Coptic Clerks, fellahin and urban Copts as well as between the Muslim mob and the Muslim leaders of the national movement, latter often influenced by ideas of western enlightenment. This paper will examine the factors that determined the role of the Coptic minority in the Muslim-dominated national movement between its emergence in 1879 and the 1919 revolution from different perspectives. This includes a discussion of the role of the British policy, the question of social integration and juridical equality/ exclusion as a distinguished religious community from the (Muslim) majority, the degree of Islamisation or secularisation of the national movement and the role of sectarian strife between Muslims

The Copts of Egypt
The Copts of Egypt

Author: Vivian Ibrahim

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2010-12-02

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0857718932

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The Copts of Egypt, who consist of 10-15 per cent of the population, have traditionally been viewed as a 'beleaguered and persecuted minority'. Using newly discovered Coptic archival sources Vivian Ibrahim presents a fresh and vivid alternative reading of the community during the twentieth century. Avoiding the established portrayal of a monolithic entity headed by the Coptic Pope, Ibrahim examines the multifaceted dimensions of the Coptic community, assessing Coptic-State relations on one hand and Coptic intra-communal dimensions on the other. Examining the impact of the British Occupation of Egypt on the making of new national identities, she explores the emergence of a new politically active Coptic class; highlighting popular Coptic grassroots mobilisation during the 1919 revolution through the case-study of the Coptic priest Qommus Sergius. She discusses the centrality of the Copt and Wafdist, Makram Ebeid, on constitutional politics, and his role as a whistleblower during the 'Black Book Affair'. Breaking with the portrayal of a defenceless community, Ibrahim also reveals a strong Coptic response to the emergence and threats of Political Islam through the press. She presents and analyses for the first time, the unique satirical 'Ode to the Fezzed Shaykh', aimed at Muslim Brotherhood leader Hassan al-Banna. In 'The Copts of Egypt', Ibrahim also reveals fierce factionalism within the Coptic community in its struggle for modernisation. Examining mass corruption in monasteries and in the run-up to papal election campaigns, she analyses the ways in which the Church used the Egyptian State to bolster its claim to political as well as religious representation over the community. Through the establishment of benevolent and philanthropic societies, Ibrahim argues that Coptic youths were amongst the first to negotiate a role for themselves in post-revolutionary Egypt. Adopting President Nasser's revolutionary rhetoric of tathir, or cleansing, Ibrahim examines how a group of Coptic youths abducted their Pope and forced through their own agenda of religious and political reform. This book will be essential reading for scholars of the Coptic community and Middle East Studies.

Copts and the Security State
Copts and the Security State

Author: Laure Guirguis

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2016-11-30

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1503600807

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Copts and the Security State combines political, anthropological, and social history to analyze the practices of the Egyptian state and the political acts of the Egyptian Coptic minority. Laure Guirguis considers how the state, through its subjugation of Coptic citizens, reproduces a political order based on religious identity and difference. The leadership of the Coptic Church, in turn, has taken more political stances, thus foreclosing opportunities for secularization or common ground. In each instance, the underlying logics of authoritarianism and sectarianism articulate a fear of the Other, and, as Guirguis argues, are ultimately put to use to justify the expanding Egyptian security state. In outlining the development of the security state, Guirguis focuses on state discourses and practices, with particular emphasis on the period of Hosni Mubarak's rule, and shows the transformation of the Orthodox Coptic Church under the leadership of Pope Chenouda III. She also considers what could be done to counter the growing tensions and violence in Egypt. The 2011 Egyptian uprising constitutes the most radical recent attempt to subvert the predominant order. Still, the revolutionary discourses and practices have not yet brought forward a new system to counter the sectarian rhetoric, and the ongoing counter-revolution continues to repress political dissent.

Egyptian Politics
Egyptian Politics

Author: Maye Kassem

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9781588262479

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The nature of personal authoritarian rule in Egypt has remained virtually unchanged for over five decades. Maye Kassem traces the shaping of contemporary Egyptian politics, considering why authoritarian rule has been so resilient and assessing why it hassurvived.

Religious Strife in Egypt (RLE Egypt)
Religious Strife in Egypt (RLE Egypt)

Author: Nadia Ramsis Farah

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-03

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1135091099

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This critical analysis investigates the causes that brought about one of the most tumultuous periods in modern Egyptian history – the clashes between the Muslims and Copts during the 1970s. A unique retrospective, it features probing interviews with Egyptian intellectuals, writers, political and religious leaders, as well as common citizens from both the Muslim and Copt communities. Within a framework of economic, political and ideological factors, Nadia Ramsis Farah is able to synthesize a compelling portrait of a troubled national conscience in the face of religious strife. First published 1986.

The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era
The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era

Author: Sebastian Elsasser

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014-04-01

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0199368406

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Egypt's Christians, the Copts, are the largest Christian community in the Middle East. While they have always been considered an integral component of the Egyptian nation, their precise status within Egyptian politics and society has been subject to ongoing debates from the twentieth century to present day. Part of the legacy of the Mubarak era in Egypt is the unsettled state of Muslim-Christian relations and the increasing volatility of sectarian tensions, which have continued in the post-Mubarak period. The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era delves into the discourses that dominated public debates and the political agenda-setting during the Mubarak era, explaining why politicians and the public in Egypt have had such enormous difficulties in recognizing the real roots of sectarian strife. This "Coptic question" is a complex set of issues, ranging from the petty struggles of daily Egyptian life in a bi-religious society to intricate legal and constitutional questions (family law, conversion, and church-building), to the issue of the political participation of the Coptic minority. Through these subjects, the book explores a larger debate around Egyptian national identity. Paying special attention to the neglected diversity of voices within the Coptic community, Sebastian Elsässer peels back the historical layers to provide a comprehensive analysis of the historic, political, and social dynamics of Egypt's Coptic Christians during Hosni Mubarak's rule.

Copts at the Crossroads
Copts at the Crossroads

Author: Mariz Tadros

Publisher: American University in Cairo Press

Published: 2013-06-01

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1617973580

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In the light of the escalation of sectarian tensions during and after Mubarak's reign, the predicament of the Arab world's largest religious minority, the Copts, has come to the forefront. This book poses such questions as why there has been a mass exodus of Copts from Egypt, and how this relates to other religious minorities in the Arab region; why it is that sectarian violence increased during and after the Egyptian revolution, which epitomized the highest degree of national unity since 1919; and how the new configuration of power has influenced the extent to which a vision of a political order is being based on the principles of inclusive democracy. The book examines the relations among the state, the church, Coptic citizenry, and civil and political societies against the backdrop of the increasing diversification of actors, the change of political leadership in the country, and the transformations occurring in the region. An informative historical background is provided, and new fieldwork and statistical data inform a thoughtful exploration of what it takes to build an inclusive democracy in post-Mubarak Egypt.