The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era
Sebastian Elsasser
Abstract
Part of the legacy of the Mubarak era (1980–2011) in Egypt is the unsettled state of Muslim-Christian relations and the increasing volatility of sectarian tensions, which also overshadowed the first years of the post-Mubarak period. 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 negotiations and debates throughout the twentieth century until the present day. The so-called “Coptic questi ... More
Part of the legacy of the Mubarak era (1980–2011) in Egypt is the unsettled state of Muslim-Christian relations and the increasing volatility of sectarian tensions, which also overshadowed the first years of the post-Mubarak period. 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 negotiations and debates throughout the twentieth century until the present day. The so-called “Coptic question,” as it evolved during the course of modern Egyptian history, involves a complex set of issues, ranging from the petty struggles of daily coexistence in a bi-religious society and everyday issues of religious distinction and discrimination to intricate legal and constitutional questions (family law, conversion, and church-building), to the issue of the political participation of the Coptic minority, and to intellectual debates about Egyptian national identity. Investigating the socioeconomic, political, legal, and ideological background of the Coptic question as it appeared in the Mubarak era, the book uncovers different historical layers, traces important continuities and identifies significant ruptures from the early nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first. It delves into the discourses that dominated public debates and political agenda-setting during the Mubarak era, and explains why politicians and the public in Egypt have had such enormous difficulties in recognizing the real roots of sectarian strife and devising effective counter-measures.
Keywords:
Egypt,
Copts,
Muslim-Christian relations,
sectarian conflict,
religious revivalism,
Mubarak regime,
Coptic Orthodox Church
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199368396 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2014 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199368396.001.0001 |
