Kathrin Nina Wiedl

The role of the Copts in the national movement in Egypt until the 1919 revolution Kathrin Nina Wiedl

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, 19 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: This term paper describes the role of the Copts as a Christian minority in the national independence movement in Egypt, from 1879 until the 1919 revolution. It raises the question, what factors determined their changing role from a minority, excluded by the Islamistic tendencies of the movement, to their full and equal participation during the 1919 revolution. , 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