CHAPTER II: The Arab Conquest and Egyptian Religious Life

Firstly: Islam and Egypt Before the Arab Conquest:

The real meaning of Islam in terms of behavior and in terms of faith:

   Literally, Islam in terms of faith and belief is ''submission'' to God (i.e., divine commands of the Quran, God's Word). The literal meaning of Islam is also directly linked to the Arabic root of the word ''Islam'': "salam", which means peace. Hence, the meaning of Islam in terms of behavior is peace, or adherence to peace in terms of demeanor and dealing with all peaceful people. Hence, in terms of behavior and not necessarily in terms of one's belief or disbelief in the Quran, any peaceful person of both genders is a Muslim (i.e., literally, a peaceful one). As in terms of belief inside one's mind and heart, judged only by God and never by humans/mortals, a Muslim is the one who applies and believes in the message of the Quran as it is the Word of God. people are to just only the outside behavior shown to them: peaceful demeanor as opposed to aggression and violence. God says the following about some disbelieving Arabian Bedouins or Desert-Arabs during Muhammad's lifetime who were also hypocrites: "The Desert-Arabs say, "We have believed." Say, "You have not believed; but say, 'We have submitted,' for faith has not yet entered into your hearts..." (49:14). Thus, God knew their inward lack of faith, never shown to Muhammad and the early believers; as God is the Only Judge on faiths of humans. As for Muhammad and the early believers, they treated peacefully with such hypocrites because those hypocrites were peaceful in terms of behavior, leaving the judgment on their inward belief, or lack of, it to God alone. of course, submission to God can be both in terms of faith (belief in the Quran) and peaceful behavior as well. Combining both is the real and complete meaning of Islam judged by God on the Day of Resurrection. Those winners on that Last Day are those who submitted their minds, hearts, bodies, senses, and souls to God by following the Quran, in secret and in public and in all their behaviors that adhere to peace and justice, worshipping God alone all their lifetimes in devotion to Him and dedicating their worship and their good deeds only to Him, while avoiding evils and sins as much as they can. This of course should be done without hypocrisy and without polytheism; i.e., deifying and sanctifying anything or anyone alongside with God; this is real submission to god in Islam. God says in the Quran: "Say, "My prayer and my worship, and my life and my death, are devoted to God, the Lord of the Worlds. No associate has He. Thus I am commanded, and I am the first of those who submit." (6:162-163). Real Islam in terms of faith and belief is based on 100% monotheism to which one adheres wholeheartedly all one's lifetime, without inventing mediators or intercessors between God/Allah and the Muslim person, and this is why God tells us in the Quran never to take allies alongside with Him: "...God is sufficient as an Ally, and God is sufficient as a Supporter." (4:45); "Say, "Shall I take for myself a protector other than God, Originator of the heavens and the earth, and He feeds and is not fed?" Say, "I am instructed to be the first of those who submit." And do not be among the polytheists." (6:14). Hence, real Islam is one thing, but how it has been applied through the centuries is something else; there has been a huge gap between real Islam and how the Muhammadans have applied it wrongly (while considering themselves as 'Muslims'). It is self-deception that some people may deem themselves as 'Muslims' in terms of faith just because they raise a banner or show a label as such, as if this would be enough without applying and pondering upon the Quran (real Islam) in terms of both behavior and belief/faith, so as to pave one's way to Paradise in the Afterlife after the Day of Judgment. Declaring one's faith in Islam in public is NEVER enough to guarantee one's entering into Paradise; God will judge humans by their adherence to peace, justice, etc. among other Quranic higher values as well as monotheistic belief as per the Quran, God's last message to humanity. Those who deceive themselves think that by labeling oneself as a 'Muslim', Paradise is guaranteed in the Afterlife; such people forget that God's mercy in the Afterlife is obtained through one's purely monotheistic faith and good deeds; as the ones who will be spared from entering Hell are the righteous ones living in piety and in the fear of God, regardless of labels or banners raised overtly during one's lifetime on earth. God says in the Quran: "As for him who was defiant. And preferred the life of this world. Then Hell is the shelter. But as for him who feared the Stature of his Lord, and restrained the self from desires. Then Paradise is the shelter." (79:37-41). Regardless of the names of various religious doctrines and      denominations, all religions on earth are divided only into two types: God's religion of monotheism (i.e., Islam: submission only to Him) or polytheistic religions fabricated by mortals after distorting God's religion of monotheism conveyed by all prophets and messengers, each in his tongue, until the last message of God was revealed in Arabic to the Seal of Prophets, Muhammad. God says in the Quran: "Religion with God is Islam (i.e., submission to God)..." (3:19); "Whoever seeks other than Islam (i.e., submission to God) as a religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers." (3:85); "We never sent a messenger before you without inspiring him that: "There is no god but I, so worship Me."" (21:25); "We never sent any messenger except in the language of his people, to make things clear for them..." (14:4); "We made it easy in your language, so that they may remember." (44:58). Thus we perceive here that all God's prophets and messengers (from Adam to Muhammad) conveyed one, true, clear message of monotheism: There is no God but Allah. Yet, with the passage of time, followers of prophets have moved away from this real Islam and fallen into the trap of polytheism while retaining only the banner or label of 'Islam', thinking they have been doing very well  ass if they were guided indeed. Hence, researching, analyzing, and studying religious reality and culture of a given society or nation (i.e., the Muhammadans, as far as this CHAPTER II is concerned) will show the huge gap between real essence of Islam and how religious life and culture are applied and practiced regardless of overt labels or banners. We trace here religious life and culture of Egypt after the Arab conquest, using the Quran as the criterion to judge overt behavior of Egyptians and Arabs inside Egypt with the passage of time so as to avoid mistakes in such a study in this CHAPTER II as much as possible. The Quran is the only criterion to measure behavior of people (who claim to be monotheistic believers but they have been indeed polytheists) in all eras and geographical locations, regardless of their titles, names, denominations, labels, banners, etc. With the only criterion established and asserted here by us to be the Quran, in this study, we resort to other secondary sources to gain data and information which will be judged and measured as per the Quran as a yard-stick, and such sources include historical accounts, Sufi books, books on religious thought and practices that show religious notions, rituals, tenets, etc. that have dominated certain eras and tell readers about people's activities and ways of life.       

Egypt knew Islam long before the Arab conquest:

1- God says in the Quran: "We sent you with the truth; a bearer of good news, and a warner. There is no community but a warner has passed through it." (35:24).  The term ''warner'' here of course is more general than the terms ''prophet'' or ''messenger'', because warners may be preachers without divine inspiration or revelation  and this makes them not among prophets or messengers who receive divine inspiration. This means that warners were preachers who voluntarily called others to follow the Truth, but they were not inspired by God to do so. Thus, not every warner was a prophet or a messenger of God, but all prophets and messengers were warners of course to their peoples. What we mean to say here is that the Quran tells us that between one prophet and the one succeeding him, there were periods of warners who called for reform and preached to people to remind them of monotheism when people moved away from it and indulged into the polytheistic ways of distortion and misguidance, and this Quranic fact about warners is asserted, while history never mentions them, let alone their names. Therefore, we conclude from the above that certainly, God has sent prophets and messengers to Egypt BEFORE the Arab conquest, and He cause preachers/warners to emerge inside Egypt as well in many eras throughout the 50-century Egyptian history before the revelation of the Quran. Let us be reminded that God tells us in the Quran that He does not mention the totality of prophets and messengers or all their stories in the Quranic text: "Some messengers We have already told you about, while some messengers We have not told you about..." (4:164). Among those prophets/messengers mentioned in the Quran linked to Egypt are Joseph and Moses. As far as history is concerned, accounts of it narrate that Abraham and Sarah visited Egypt during the Hyksos rule and the king gave him Hagar, who was the mother of Ishmael, the first-born son of Abraham, who settled later on in Arabia and was one the ancestors of Muhammad. Sarah gave birth to Isaac, second son of Abraham, and both saw their grandchild Jacob, as we infer from the glad tidings brought by the angels: "His wife was standing by, so she laughed. And We gave her good news of Isaac; and after Isaac, Jacob." (11:71). Jacob/Israel had many sons who formed the tribes of the Israelites, but they hated their brother Joseph and got rid of him and he ended up being in Egypt and appointed as its grand vizier, and later on, he brought his brothers and parents into Egypt, and made them along with Jacob settle in Egypt, and of course, the Hyksos king welcomed them as they were coming from the east like the Hyksos. In later decades, Egyptians managed to end the occupation of their country by the Hyksos as they defeated them in many military battles and chased them away, but the wheel of fortune changed and turned for the Israelites who were persecuted by the Pharaonic rule, as we know from the Quran that Moses' Pharaoh persecuted them severely in many ways until Moses was sent from God as His prophet to Egypt, and Moses' story ended in the exodus and the downfall of Pharaoh who drowned.  

2- The Quranic text proves that Joseph was sent as a prophet for all Egyptians, and he began his ministry or call inside his prison cell: ""O My fellow prison inmates, are diverse gods better, or God, the One, the Supreme? You do not worship, besides Him, except names you have named, you and your ancestors, for which God has sent down no authority..."" (12:39-40). Thus, we infer that Joseph was the prophet of Islam sent by God to Egyptians, and he implored the Lord by saying that he desired to die as a Muslim (i.e., submitter to God): ""My Lord, You have given me some authority, and taught me some interpretation of events. Initiator of the heavens and the earth; You are my Protector in this life and in the Hereafter. Receive my soul as a submitter to You, and unite me with the righteous."" (12:101). Likewise, Moses was not sent by God only to the Israelites, but also to Pharaoh and to all Egyptians as well, as he told all his followers to be Muslims/submitters to God, as we infer from the following verses: " And We sent Moses with Our signs and a clear authority. To Pharaoh and his retinue members, but they followed the command of Pharaoh, and the command of Pharaoh was not wise. He will precede his people on the Day of Resurrection, and will lead them into the Hell-Fire..." (11:96-98); "Moses said, "O my people, if you have believed in God, then put your trust in Him, if you have submitted."" (10:84).  

3- The query raised now is as follows: to what extent was the Egyptians' acceptance to the monotheistic call conveyed by prophets? The answer is known from the Quran, as many verses show us the stories of the tyranny of Moses' Pharaoh and his retinue members. We can infer from the Quran some facts regarding the features of the Egyptian religious life and culture in the Pharaonic Era, in the points below.   

(A) Moses' Pharaoh proclaimed himself as a supreme god: "He said, "I am your Lord, the most high."" (79:24), and he went into the extreme of denying the inner instinct that makes people know/feel that God exists, as he denied God's existence: "Pharaoh said, "O nobles, I know of no god for you other than me. So fire-up the bricks for me, O Haman, and build me a tower, that I may ascend to the God of Moses, though I think he is a liar."" (28:38).

(B) The general public opinion supported Moses' Pharaoh in his disbelieving attitude, as he proclaimed in his conference his being a supreme god, instead of the Creator, and they never objected to him: "And gathered and proclaimed. He said, "I am your Lord, the most high."" (79:23-24). Besides, within the story of Moses' Pharaoh in the Quran, we fell his retinue members or nobles agreeing with him in everything, and he never really cared to have their opinions or to consult them, because he deceived them: "Pharaoh said, "Leave me to kill Moses, and let him appeal to his Lord. I fear he may change your religion, or spread disorder on the earth."" (40:26); "Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying, "O my people, do I not own the Kingdom of Egypt, and these rivers flow beneath me? Do you not see?" (43:51); "Thus he fooled his people, and they obeyed him. They were wicked people. And when they provoked Our wrath, We took retribution from them, and We drowned them all." (43:54-55).    

(C) Of course, Moses' Pharaoh was defending his very existence and his religious and political positions, as his people worshipped him as a deity and blindly obeyed him, and he feared that the call of Moses would make his regime crumble when his political and religious system would collapse. We infer that Egyptians at the time (of the retinue members and the affluent ones, not weak poor peasants) supported Pharaoh as they would preserve their status and protect their interests. Such protection seemed to require maintaining the notion of a deified Pharaoh as part and parcel of the Pharaonic religion at that era. In other words, to maintain polytheism within the Ancient Egyptians' religion, as Egyptians rejected Moses and his message (and Joseph before him) because the Egyptians adhered to their millennia-old religious tenets. "Yet when Our enlightening signs came to them, they said, "This is obvious witchcraft." And they rejected them, although their souls were certain of them, out of wickedness and pride. So see how the outcome was for the mischief-makers." (27:13-14). Of course, such attitude of the Egyptians was NOT derived from national or patriotic loyalty to Pharaoh or to Egypt as a homeland; because the Egyptian people rejected Joseph before and his message and hated him, though they knew he was God's prophets, as we infer from words of the believing retinue member inside the palace of Pharaoh, as this believer reminded them of Joseph: "Joseph had come to you with clear revelations, but you continued to doubt what he came to you with. Until, when he perished, you said, "God will never send a messenger after him."..." (40:34). This verse shows that Ancient Egyptians knew God and knew that Joseph was God's prophet, but they rejected Joseph nonetheless, despite their having no deified or sanctified Egyptian ruler at the time to whom they would remain loyal (as the Hyksos, hated by Egyptians, occupied and Egypt during the lifetime of Joseph). This makes us deduce that the Ancient Egyptians hated the monotheistic call because of their millennia-old religious traditions, and NOT out of loyalty for Egypt as a homeland or any patriotic nationalistic feelings. Hence, Ancient Egyptians rejected the call of Joseph despite his assuming a high-rank position of being the grand vizier in Egypt who controlled all its treasuries and food storehouses during a great famine that struck many countries at the time and despite Josephs' honesty and integrity that made people admired him, and once he died, they felt that God would not send any more prophets to them.                  

(D) Despite the fact that the Ancient Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, some monotheistic believers existed in Ancient Egypt as well, who adhered to their belief in monotheism in contrast to self-deified Moses' Pharaoh. The Quran mentions the situations and attitudes of some of those monotheistic Egyptian believers, without mentioning their names, as we show in the points below.   

1- Among the Ancient Egyptian believers in God were magicians who declared their belief in the message of Moses inside the palace court of Pharaoh when they saw the miracle of God when the staff of Moses turned into a huge serpent that ate up their serpents. At that situation in particular, Pharaoh resented their belief in the message of Moses without taking prior permission from him, as if Pharaoh owned their hearts and souls, and the magicians never cared about fury and punishments of Pharaoh and insisted on adhering to the Truth: "And the magicians fell down prostrate. They said, "We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses." He said, "Did you believe in him before I have given you permission? He must be your chief, who has taught you magic. I will cut off your hands and your feet on alternate sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of the palm-trees. Then you will know which of us is more severe in punishment, and more lasting." They said, "We will not prefer you to the proofs that have come to us, and Him who created us. So issue whatever judgment you wish to issue. You can only rule in this lowly life. We have believed in our Lord, so that He may forgive us our sins, and the magic you have compelled us to practice. God is Better, and more Lasting."" (20:70-73).   

2- Among the Ancient Egyptian believers in God was the believing man among the retinue members of Pharaoh (or he might have been a prince from the family of Pharaoh) in his place court attempted to convince them to believe in God alone within the messages of His messengers: "A believing man from Pharaoh's family, who had concealed his faith, said, "Are you going to kill a man for saying, `My Lord is God,' and he has brought you clear proofs from your Lord? If he is a liar, his lying will rebound upon him; but if he is truthful, then some of what he promises you will befall you. God does not guide the extravagant imposter. " (40:28). After arguing with them, they rejected his words, and he desperately ended his delivered speech to them in the manner that we read in the following verses: "O my people, how is it that I call you to salvation, and you call me to the Fire? You call me to reject God, and to associate with Him what I have no knowledge of, while I call you to the Mighty Forgiver. Without a doubt, what you call me to has no say in this world, or in the Hereafter; and our turning back is to God; and the transgressors are the inmates of the Fire. You will remember what I am telling you, so I commit my case to God. God is Observant of the servants."" (40:41-44). 

3- Among the Ancient Egyptian believers in God was one woman in the bed of Pharaoh himself and so very near him physically, his wife. Pharaoh's wife was a monotheistic believer as per the Quranic verse about her, and this shows that even inside the locations and headquarters of extremist polytheism, there might be real believers who adhere to the Truth no matter what. God tells us that this believing woman, wife of Pharaoh, invoked and implored God in a very particular manner that shows her deep faith, making her an example for real believers to follow: "And God illustrates an example of those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, "My Lord, build for me, with you, a house in Paradise, and save me from Pharaoh and his works, and save me from the unjust people."" (66:11).  

4- Among the Ancient Egyptian believers in God was the Potiphar's wife in the Quranic story of Joseph; during the era of Joseph, the dominant climate refused monotheism, and yet, we read the unique situation of the Potiphar's wife as she declared her repentance in public while people (friends and foes) are witnessing before the Hyksos king and his men. This situation was of an Egyptian woman in the affluent classes of high status, as she confessed her sin on her own free will and based on her free choice, and this shows how deep her faith was, as we infer from her words in the Quran: "... The Potiphar's wife then said, "Now the truth is out. It was I who tried to seduce him, and he is telling the truth." "This is that he may know that I did not betray him in secret, and that God does not guide the scheming of the betrayers." "Yet I do not claim to be innocent. The soul commands evil, except those on whom my Lord has mercy. Truly my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful."" (12:51-53).   

   Indeed, the Quran does not contain a more prominent example of extreme disbelief other than Moses' Pharaoh and this is why we read in the Quran that he and his retinue members will be made as imams/leaders leading others, who followed their footsteps and imitated them in later eras until the end of the world, to Hell-Fire: "And We made them leaders calling to the Fire. And on Resurrection Day, they will not be saved." (28:41). In fact, the Quran does not contain a more prominent example of adherence to belief despite persecution other than Moses' Pharaoh's magicians who never feared the tyranny of Pharaoh, in contrast to Moses and Aaron who were afraid – at first at least – of facing the tyranny of Pharaoh, and God has said to them: "But speak to him nicely. Perhaps he will remember, or have some fear." They said, "Lord, we fear he may persecute us, or become violent." He said, "Do not fear, We are with you, hearing and seeing." (20:44-46). Because of the tyranny of Moses' Pharaoh and his utter disbelief in God and his never admitting the fact that God has been the One to grant him many bounties during his lifetime, Moses' Pharaoh and his people (retinue members and family members) deserved curses in this life and in the Afterlife, as God answered the supplication of Moses: "Moses said, "Our Lord, you have given Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the worldly life. Our Lord, for them to lead away from Your path. Our Lord, obliterate their wealth, and harden their hearts, they will not believe until they see the painful torment." He said, "Your prayer has been answered, so go straight, and do not follow the path of those who do not know."" (10:88-89). Part of answering this supplication and invoking God's wrath on Pharaoh and his people was that the Pharaonic rule collapsed forever, and Egypt did not witness after them any Egyptian powerful rulers. The fate of Moses' Pharaoh in the Hereafter is the same fate waiting for any rulers who would follow the footsteps of Moses' Pharaoh. God says the following about Moses' Pharaoh: "He will precede his people on the Day of Resurrection, and will lead them into the Hell-Fire. Miserable is the place he placed them in. They were followed by a curse in this, and on the Day of Resurrection. Miserable is the path they followed." (11:98-99). God says the following about the believing man inside Moses' Pharaoh's people and then about Moses' Pharaoh and his retinue members: " So God protected him from the evils of their scheming, while a terrible torment besieged Pharaoh's people. The Hell-Fire. They are exposed to it morning and evening. And on the Day the Hour takes place: "Admit the people of Pharaoh to the most intense agony."" (40:45-46).

   Indeed, the key to the Ancient Egyptian civilization lies in its religion, as it was the point around which the life of Ancient Egyptians revolved, with all its different artistic, social, cultural, civilizational, and political aspects. In fact, the Pharaonic political system is a religious one essentially, with a deified pharaoh in its center. In addition, most Pharaonic architecture for millennia is linked to the Ancient Egyptian religion, as Pharaonic people cared to build temples, tombs, pyramids, etc. that would stand the test of time, while never cared much about preserving the duration of palaces, houses, etc. and we find no theaters or playgrounds at all, unlike other civilizations of the Greeks, the Romans, the Phoenicians, etc. Even cultural and artistic aspects of the Pharaonic people were mostly used in temples and for other religious reasons and were controlled by clergy who monopolized knowledge and culture to the extent that when clergy of Pharaonic gods ceased to exist, Pharaonic knowledge were no longer passed to any other generations, in contrast to the mostly secular knowledge, and culture of the Greeks that went on and were made available to citizens. If it had not been for Champollion, the French philologist, we would not be able to know hieroglyphics and to know more about the Pharaohs and their great civilization. In light of the Ancient Egyptian religion, we understand the political revolts of Egyptians because they were essentially incited or instigated (and then ended) within religious reasons; this applies to all revolts of the Egyptians against the Byzantines (revolts led by the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church), Napoleon (revolts led by Al-Azhar), and the British occupation (revolts led by Al-Azhar). Religious reasons also caused the Egyptians never to revolt at all against Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic rulers as they adopted Pharaonic Egyptian religion, gods, traditions, and customs. Similarly, the Egyptians never revolted against the Ottomans because they thought that the Ottoman caliphs were 'defenders of Islam'. Examples in history of similar nature are too many to be mentioned here in this CHAPTER II. This is why we find in the Quran two unique examples of Egyptians: 1) extreme disbelief of the self-deified Moses' Pharaoh who with his affluent people will be imams/leaders calling sinners (who imitated them) to Hell, and 2) pure and firm belief of the magicians who never feared death under commands of Moses' Pharaoh because they adhere to the Truth and thus deserving to be good examples (or imams) for believers to follow in all eras regarding adherence to the Truth with all one's might while fearing nobody and nothing on earth. Therefore, because of the fact that the millennia-old Egyptian life has been based on clergy, there has been incessant adamant refusal  by most Egyptians to monotheism of Islam brought by Joseph and Moses. This is expected from a civilization that has its firm, deep-seated tenets and notions for millennia before and after the eras of Joseph and Moses.    

Egyptianization and exporting:

   Since the core of the Egyptian civilization has been based on its unique religion, the Egyptian genius has been always used to preserve such national religion so as not to make it get influenced by foreign or external trends and impacts, which were so many as they were attracted by Egypt's location and richness. Hence, with the passage of so many foreign trends and invaders who settled in Egypt for a while, the weight of the Egyptian civilization did what is called now the process of Egyptianization of all religious trends coming from outsiders. And because of the Egyptian genius , prominence, and pioneer leading position, the process of Egyptianization was followed by exporting these Egyptianized religious trends (that would have the features, stamp, and print of the Pharaonic Egyptian religion) to other nations later on. The outstanding example of what we are referring to here is, of course, Christianity. The same process of Egyptianization and exporting was done earlier with Judaism and the Greek and Roman philosophies and religions.             

1- With Judaism: The Israelites multiplied in number after they settled in Egypt during the period from the era of Joseph and Jacob inside Egypt until the era of Moses and the exodus. Despite the fact that the Israelites suffered severe persecution by Egyptians and Moses' Pharaoh, they felt affinity to the Ancient Egyptian religion. Proof: we know from the Quran that when the Lord saved the Israelites from Moses' Pharaoh during the exodus by a great miracle, they forgot all about this and yearned and felt nostalgic to the Ancient Egyptian religion gods and asked Moses to make gods for them to worship: "And We delivered the Israelites across the sea. And when they came upon a people who were devoted to their statues of idols, they said, "O Moses, make for us a god, as they have gods." He said, "You are truly an ignorant people."" (7:138). Once Moses left them temporarily, the Israelites committed the sin of making a golden calf statue and worshipped it, which was similar to Apis, the Ancient Egyptian religion bull-god, and this shows that they used to worship Egyptians gods before the call of Moses. "In his absence, the people of Moses adopted a calf made from their ornaments....They took it for worship. They were in the wrong." (7:148). After the era of Moses, a faction of the Israelites specialized in misguidance and polytheism, and the Quran calls this faction ''the Jews'', and their being progeny of Jacob and their having many prophets and messengers sent to them did little to guide them to monotheism, as their being influenced by the Ancient Egyptian religion was too much, and they even murdered some of the prophets sent to them, and this incurred the wrath and punishment of God against them: "... They were struck with humiliation and poverty, and incurred wrath from God. That was because they rejected God's revelations and wrongfully killed the prophets. That was because they disobeyed and transgressed." (2:61). We notice that the Quranic text makes a clear distinction between two terms: "Israelites" and "Jews", while praising the believing ones among the former and condemning, criticizing, and cursing the latter. Some researchers and authors investigated the influence of the Ancient Egyptian religion on Judaism especially in terms of rituals, tenets, and notions. The Quran provides us with the example of the gold calf that we have explained above. Some notions in the Old Testament (especially the Torah or the Pentateuch) are believed to be heavily influenced by the Ancient Egyptian religion, especially the Book of Genesis and some Psalms. One prominent example of a term taken from the Ancient Egyptian religion and inserted into Judaism is "the holy of holies" [1].          

2- With the Greeks: The Israelites were enslaved by Egyptians and were influenced much by them as well, but the Greeks ruled Egypt during the era of Alexander the Great and the era of the Ptolemaic dynasty rule, and such Greek rulers were also heavily influenced by the Ancient Egyptian religion that was very impressive and dominant and left its deep mark on all foreigners entering Egypt whether they were slaves to Egyptians or rulers of Egypt. Alexander the Great went to Siwa oasis to offer rituals and oblation to the Ancient Egyptian god Amon, where he was proclaimed as the son of Amon. The Ptolemaic dynasty rulers forgot all about their previous Greek religious tenets and adopted the Ancient Egyptian religion, customs tenets, cults, traditions, etc. to the extent that they adopted officially formally the cult of worshipping previous rulers in their State, and it has been a very old Pharaonic tradition of deifying Pharaonic rulers. Hence, Ptolemaic rulers worshipped their ancestors of rulers and Alexander the Great who ruled Egypt. At one time, Ptolemy III restored to thee Egyptians statues of gods stolen by the Persians, and this made Ptolemy III popular among the Egyptian people and he was depicted with his wife as a benevolent god and goddess. Indeed, Ptolemy III cared about establishing Egyptian temples, such as the one dedicated to the goddess Isis in Alexandria, the one in Karnak, and the one in Esna in Upper Egypt. Ptolemy III started the erection of a huge, spacious temple dedicated to the god Horus in Edfu, in Upper Egypt as well, and this temple took 180 years to be build, and it was finished during the reign of Ptolemy XII [2].          

3- With the Romans: The Romans could never avoid being influenced and impressed by the Ancient Egyptian religion, despite the fact that they were both powerful, haughty, and arrogant. The Roman emperor Titus visited Egypt and witnessed the celebration of consecrating Apis, the Ancient Egyptian religion bull-god, as the formal official god of the Romans. The Roman emperor Domitian (81 – 96 A.D.) built temples in Rome dedicated to the goddess Isis and the god Serapis, and this shows that Isis was known and worshipped reverently all over the Roman Empire unofficially at first, but officially later on as such temples were built in Rome [3].   

Aspects of Egyptian religious influence on non-Egyptians:

  There are three different trends of the Ancient Egyptian religion that dominated religious life outside Egypt in the ancient world. We trace them as follows.

1- Polytheism and trinity of deities: the main feature or trend in the Ancient Egyptian religion is polytheism; i.e., there were many local gods in each main city or province in addition to three main deities forming a holy trinity of a god/husband, a goddess/wife, and their god/son. Of course, such trinity was imitated in different names by many different civilizations influenced by Egypt and it symbolized fertility, continuity, renewal, and eternity. Such symbolism was first inferred by Egyptian agricultural environment and the cultivation cycle of throwing seed, watering, harvesting, etc. The most ancient trinity in the world is of course the Egyptian one that influenced the religions and cults of most of the ancient world: Isis, Osiris, and Horus. This Ancient Egyptian trinity went on during the Ptolemaic Era under the auspices of all the Ptolemaic dynasty rulers that adopted the worship of this trinity officially and formally, along with other Ancient Egyptian gods. The Isis cult spread in Greece long time before Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, and the occult and esoteric notions and secrets of the Greek religion are very much similar to the secrets of the Isis worship and cult. Even the Ancient Egyptian god Osiris was named in Greece as Dionysus. The Greek god Zeus was interpolated into this Ancient Egyptian trinity in the form of the god Serapis in Alexandria that replaced Osiris, while Serapis was worshipped along with Isis [4]. Isis in particular had special high position in the hearts of all Egyptians as the most ancient goddess, or indeed deity, in the world, as it predates the era of written history. The cult and worship of Isis spread outside Egypt all over the ancient world while Isis retained its Egyptian features without much change, and most probably, this was due to the humanistic and very touching aspect in the mythical story of Isis, the goddess and the mother of the god Horus who sacrificed a lot and endeavored and strove for a long time for the sake of her son Horus and her husband, the god Osiris. The Isis cult spread in Rome, and the whole of Europe, very fast during the times of the Roman Empire and even in distant territories outside the Roman Empire, after caravans routes and fleets of merchants' ships connected the ancient world. Roman fleet and ships carried from Alexandria the cult of Isis worship and her statues and icons. This is proven by a famous papyrus discovered in Al-Bahnassa, Egypt, that was written in the second century A.D., describing locations of the Isis cult all over the ancient world, and in most Egyptian cities, among them 69 cities in the Nile Delta region alone, and at least 55 cities outside Egypt, showing that the Isis cult reached India, Arabia, Rome, Europe, and Sinop at the Black Sea. Along with Isis, Horus her son was worshipped in different names, but Isis retained her name and qualities all over the ancient world [5]. Not surprisingly, the Quran mentions the name of Isis as it was worshipped in Arabia before the advent of Islam, under the name Uzza, mentioned in 53:18-19 within a holy trinity of three goddesses: Al-Lat, Uzza, and Manat. The name Uzza is more similar to the name of Isis in the Ancient Egyptian language: Iza and Izzet, because the English ''Isis'' is derived from the Greek pronunciation. Isis cult spread from Rome to all over European regions while retaining her name, hymns, rituals, and hierarchy of clergy in her temples in Europe, which were all exact replicas of the Ancient Egyptian ones [6]. All Roman provinces used to include in their pantheon of gods and in their cults the worship of Egyptian goddesses and gods; from North Africa to the Danube and from Gaul, Britain, the Alps to Germania, the Isis worship and cult persisted until the end of the second century A.D. [7]. The Isis cult waned for a while and then the statues and icons of Isis carrying the baby Horus re-emerged within Christianity as the Virgin Mary carrying the infant Jesus, and both are deified figure in Catholicism within the notions of ''Son of God'' and ''Mother of God'', and the Quran refutes clearly such notions of course, as we all know. Hence, many researchers and authors assert that Christianity itself was influenced by the Ancient Egyptian religion, and a European historian asserts that Isis and her statues and icons spread from Egypt to the whole regions of the ancient world, the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor was perceived to be one of the images or figures of Isis, statues of Isis carrying Horus with a moon or a crescent above her or around her are related to the symbolism of the moon referring to the sacred feminine or goddess of heaven, how such images and symbols were reproduced in icons and statues of the Virgin Mary carrying the infant Jesus, votive candles and oblations offered to Isis were later on offered to the Virgin Mary as the ''Queen of Heaven'', and finally, celibate skin-headed clergy dedicating their lives to serve the goddess Isis influenced the appearance of Christian clergy and monks [8]. Thus, with the spread of Christianity in Europe, churches, convents, and monasteries dedicated to the Virgin Mary carrying the baby or infant Jesus imitated Isis temples that spread for centuries all over the ancient world and for millennia in Egypt. In fact, in the early centuries A.D., Coptic Orthodox Egyptians worshipped the Virgin Mary after ascribing to her all qualities and epithets of Isis while dedicating tens of churches, convents, and monasteries to her all over the Egyptian governorates, and the halo around Mary and Jesus resembled the crescent or moon above the head of Isis, while celebrations and festivities dedicated to Mary (to mark the supposed days of her birth and 'Assumption') near such monasteries and churches are attended now by Copts and Muhammadans in Egypt [9] in the same manner when all Ancient Egyptians attended celebrations and religious festivities dedicated to Isis. The link between the Virgin Mary and the goddess Isis (apart from conceiving and giving birth without sexual contact) is further asserted by Egyptian folklore (and not surprisingly mentioned in the Bible in the New Testament) as Copts believe that the Virgin Mary came to Egypt with her son to escape persecution of Herod, and the places assumed to have been the spots where she settled for while in her journey in Egypt (before returning to Palestine later on) have great monasteries and churches built on them [10] centuries later, s per history of the Coptic Orthodox Church. This myth indicates how the Egyptian Pharaonic religion has played a role in formulating Christianity and how the collective Egyptian mind has been influenced for millennia by the Isis cult and worship and it had to ascribe epithets, titled, and qualities of Isis the Egyptian goddess to Mary the Israelite woman. This notion of the Virgin Mary, of course, spread all over Asia and Europe in their forms of Christianity. Sufism spread during the Ottoman Era in Egypt, and this led to re-introduce Isis worship linked to the sacred feminine by ascribing qualities and epithets of Isis and Mary to a Muslim female figure by inventing a mythical story about Zeinab, daughter of Ali Ibn Abou Talib, coming to Egypt to live and then buried in Egypt upon her death, and over her supposed tomb, a mosque was built in 955 A.H./ 1548 A.D. Zeinab was given the title of "Sayeda" (i.e., the lady, the dame, or the female saint), given before to Isis and the Virgin Mary. of course never came to Egypt as historical accounts tell us that after the death of her brothers, she returned to Yathreb to take care of the progeny of her brothers until she died and was buried in Yathreb in 62 A.H. What further refutes the myth of Zeinab coming to Egypt is that her name was never mentioned in any Arabic books of history of Egypt after the Arab conquest or any Mameluke Era Sufi books on mausoleums inside Egypt, and we mean books that were authored before the Ottoman Era. The fabrication of this myth of Zeinab coming to Cairo and being buried there is based on a Sufi's saint's dream which was believed by the Ottoman governor, who believed in the sanctified Sufi sheikh, and who built a mausoleum in 955 A.H. dedicated to Zeinab on the spot where the spirit or phantom of Zeinab supposedly appeared in the Sufi sheikh's dream/vision. This mosque containing this Zeinab mausoleum was renovated by Abdul-Rahman Kitukhda, one of the Mameluke princes in Cairo, in 1173 A.H./ 1759 A.D., and then later on by the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments in 1940 A.D. Hence, such mausoleum dedicated to Zeinab (made into a central feminine holy figure within Sufism believed by the gullible masses  at the time) has been established since about 4 centuries and a half, and yet, the masses and the Ottoman authorities thought it to be a sanctified ground and holy side and many people performed pilgrimage to it to supplicate "Sayeda" Zeinab as a holy saint. Zeinab was titled "head of the divan/diwan", which reminds us with Isis and Osiris and their judgment court of the souls of the dead in the Pharaonic religious mythology, and Isis was also titled the ''Lady (Sayeda) of the Elements'', ''Queen of the Dead'', "the Supreme Goddess", and "Queen of Heaven" [11]. Of course, the Egyptians gave such titles, qualities, and epithets of Isis in to the Virgin Mary (and other Egyptian Christian female saints) in their local version of Christianity that spread all over the East later on within the Orthodox Church. Of course, Sufi female saints in Egypt like Zeinab received the same titles, qualities, and epithets of Isis, tough Zeinab never came to Egypt as we have asserted above. It is noteworthy that the cult of Isis flourished once more in the twelve century A.D. in Europe as Christian Sufism emerged beside Arab Sufism which changed its terms using 'Islamic' ones nearly at the same period or before it. Even Goethe protested against this Isis cult in his country and purportedly said (... O Isis and Osiris, one wishes to get rid of both of you! ...) [12]. If this was the case in Europe, let alone in Egypt the exporting source of the Isis cult of worship.             

2- Monasticism: this system of ascetic individually or in a group was first invented by ancient Egyptians (and then spread later in European pagan cults and later on in Eastern and Western Christianity), and we find in the Pharaonic Book of the Dead  within its 64^th section that the book was to be read only by 'clean' men who did not eat animal flesh or fish and did not know a woman, and we read in the 137^th section a repetition of this idea, reminiscent of the rituals and fasting of the clergy of Isis and Osiris. In the berlin papyrus, its author reflects upon his soul and secrets of the universe, and many Isis cult monks or celibate clergy dedicated their lives to Isis in the Serapis temple (called the Serapeum) and accepted gifts and food given to them by worshippers of Apis and Isis, and such Isis monks claimed they could predict the future [13]. During the Greek Ptolemaic Era, there were papyri proving this monastic movement linked to the temples of Serapis, or the Serapeum of Memphis and the one of Alexandria, as those monks chose celibacy and used to dedicate their lives in service of religion in monasteries away from people while leading ascetic lifestyles. Of course, such traditions were followed by the clergy of Heliopolis before the advent of Christianity to Egypt, and such clergy/monks stayed away from people to dedicate their lives to acts of worship within asceticism, and even some religious Jews led a similar lifestyle as per what we read in writings of PhiloJudaeus, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, before Christian monks imitated and adopted the same traditions [14]. Of course, monastic movements flourished after the spread of Christianity in Egypt, especially after the Romans persecuted Egyptian Coptic Christians. Antonius the Egyptian was among the pioneers of Christian Egyptianized monastic movement, which spread from Egypt to European Christians and to other parts of the ancient world, as foreigners studied and imitated monastic lifestyles of Egyptians and carried them to their countries [15]. Later on, some of the Muhammadans in Egypt imitated their Pharaonic, Jewish, and Christian ancestors by adopting asceticism in certain mosques or houses of worship dedicated to them that imitated monasteries and convents.   

3- The philosophical notion of the unity/union between deities and human beings: natural elements of the environment in the River Nile Valley were directly linked to the daily life of Ancient Egyptians and their deities (gods + goddesses), and the cycle of agriculture and cultivation gave birth to the idea of deicide and resurrection of gods as per the myth of the trinity Isis, Osiris, and Horus, as Osiris the murdered god was resurrected by Isis and returned to the kingdom of the dead as per his own choice to be the god of the dead who would judge them in the afterlife, while Horus would continue practices and career of his father in the temporal, transient life. Thus, as the Ancient Egyptians during the Pharaonic Era added human qualities (especially  death) to their gods/deities, this made room for the notion of a possible union or communion between human beings and gods; acts of worship were perceived as  way of deliverance by being one with the gods or being united with them. This notion infiltrated the Greek philosophies that were heavily influences by the Pharaonic Ancient Egyptian civilization, and such influence has been manifested in the Epicurean, Gnostic, and neo-platonic philosophies, as the Greeks adopted the notion that man and god were united somehow by purification of the soul and body to reach perfection and goodness within a higher level and gain knowledge of the unknown or the future. Hence, the Gnostic philosophy spread in Europe within the Hellenistic culture based on the Pharaonic one, and such notions are mentioned also in the writing of Philo Judaeus, the Jewish Egyptian philosopher in Alexandria. Such notions spread also in the Levantine regions, as they are very near to Egypt and were heavily influenced by the Pharaonic Ancient Egyptian civilization in terms of culture, religion, and philosophy, and this influence seemed to have reached Paul the apostle within the dominant ideas of his age that he inserted in his vision of Christianity, making the Egyptianized version of it never seemed foreign to the mentalities of people in Egypt, Europe, or elsewhere in the ancient world.   

The dawn of Christianity:

  Of course, as per the Quran, Jesus was God's prophet conveying the monotheistic message of Islam (i.e., There is no God but Allah), just like Moses and Muhammad as well as the rest of the prophets, each in his tongue to his people. Jesus said the following to his people: "..."I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I make for you out of clay the figure of a bird; then I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind and the leprous, and I revive the dead, by God's leave. And I inform you concerning what you eat, and what you store in your homes. In that is a sign for you, if you are believers." "And verifying what lies before me of the Torah, and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you. I have come to you with a sign from your Lord; so fear God, and obey me."  "God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path."" (3:49-51). Jesus was surrounded by disciples and Jewish extremists and clergy hated him as their enemy, and the Quran tells us that not all disciples were real monotheistic believers in the message conveyed by Jesus as some of them were betrayers, hypocrites, and traitors. Apart from the figure Judas Iscariot in Christian sources, the Quran tells us that there were a group of traitors who betrayed the message of Jesus and not just one person: "When Jesus sensed disbelief on their part, he said, "Who are my allies towards God?" The disciples said, "We are God's allies; we have believed in God, and bear witness that we submit."" (3:52); those disciples then said the following to God: ""Our Lord, we have believed in what You have revealed, and we have followed the messenger, so count us among the witnesses."" (3:53), and then, the Quran comments on their words by this verse: "They planned, and God planned; but God is the Best of planners." (3:54). This last verse shows clearly that most of them distorted the message of Jesus after his death, and such misguidance and distortions (in both form and content) of the message of Islam conveyed by Jesus naturally increased with the passage of time after the era of Jesus. The Quran tells us that Jesus was not a universal prophet to all human beings, but only to the Israelites: And He will teach him the Scripture and wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel, as a messenger to the Israelites..." (3:48-49). The Christian sources tackle the notion of the Jews waiting for the messiah heralded by John the Baptist who brought glad tidings of his coming soon, and this shows that Jesus was perceived as a local prophet to the Israelites only, but this changed soon decades later when the Jewish-Christians moved away  from local circles and spread Christianity all over Europe, resulting in influencing Christianity by other notions of the native religious tenets especially the notions of the Pharaonic Ancient Egyptian religion that spread all over the ancient world centuries before Jesus Christ was born. This influence is manifested clearly in Paul the apostle who proselytized Christianity away from the Jewish circles, making Jesus in that new doctrine a deity/god or a son of God, thus changing the form and content of Palestinian or Jewish form of Christianity of the early believers in it.            

Paul the apostle and his intentional distorting of Christianity: the break from the true teachings of Jesus:

  Of course, we mean by ''true teachings'' here only those mentioned in the Quranic story of Jesus within different verses tackling his story. As for Paul, he was an extremist Jew imbibed with the Greek (Hellenistic) philosophy, and therefore, he knew all about the religious culture and atmosphere that dominated his native land (i.e., the Levant) and his era. Thus, he must have received indirect influences of the Ancient Egyptian religion, because it had a huge impact on the Levantine culture and religion. Paul is said in the legends to have come from Damascus to Jerusalem carrying a letter that urged massacring of Christians, and the myth continues as Paul is said to have seen a vision of Christ in daylight, and his anti-Christian position turned into vehement defense of it and proselytizing it to the gentiles. This made Christianity acquires foreign notions of holy trinity, monasticism and asceticism, deicide, hierarchy of clergymen typical of pagan cults, and other rituals such as baptism and the last supper, all of which are of Pharaonic origin. A Christian researcher, Menassa Youhanna, tackles in his book this radical change introduced by Paul, asserting that Paul struggled to free Christianity from Jewish sharia/Torah influences, and he set the main pillars of the religion, especially regarding many theological notions that were influenced by Greek philosophies, thus changing the portrayal of Christ in the gospels [16]. This means that Paul turned Jesus from a mortal prophet to a god. Another researcher, Lorimer, tackles in his book the impact of Paul on Christianity, asserting that Paul have authored about one-third of the New Testament in the Bible and that his theological notions and ideas became final ones in later eras [17]. This means that people believed his notion of a deified Christ. Charles Guignebert was the famous French author who tackles in his book many details about the evolution of Christianity and talks in three chapters about the influence of Paul on it as he propagated it in Europe during the era of the Roman Empire. Guignebert asserts that Paul never met with Jesus during his lifetime, and this makes his theological notions derived from the Jewish and Hellenistic background dominant at the time, especially regarding the Greek notion about deicide and then renaissance or resurrection of the dead/murdered  god, taken from the Ancient Egyptian god Osiris in the first place, and it is noteworthy that Paul never contacted the disciples, as there are no evidence to support the ideas that such a contact took place. This lends credibility to the proposed idea that Paul re-introduced his old notions of the Greek culture into the new direction using new terms and names when he deiced to convert to the new religion [18]. Guignebert asserts the pivotal idea of how Jesus was made to appear as a son of God; the Jewish community at the time used to call the assumed divinely inspired persons as ''servants of Jehovah'', and when this term was translated into the Greek tongue, the word for ''servant'' meant also ''child'', and this caused the notion of making Jesus appear as a son of God and not his servant, a choice made on purpose by Paul [19]. We understand now, in light of the above, the Quranic refutation of the notion of a 'deified' Jesus, as such polytheism is rejected in the monotheistic religion of Islam. The famous writer H. G. Wells tackles also Paul and his role in spreading a distorted form of Christianity, asserting that since Paul/Saul never met with Jesus, he must be doubted, especially when he had a history of persecuting early Christians and then he converted suddenly and hanged his name; Paul seemed to have thorough knowledge of all religions dominant in his era (especially Judaism and Mithraism) as well as the Greek philosophies taught in Alexandria at the time, and he transferred to his form of Christianity lots of notions derived from such rich cultural background: deicide, sacrifice of gods, and some other pagan theological notions and features, such as bald clergy, offering oblations and votive items, candles, hymns, alters, icons, and statues that were similar to the religion of Mithraism and the Pharaonic Ancient Egyptian religion; Paul seemed to have re-introduced old wine in new bottles, or old notions in new labels, especially about Jesus resurrected like Osiris to indicate immortality granted to human beings [20].                                    

The Egyptianized form of Christianity:

   After the death of Paul, his notion of a deified Christ caused much divisions and debate over the nature of Jesus, and such heated arguments still persist until now within the different Christian denominations, and it will remain an unsolved problem/issue because of its corrupt basic notion of deified mortals.  Deified Christ is a notion revived from the Ancient Egyptian Pharaonic religion, as we have mentioned above, using new names, mottos, and terms spread among people because they resemble their old polytheistic ways and cults. In light of this, we can understand why the Quran tells us that most people on earth never believe in God except within polytheism by deifying mortals: "And most of them do not believe in God unless while being polytheists." (12:106). In addition, the Quran tells Muhammad, and all Quran-believing people off course, that most people misguide and repel one another away from God's Path: "If you were to obey most of those on earth, they would divert you from God's path. They follow nothing but assumptions, and they only conjecture." (6:116). Hence, we understand now why Paul's Christianity matched the religious whims of the vast majority of people at that era, especially Egyptians who Egyptianized Christianity using Pharaonic religious notions. It is said that Christianity reached Egypt earlier in the first century A.D., and Christian sources assert that saint Mark proselytized in Alexandria, while the earliest Christian writings in Egypt date back to the first half of the second century A.D., as part of the gospel of saint John was discovered written in papyri just like some other Apocryphal gospels of the same period of time [21]. The Egyptianized form of Christianity (i.e., Coptic Orthodoxy) was persecuted by the Romans who ruled Egypt when they discovered that the Christians all over the Roman Empire did not deify the Roman emperor and considered heathen and pagan religions and cults as devilish and unacceptable. Thus, Egyptian Coptic Christians suffered persecution since 203 A.D. during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus. A second wave of persecution took place in the middle of the third century A.D. during the reign of the emperor Trajan Decius who tried to massacre all Christians and to wipe out Christianity altogether. Later on, the emperor Gallienus allowed Christians the freedom of worship, but a third wave of severe persecution took place during the reign of Diocletian (284 – 305 A.D.), after this emperor made peaceful unsuccessful attempts at first with Christians to leave their faith. When Constantine I (or Constantine the Great) became the emperor (323 – 337 A.D.), he is said to have converted to Christianity (and later on, he was made a saint), as he made it the official and formal religion of the Roman Empire. During the previous times of persecution, Christians appeared to be united, but once they felt safe during the reign of Constantine the Great, divisions and disputes emerged among them about theological issues especially the nature of Christ [22]. When ecumenical councils were held to debate such theological issues, Egyptian Copts had their own view of Monophysitism (i.e., adhering to the view of the single nature of Christ a synthesis of divine and human), and because this view opposed the Roman view Diophysitism (two separate natures of Christ), the Copts were thus made enemies of the Roman Empire's official religion and suffered severe persecution. Roots of such theological debates emerged during the reigns of Constantine the Great, because of views of Arius the Libyan: Arianism, opposed vehemently by the Egyptian Coptic Church of Alexandria that has adopted a view similar to the Pharaonic holy trinity, while making God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit as One God, not three separate divinities, and later on during the reign of the emperorTheodosius I (379 – 395 A.D.) as Nestor (or Nestorius, founder of Nestorianism) asserted the human nature of Christ as distinct from the assumed divine nature. Again, the Egyptian Coptic Church of Alexandria led by pope Cyril opposed views of Nestor vehemently, as the Egyptian Orthodox doctrine has adopted the view that Christ had full divinity and this notions spread also in the Levant and in Constantinople. Later on, pope Cyril managed in the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. to issue Christological canons and declarations against Nestor and opposing and refuting his views. In theCouncil of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., insisted on the completeness of Christ's assumed two natures (human and divine). When the emperor Marcianus (or Marcian) attempted to impose by force canons of this council on Egyptian Copts, this led to severe persecution wave in Egypt and the Levant as both region share the same view of Christ. This resulted in the separation between the Egyptian Coptic Church of Alexandria and the Church of Constantinople, and the two churches became enemies and rivals, and such enmity was among the decisive factors that facilitated the Arab conquest of Egypt [23]. The Egyptian Copts at the time adhered to their view not only because it stemmed from their Pharaonic ancient religious traditions, but also because of the fact that the Egyptianized form of Christianity (and Monophysitism) spread all over many regions, especially the Levant, because of Egypt and its international influence, and even the Syrian bishop Jacob Baradaeus proselytized this Egyptian doctrine of Christianity, and his followers in the Levant and Egypt were named the Jacobites. There is no doubt that Paul/Saul was influenced by Syrian tenets and religious borrowed originally from Egypt. This has made Egypt lead the religious opposition against Roman Empire and its capital Constantinople. The Egyptian influence of today's Christianity is not confined to some notions like monasticism, trinity, and union between human beings and God and other philosophies, but this influence also includes Pharaonic rituals, that predated Christianity itself and even adopted by other pagan cults before it [24], such the divine supper, oblation, votive candles, and baptism, as asserted by Charles Guignebert [25].  Egyptian Coptic for of Christianity has been embodied by two major figures. The first figure was pope Athanasius who led the Coptic nation for 50 years and was much loved by Egyptians, and his struggles caused the emergence of the Latin phrase: Athanasius Contra Mundum, which means, in English, Athanasius against the world, as he vehemently opposed Arianism and the Byzantine Empire and suffered persecution and exile and many intrigues and conspiracies against him [26]. The second figure was Antonius who was the pioneer of Coptic monks; he supported pope Athanasius against Constantinople (the empire and the church), and he never spoke any tongue apart from the Coptic Egyptian dialect derived from the hieroglyphics. He was the father of monasticism in Egypt and used to live ascetically alone in the deserts of Egypt, only appearing in public sometimes to support the Copts and Athanasius, and he was known for roaming and wandering the Egyptian deserts and he used at one time to live in a Pharaonic temple [27]. These traditions of Antonius were later on imitated by the Sufi Egyptian Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry who was influenced by the Pharaonic notions who influenced so many Arab Sufis later on in Egypt, as we will tackle in a coming section of this CHAPTER II. Thus, Athanasius (who was made a saint later on) and Antonius (or saint Anthony the Great) exemplified the Egyptian insistence on preserving old tenets and beliefs as they were originally a national and native ones reflecting millennia-old traditions and roots within the character of Egypt. Thus, it was very difficult to change such Pharaonic traditions and notions; they have been re-introduced to the Christians, and later on to the Muhammadans, within changed appellations or form, with little change in the core, content, or origin. A Coptic author shows in his book how his ancestors never knew schisms and huge divisions inside the Coptic Orthodox Church, unlike the case of the churches of Romans and the Byzantines among others, and how Copts remained independent religiously after the British occupation of Egypt [28]. The region of Upper Egypt in particular was the bulwark of Pharaonic religion and traditions, and this went on even during the Coptic era when popes had disputes with the ruling authorities like popes Athanasius and Benjamin I who used to escape into Upper Egypt. Before Christianity, Upper Egypt remained the region that preserved all pagan Pharaonic tenets and its role went on with Egyptianized Christianity that flourished there before other regions in Egypt, and even most Copts of today reside in Upper Egypt [29]. Understandably, because upper Egyptians cared much about preserving religious beliefs and rarely changed them easily, history tells us that even the Fatimid Ismaili Shiite religion gained momentum first in Upper Egypt and remained as the flourished religion for decades after the Fatimid caliphate ended. Indeed, the Fatimid Ismaili Shiite religion has revived many Pharaonic symbols that led to the spread of Shiite Sufism in later eras, and this caused some Pharaonic notions to infiltrate Muslims' religious thought and notions (or rather the Muhammadans' notions, not Islamic notions however easily labeled as such at the time), as we will tackle in the next sections of this CHAPTER II.                     

References:

[1] "A Social History of Egypt" by Ahmad Zaki Badawi, pages 38:42, and "A Historical Sketch of the Protestant Church" J. G. Lorimer, page 33.

[2] Al-Abady, pages 53, 63, 69:70, 179:180, and 274.

[3] Al-Abady, pages 53, 63, 69:70, 179:180, and 274.

[4] Al-Abady, page 50, and Ahmad Zaki Badawi, ditto, pages 28, 95, and 96.

[5] Al-Abady, page 274.

[6] "The Religion of Ancient Egypt" by Adolf Erman, translated into Arabic, the chapter on the Egyptian Pharaonic religion influencing Europe (especially  worship of the goddess Isis), page 479 and beyond.

[7] Erman, ditto, pages 486:487, and "History of the Coptic Orthodox Church" by the priest Menassa Youhanna, 3^rd edition, 1982, page 20.

[8] H. G. Wells, ditto, details on the religious developments within the Roman Empire, pages 168:169.

[9] "Khetat" by Al-Makrizi, pages: 3/551, 554, 558, 560, 561, 563, 565, 568, 599, and 580:583

[10] Menassa Youhanna, ditto, pages 17:19.

[11] Menassa Youhanna, pages 101 and 483.

[12] Menassa Youhanna, pages 101 and 483.

[13] "Monastic Groups in Al-Natrun Valley in Egypt" unpublished MA thesis, by Hakeem Amin Abdel-Sayed, 1955, Cairo University, Egypt, pages 7:8.

[14] Menassa Youhanna, page 92, and "A History of Christianity" by Habeeb Saeed, page 178. 

[15] Menassa Youhanna, pages 198 and 207:211.

[16] Habeeb Saeed, ditto, page 45.

[17] Lorimer, ditto, page 61, from the chapter on Paul and Christianity of the gentiles.

[18] "Ancient, Medieval and Modern Christianity: The Evolution of a Religion" by Charles Guignebert, Arabic edition, pages 89, 90, 103, 111, 112, and 127. 

[19] Charles Guignebert, ditto, page 135.

[20] H. G. Wells, ditto, pages 178:179.

[21] Al-Abady, pages 277, 282, 283, and 293: 295.

[22] Al-Abady, pages 277, 282, 283, and 293: 295.

[23] Al-Abady, pages 294:306.

[24] Charles Guignebert, pages 97:100.

[25] Charles Guignebert, pages 97:100.

[26] Menassa Youhanna, page 166.

[27] Menassa Youhanna, pages 99:100.

[28] Menassa Youhanna, pages 348, 372, 568, and 575.

[29] Menassa Youhanna, pages 222 and 372.

Secondly: Islam and Egypt After the Arab Conquest:

Stages of how Egyptians converted to 'Islam':

    After the Arab conquest, Egypt became part of the Arab Empire and was influenced by anything occurred in the capital of the caliphate (Yathreb, Damascus, and then Baghdad). New trends entered Egypt, to be later on Egyptianized like the rest of other previous and later trends, from Arabia, such as the linguistic dominance of the Arabic tongue while the Coptic dialect became confined to churches, especially when governmental diwans or offices imposed the Arabic language on all scribes in Egypt during the caliphate of Al-Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik and the caliphate of his brother Hisham Ibn Abdul-Malik, and Coptic scribes had to learn the Arabic tongue to keep their jobs. The Arabic tongue son enough dominated all other aspects of Egyptian life and even Coptic popes and bishops had to translate religious texts into Arabic for the sake of their Copts who spoke only Arabic, but the Coptic vernacular dialect lingered for a while in Upper Egypt until the era of Al-Makrizi [1], especially in monasteries and villages away from larger cities, until this dialect was no longer used except sometimes in Coptic masses. We assert here that it was easy for the Egyptian civilization to sacrifice the Coptic tongue so as to allow the continuity of its millennia-old basis and foundation: the Ancient Pharaonic religion that caused the Egyptianization and exporting of all trends that came to Egypt, as we have explained in the previous section of this CHAPTER II when we have tackled the stance of Egyptians regarding the calls of Joseph and Moses and how Copts defended their Monophysitism notion of Christ derived from Pharaonic notions, especially trinity, and how Islam in the Quran refutes such polytheism in the whole of the Quranic Chapter 112 (which has four verses) and in other verses in the Quranic text. Languages are nothing but the medium of voicing beliefs; hence, the Coptic language was sacrificed as the form as long as the main content or essence of the millennia-old Ancient Pharaonic religion, with its nationalistic notions and the character of Egypt, is preserved in the new tongue (i.e., Arabic). Hence, notions and beliefs of the Ancient Pharaonic religion were re-introduced in Arabic using Arabic names or appellations, and it is only in that context that Egyptians converted gradually to the distorted Egyptianized form of 'Islam' which of course contradicts the only source of Islam: the Quran. the ruling Muhammadans of Egypt attempted to spread 'Islam', but their religiosity or religiousness was also distorted to some extent once Prophet Muhammad died and the Arabs committed many heinous crimes when they conquered Iraq, the Levant and then Egypt and the rest of the countries that formed later on the Arab Empire (N.B.: for more details on that topic, we refer readers to our book, in English, titled "The Unspoken-of History of the Pre-Umayyad 'Righteous' Caliphs"). It is natural to assume that the Egyptians' conversion to an Egyptianized distorted form of Islam was linked directly to their relations with Arab Muhammadans rulers of Egypt especially during the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. Let us first trace below how the perception of Islam was distorted intentionally for political reasons by the Muhammadans within two stages.                      

Stage One:

  The deviance of behavior of Arabs by committing the crime called Arab conquests (which resulted in heinous crimes of killing, looting, enslaving, etc.) made them move away from the Quranic teachings that call for peaceful demeanor and justice, among other higher Quranic values. When spoils and ill-gotten possessions and money increased in Arabs' treasuries because of expansionist policy to form an Arab Empire, political and military conflicts and disputes were bound to occur, especially around the concept of caliphate. Hence, the four pre-Umayyad caliphs were assassinated within political disputes; the first one with poison, the second was stabbed by a Persian man, the third was stabbed with swords of rebels, and the fourth participated in the Arab Civil War battles when Mu'aweiya rebelled against him and later on stabbed with swords of rebels who were his allies. Such civil strife made Arabs disregard the Shura concept in the Quran (i.e., consultation), and the caliphs were no longer chosen by people, as Mu'aweiya turned caliphate into something bequeathed to a caliph's progeny, for the first time in Arab history, as he established the Umayyad dynasty. Because the Umayyads used all types of schemes, plots, ploys, conspiracies, and intrigues to reach the throne, they intentionally disregarded the Quran and disbelieved in it, and this went on as they used every possible method to maintain the throne, like committing massacres and quelling revolts with sheer violence as well as resorting to tribalism, racism, and all means of deception. Some Coptic Egyptians that revolted against the Umayyad rule were brutally quelled and severely punished. The terms ''Copts'' and ''Coptic'' at the time were used by Arabs to indicate Egyptians in general (even when some converted) and not just to mean Orthodox Christians, and Arabs knew of course that Egypt is mentioned in the Quranic text many times. Another reason for making Arab conquerors and settlers move away the more from the Quran was their imposing tributes in the name of Islam for those who did not wish to convert among people of the conquered countries. Later on during the Abbasid Era, the  clergymen of the Muhammadans theorized many theological notions to legislate and justify many crimes such as Arab conquests, enslavement, military aggression, imposing tributes, etc. while intentionally disregarding the two following Quranic facts. (1) Wars in Islam (the Quran alone) are never for the sake of aggression, but solely for the cases of self-defense: "And fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not commit aggression; God does not love the aggressors...Persecution is more serious than murder. But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque, unless they fight you there... But if they cease, then God is Forgiving and Merciful. And fight them until there is no persecution, and worship becomes devoted to God alone. But if they cease, then let there be no hostility except against the aggressors." (2:190-194), and this shows how the Muhammadan Arabs rejected true Quranic teachings applied by Muhammad in his self-defense battles and his never committing aggression at all, as per the Quran. (2) As per the previous Quranic/Islamic principle, imposing tributes is only in times of war when self-defenders achieve victory over aggressors and impose tributes on the aggressors as a form of making amends and as means of compensation (and NEVER a pretext to occupy and invade lands), as justice entails as per International Law now, and this is the context of understanding the following verse in the Quranic chapter Nine about the People of the Book/Scripture (Jews + Christians) who aggressively fought the peaceful believers in the Yathreb city-state: "Fight those who do not believe in God, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, nor abide by the religion of truth-from among those who received the Scripture-until they pay the due tax, willingly or unwillingly." (9:29).                  

   Hence, the Muhammadans overlooked and rejected the Quran and imitated the aggressions committed by the Byzantines and the Persians before them for expansionist reasons and to hoard worldly possessions and riches by conquering lands and confiscating all money and by imposing heavy tributes and taxes on conquered nations. Al-Makrizi the historian tells us in his book of history titled ''Al-Khetat'' (see Al-Khetat, 1/140) many details about imposing tributes on Egyptians by the Arab conquerors especially Amr Ibn Al-As, as men gave him each two dinars while elderly men, all women, and children were exempted from paying the tribute, and he collected eight million dinars in the first time. In other times, the tribute per head in Egypt was 40 dirhams by orders of caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, imposed on men only as usual, while getting 4 dinars of gold from the wealthy affluent Egyptians. Later on, Arabs imposed the same tribute and taxation system adopted before by the Byzantines. Indeed, Ibn Al-As was more merciful with Egyptians in comparison to Ibn Al-Khattab (as seen from the letters of correspondence between both men), as the latter saw that Egypt was a huge fat cow that must be milked thoroughly to the last drop; Ibn Al-As used to collect tribute money estimated to be the total sum of 12 million dinars annually, and the Byzantine governor before him 30 million dinars, while the Arab governor of Egypt Abdullah Ibn Saad during the caliphate of Othman used to collect 14 million [2]. It was natural that Egyptian at the Umayyad Era hated their Arab governors because of their cruelty in collecting taxes and tributes and their brutality in quelling revolts, and conversions to 'Islam' (i.e., distorted one of the Muhammadans) that were based on free will and personal choice were very limited as the Umayyads provided a very negative image of the religion they claim to rule in its name. Yet, severe persecution and pressures led some conversion cases occurred as an escape to avoid heavy taxes and tributes and in hope for better living conditions. Yet, the Umayyads would not be deceived; they felt that many Copts had feigned conversion to avoid taxes and they made all Egyptians pay taxes and tributes whether they converted or not. The Umayyad caliph Omar Ibn Abdul-Aziz was the only one who had stopped collecting taxes and tributes from converts in Egypt and in the other conquered nations in the Arab Empire, asserting that no one had the right to question hearts and intentions of people, and asserting to his household and governors that God sent Muhammad as a mercy and a guide, not as a tax-collector, but upon his death after a short caliphate, his Umayyad successors collected heavy taxes and tributes equally from all Egyptians whether they converted or not, as per Al-Makrizi; see 1/142. Hence, helpless, oppressed, persecuted, and impecunious Copts in some cases during the Umayyad Era converted to seek better conditions, whereas popes, bishops and monks usually fled to deserts and built monasteries there to preserve their faith. Well-off Copts at the time usually adhered to their faith and paid tributes for the poor who would declare their intention to convert, and in some cases bough Byzantine slaves so as not to allow Arabs to force them to convert. Within such conditions, we can assume that many converts (whether they converted willingly or feigned a conversion) never knew anything really about Islam and the Quran; they pronounced the testimony of Islam while not understanding it and performed prayers with the Arabic tongue that was not yet commonly used or understood, and some converts ascended the social ladder and became scribes and employees and owned lands etc. Hence, religious change had very slow pace during the Umayyad Era in Egypt, and many crushed and quelled revolts made Copts realize they were not going to get rid of Arab rulers at all; some of them feigned conversion to vent their anger and frustration and take revenge from the Muhammadans by many wiles and tricks to deceive and humiliate them, especially when those Copts rose in the social ladder, as per Al-Makrizi [3]. Undoubtedly, the bad, corrupt behavior and attitude of Arabs is to be blamed for their mistreatment of Copts; Islam (i.e., the Quran) is never to blame, as Islam is surely against all types of injustice. It was the crime of Arabs to use the name of Islam to justify their crimes of conquering other nations to loot, enslave, etc. and the crime of quelling and massacring and confiscating lands and money of others. As per Al-Makrizi (see 1/146), the cruelty of the Umayyads and other rulers after them violated items of the agreement made between Amr Ibn Al-As and the former Byzantine governor of Egypt, and Copts who respected Ibn Al-As hated the Umayyads very much, despite the fact that Ibn Al-As sometimes confiscated too much money from the Copts but he never used brutal actions with them except on few individual occasions. Let us not forget that Ibn Al-As, as the governor of Egypt, stole much money from tributes instead of sending all of them to Yathreb (and later on to Damascus). When Amr Ibn Al-As died in 43 A.H. in Egypt, Mu'aweiya, the first Umayyad caliph, confiscated his ill-gotten wealth: 70 large jars of golden dinars, refused by the two sons of Amr who knew that such sums were ill-gotten money; see Al-Khetat 1/564. Apart from distorted religious notions of the Muhammadans, real Islam (the Quran) is against compulsion in religion: "There shall be no compulsion in religion; the right way has become distinct from the wrong way. Whoever renounces Taghut and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handle; which does not break. God is Hearing and Knowing." (2:256). God has said the following to Muhammad: "Had your Lord willed, everyone on earth would have believed. Will you compel people to become believers?" (10:99). Hence, it was very wrong and surely deemed an anti-Islamic behavior that an Arab military leader would tell conquered people that they had to choose one of the following three options: to convert to 'Islam', to pay the tribute in return for keeping their religion, or to be murdered in case of refusing to choose any of the last two options. In such horrid situations, there was no freedom of choice, but compulsion using swords. Such severe injustices would increase when Arab rulers brutally quelled revolts; though conquered nations (including Copts) have the Quranic right to revolt: "And those who, when wronged, defend themselves." (42:39); "As for those who retaliate after being wronged, there is no blame on them." (42:41); "That is so! Whoever retaliates similarly to the affliction he was made to suffer, and then he is wronged again, God will definitely assist him..." (22:60). We conclude then that the conquering Muhammadans had intentionally shunned and ignored Quranic sharia laws of God when they committed the crime of conquering Egypt and other countries, thus coercing some people of the conquered nations (e.g., Copts) to convert and quelling their revolts that erupted to remove the injustice of imposing heavy tributes. This made some Copts feigned conversion to humiliate, deceive, and take revenge from the Muhammadans after those Copts ascended the social ladder, thus enabling themselves to have positions and posts and to own lands.                                  

Stage Two: features of distortions in Shiite faith tenets:

Crimes of Arabs mentioned in Stage One above entailed them to invent quasi-religious justification, especially during the Arab Civil War led by Mu'aweiya when he and caliph Ali fought over caliphate authority and over worldly transient possessions and wealth. Such quasi-religious justification began by fabricating oral narratives (called ''hadiths'' soon enough and were falsely ascribed to Muhammad after his death) during this Civil War and throughout the Umayyad Era, and they were written down within the Abbasid Era and their number increased exponentially. To face such Umayyad method of political quasi-religious propaganda of fabricating hadiths (that later on have formed the Sunnite religion), followers and supporters of Ali invented their own hadiths (that later on have formed the Shiite religion), and non-Arab Shiites began to deify Ali (even during his lifetime) as they were led by the Jewish Arabian Shiite man Abdullah Ibn Saba. Yet, the caliph Ali, in Sunnite books of history, is said to have burned alive some men who deified him and treated him as a god, while he chanted a line of poetry. After the murder of Ali, Abdullah Ibn Saba claimed to Shiites that Ali is 'immortal' and would return any time, as God made him oversee the universe with Muhammad (!). Since that time, Shiites multiplied and had their own 'holy' doctrines and denominations as well as sanctified imams and leaders who invented so many notions taken up from the pagan cultures of conquered nations, such as reincarnation, allowing incest, deifying imams and leaders, deeming them immortal after their deaths, etc., as per Al-Makrizi who gives more details about Shiite shocking notions of disbelief that we feel too embarrassed to quote [4]. It is noteworthy that Al-Makrizi, who in his book supports and sympathizes with the Fatimids and defends their claim of being the descendants of Ali and Fatima, asserts that the Fatimid Shiite Ismaili sect is an extremist, fanatic one stemming from the ideas of older sects established by Ibn Saba [5], and that he rejects some notions to this Fatimid Shiite Ismaili sect when he tackles them briefly, while describing such notions as extremist [6]. An expert researcher on Shiite creeds asserts that the Shiite Fatimid Ismaili sect fundamentals include ascribing divine traits, abilities, epithets, and qualities (especially the notion of infallibility) to Shiite leaders, imams, clergy, and rulers [7]. Even poets praised Fatimids caliphs in poems that reflect the Shiite way of ascribing divine traits, abilities, epithets, and qualities to Shiite rulers/imams, like the poet Ibn Hani [8]. We have mentioned in CHAPTER I of this book that one particular self-deified Fatimid caliph, named Al-Hakim, had proclaimed his being the Divine One officially and formally during his lifetime and forced formal Fatimid preachers to propagate this notion all over Egypt and imposed his certain peculiar decrees as a result. The self-deification of Al-Hakim was the basis of the Shiite sect of Druze. Of course, all of the above show how the Shiite religion contradict Islam totally, and the Fatimids were experts in political and religious propaganda  all over Egypt, the Levant, and Iraq. Because the Fatimids planned to make Cairo as the center of Shiite Ismaili sect all over the Arab world, they had built Al-Azhar mosque and madrassa to teach their Shiite creed in it and appoint graduates as (secret and overt) preachers and proselytizers within a special hierarchy all over Egypt and outside Egypt as well. Hence, the Fatimids gradually replaced the Sunnite sharia with the sharia one in all Egyptian governmental bodies and entities like judiciary courts etc. and in fatwas, the call to prayers, and inheritance rules, etc. while punishing Sunnite scholars and clergy who protested against such measures [9]. Of course, both of the Shiite and Sunnite religions have nothing to do with real and pure Islam (which is only the Quran), the one that God will use as the criterion to accept or to annul good deeds of people to reward real believers in Paradise and to punish polytheists in Hell, because polytheism annuls good deeds, as we know from the Quran: "We will proceed to the works they did, and will turn them into scattered dust." (25:23); " As for those who disbelieve, their works are like a mirage in a desert. The thirsty assumes it is to be water. Until, when he has reached it, he finds it to be nothing, but there he finds God, Who settles his account in full. God is swift in reckoning." (24:39). We surely assert that one's tenets and beliefs affect one's religious practices and deeds in particular; as Shiites made the changes we have mentioned above and imposed them on Egyptians and introduced so many invented, fabricated notions and practices that remain, sadly, influential within the Egyptian religious life until today. This has certainly widened the gap between 1) real Islam (only the Quran) in terms of faith/belief and in terms of behavior, and 2) the banner or label of 'Islam' overtly used to wrongly justify any faulty practices.        

Fatimid additions and distortions: corrupt faith tenets:

    The original source of the notion of deifying imams, the Twelver Shiite doctrine or the Ismaili sect, is for a long time gone from the collective memory of Egyptians, and yet, some vestiges of Shiite practices linger until now in Egyptian religious life of the masses. The example we tackle here is deifying and sanctifying mausoleums or tombs of the supposed female and male saints, by worshipping at them, supplicating the supposedly 'immortal' saint inside the tomb to get help/aid, and other polytheistic rituals. Sadly, most mausoleums built by the Fatimids are still being revered, honored, and worshipped reverently by the gullible masses inside Egypt, and chief among such tombs is the mausoleum ascribed to Sayeda Nafisa (i.e., Sayeda in Arabic means: the lady or the dame, a title indicating  female saint or goddess) inside a mosque bearing her name (Nafisa was the daughter of Al-Hassan, grandson of Prophet Muhammad and son of Fatima and Ali, and she is said to have lived, died, and buried in Egypt) and the mosque housing another tomb purportedly said to be the mausoleum ascribed to the severed head of Al-Hussein, the grandchild of Prophet Muhammad and son of Fatima and Ali. Al-Makrizi says [10] that the Fatimid caliph Al-Mustansir built the mausoleum of Nafisa in 482 A.H., though she died in Egypt in 208 A.H.. and during her lifetime, the Egyptians admired her adherence to piety, high morals, and religiousness. Upon her death, she was buried in a very ordinary tomb like all dead people at the time. Yet, Al-Mustansir built the mausoleum dedicated to worship and venerate  her in a randomly chose site in Cairo after more than two centuries after her death (!). The Fatimid propaganda invented and stressed stories of miracles occurring to visitors of her mausoleum to worship at it and invoke/implore her to aid them. Al-Makrizi writes that people who invoked God at her mausoleum usually had their prayers answered and their wishes granted (!). such practices went on throughout the Fatimid Era as well as the following eras of the Mamelukes and the Ottomans because Sufism was the formal and official religion at the time. It is noteworthy that at the decades when the Fatimid State was the powerful, the Fatimid caliphs never created or invented any mausoleums at all; rather, they built the city of Cairo and Al-Azhar mosque and madrassa. Indeed, they never even created mausoleums for entombed Fatimid caliphs who died in North Africa before the caliph Al-Moezz entered Egypt and carried their coffins with him to re-bury them in Cairo. Thus, in its decades of weakness and degeneration, the Fatimid State felt that many Egyptians began to reject it along with the Shiite creed because of economic disasters and other catastrophes like floods, famines, plagues, and epidemics, and because of weak caliphs controlled and dominated by strong grand viziers. Within such decades, the Fatimid State invented many mausoleums to distract Egyptians using what remained of sentiments of religiosity. Hence, a mausoleum within a grand mosque was built dedicated to Nafisa and later on, one was built around the tombs of Al-Shafei, the Sunnite scholar and fabricator of a famous doctrine, because this scholar was admired and respected by Egyptians, though he was never a Shiite and should have never been honored by the Fatimids. Indeed, the Egyptians at one point in time had stipulated that Jawhar Al-Seqilli must show respect to the Sunnite doctrine of Al-Shafei. The powerful Fatimid grand vizier named Al-Afdal who fully controlled the Fatimid and caliphate at a certain point in time had undertook the steps and taken all possible measure to revive the power of the Fatimid caliphate in order to be able to face the danger of the crusaders in the Levant and the threat of the Sunnite Seljuk rulers who controlled the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad. The Seljuks were extremist sunniest and hated the Shiite religion very much. Al-Afdal had also to face the fact that Egyptians no longer trusted or loved the Fatimids within the reign of Al-Mustansir. Thus, in order to keep Egyptians under control while facing outside military, economic, and religious dangers, Al-Afdal had to invent and fabricate the mausoleum of Al-Hussein, as he narrated the myth that he accidently found the severed head of Al-Hussein in a tomb in the Levantine city Ashkelon while he was leading the Fatimids troops there. Of course, he desired to win the hearts of Egyptians back to make them support the Fatimids once more. It is strange that the gullible Egyptians believed in that myth despite the fact that Al-Hussein never visited Ashkelon, and the Egyptians were happy to worship at the mausoleum/mosque supposedly containing the 'intact' severed head of Al-Hussein (!). Indeed, Al-Afdal made his Shiite propagandist return to Egypt before him to spread news about the severed head that would be moved to Cairo and how wonderful the miracles it worked (!). it is noteworthy that the father of Al-Afdal, the grand vizier Badr Al-Jamaly, was the one who built the Nafisa mosque and mausoleum. As per Al-Makrizi [11], the gullible Shiites used to sacrifice animals at such mausoleum dedicated to the worship of Al-Hussein, while Shiites would in Ashura feast weep there and curse murderers of Al-Hussein, among other rituals, until the Fatimid State came to an end. Yet, this mausoleum is still being sanctified and revered until now by many Egyptians who are not Shiites at all, and this proves the deep-seated influence of Shiite inventions, myths, and fabrications on Egyptian religious life and tenets until now. Ibn Taymiyya , the Sunnite extremist scholar, theologian, and author of the Mameluke Era, used to cast doubts on the assumed mausoleum of Al-Hussein as he asserts in his writings that Al-Hussein was buried in the burial grounds in Yathreb, Arabia, (as asserted by many Arab historians and in books of Al-Bokhary) and no one carried his copse anywhere, and he was murdered 250 years before the building of the city of Cairo, while the Fatimids built the mausoleum dedicated to him in 550 A.H., 14 years before their State collapsed  [12]. It is a sad fact that worshipping and sanctifying mausoleum goes on until now centuries after the downfall of the Fatimid dynasty, and this is perceived as something 'ordinary' as if it were not a polytheistic practice that entails condemnation. Hence, the practical side of the religiousness of the masses of the Muhammadans in Egypt, past and present, has been to prefer to pray in mosques that house mausoleums, and the gullible polytheistic masses ask for the benediction, intercession, aid, and mediation of the entombed 'saint'. Indeed, such mausoleums are items fashioned by the devil that must be avoided by the real Quran-believing person: "O you who believe! Wine, gambling, idols, and erected sanctified sites are abominations of Satan's doing. Avoid them so that you may prosper." (5:90). Thus, we assert here that this verse tells us to avoid also tombs/mausoleums made 'holy' by polytheists anywhere, as they are erected buildings and the gullible ones thought them as holy sites or 'sanctified' grounds; this is sheer polytheism, of course. Any food offered or animals scarified in such mausoleums are prohibited food as per the Quranic commands: "Prohibited for you are carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, and animals dedicated to other than God..." (5:3); even the Arabs before the advent of Islam used to believe in the entombed saints, and God warns them, and warns their likes in all eras, in these verses:  "Those they invoke besides God create nothing, but are themselves created. They are dead, not alive; and they do not know when they will be resurrected. Your God is one God. As for those who do not believe in the Hereafter, their hearts are in denial, and they are arrogant." (16:20-22); God says the following about worshipping the so-called 'holy entombed saints' or 'allies': "Those you call upon besides God are servants like you. So call upon them, and let them answer you, if you are truthful. Do they have feet with which they walk? Or do they have hands with which they strike? Or do they have eyes with which they see? Or do they have ears with which they hear? Say, "Call upon your partners, then plot against me, and do not wait."" (7:194-195).       

Fatimid rituals:

  Of course, such rituals introduced by Ismaili Shiites revolved around sanctifying and deifying the Fatimid caliphs in all their acts and deeds performed by them and seen by people, especially during feasts, as the caliphs would sit on divans of pure gold encrusted with rubies and other stones, carried by slaves, surrounded by viziers and men of the government and the Treasury, and notables and high-rank people would offer the caliphs precious stones and priceless golden ornaments, within certain protocols and customs throughout the procession and all festivals and celebrations, and during congregational prayers as per Al-Makrizi [13]. Such rituals and protocols, typical of high-rank clergy of Rome in the Middle Ages, made prayers and religious feasts hypocritical rituals to deify and glorify the Fatimid caliph, not to deify, glorify, worship, and sanctify God, especially during the Friday congregational prayers and sermons, and Al-Makrizi describes in details such traditions and protocols of showing off the holiness of caliphs during prayers and street processions [14] as well as particular customs and rituals within religious feasts and their banquets [15], especially Shiite feasts imposed and invented by caliphs, festivities which had nothing to Islam [16].

Feasts and festivities:

  The Fatimid caliphate invented and fabricated feasts, festivities, and festivals (e.g., moulids) never part of Islam (i.e., the Quran), and they sponsored all such celebratory events and made their Shiite preachers and propagandists spread news of such events to get nearer to Egyptians of all denominations to make them adore and sanctify the Fatimid caliphs, such as the feasts of Nowruz/Nairuz, Ashura, Ghadeer, and certain nights in the lunar Hijri months of Rajab, Shabaan, and Ramadan, and they celebrated Coptic moulids and festivals like Christmas, Epiphany, Great and Holy Thursday, and Easter. The Fatimids also celebrated Egyptian/Pharaonic feasts like Sham Al-Nassim (spring feast or Egyptian Easter) and celebration of the Nile, and they introduced the custom of celebrating the first day of Ramadan and the nightly Sohor meal in this fasting months, and they introduced political feasts and celebrations to mark certain days related to caliphs and their history and battles, and this is not to mention days for each male and female saints (Sunnite and Shiite imams + Coptic saints) and the moulid or birthday of Prophet Muhammad. Al-Makrizi writes many details about the particular paraphernalia, traditions, protocols, and customs of each feast, while noting that people loved those feasts that consume many days annually, making them eat for free and to leave their work/jobs. It is a sad fact that some of such Shiite religious celebrations go on until now in Egypt (celebrated by most Sunnite Muhammadans there) and waste much time, efforts, and money, and such feasts and days have nothing to do with Islam at all of course.      

Religious philosophies:

   Shiite preachers and propagandists made their notion infiltrate the Egyptian collective mind also by other means away from faith or beliefs and festivals; the intellectual life at the time flourished and it revolved around philosophies and theology that are filled with intricate symbolism and notions supporting Shiite doctrine and deriving some ideas from Greek philosophical ideas to reinforce the Shiite creed. The most famous book made popular at the time, presumably authored by Iraqi anonymous Shiite scholars and thinkers, is called "Letters of the Brethren of Purity" (in Arabic: "Rasaal Ikhwan Al-Safa"). It is noteworthy that the intellectual Shiite life resulted in philosophy that gave momentum to the emergence of philosophical Sufism which was heavily influenced by the Shiite religion. One cannot help but notice the influence of many Shiite notions (especially about deifying mortals and the awaited Mehdi or imam) in the writings of Sufis that emerged in later eras, such as Ibn Araby and Ibn Sab'een, as Ibn Khaldoun writes in his famous book titled "The Introduction".     

Sufism:

  Sufism that linked itself forcibly to Islam seemed to have emerged first in the East within Shiite environment. The pioneer Shiite Sufi was named Maaruf Al-Karkhy, who lived during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Al-Maamoun, but because Shiites were severely persecuted by the Abbasids, many Shiite Sufis were put to death sometimes for political reasons like Al-Halaj. Such persecution resulted in later decades in the emergence of Sufism as a full-fledged separate religion that broke with the Shiite religion, even if both the Sufi and the Shiite religions share lots of symbols, rituals, notions, and tenets, as explained by a contemporary writer in his book on the link between the Sufi and the Shiite religions [17]. Of course, the Fatimids never spared any efforts in enlisting the help of Sufis (and Shiite Sufis) in Fatimid Ismaili propaganda and preaching especially when the Sunnite Sufism spread among Sunnite enemies of the Fatimid caliphate. The erection the Al-Hussein mausoleum in Cairo toward the end of the Fatimid caliphate was the last episode of the influence of non-Shiite Egyptian Sufis, because both Shiites and Sufis (and many Sunnites) deify, sanctify, revere, and honor Muhammad's grandson, and Shiites and Sufis deem him as the master of all allies/saints and the immortal grand imam of all times [18]. Of course, influences and trends of the Shiite religion remain until now vivid within Sunnite Egyptians in their religious life, as they were preserved for centuries during the dominance of Sufism throughout the Mameluke and Ottoman eras. The assumed Al-Hussein mausoleum and other mausoleums invented and built by the Fatimids are still being worshipped in Cairo now by the masses, despite the historical accounts asserting that Al-Hussein's corpse was buried in Yathreb along with its severed head. How come that some polytheists have believed that Al-Hussein is immortal god controlling the Afterlife? God has said the following to the grandfather of Al-Hussein, Prophet Muhammad: "It is no concern of yours whether He redeems them or punishes them. They are wrongdoers." (3:128).

Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry between Sufism and the Pharaonic religion:

  We have explained in the previous section of this CHAPTER II that the Egyptians, regardless of the Shiite Ismaili doctrine of the Fatimids, have Egyptianized and changed the faiths coming to their country, and their Pharaonic ancient religion made them deify Christ, and the Quran refutes this polytheistic notion: "They disbelieve those who say, "God is the Messiah the son of Mary."..." (5:72). The Copts defended their notion of Monophysitism against other Christian churches of Diophysitism, as they sided with their Pharaonic millennia-old tenets. Therefore, those tenets continue to impose their presence with vigor after the Arab conquest of Egypt and before the Fatimid Era. For instance, the Sufi Egyptian Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry had adopted Sufi notions that draw heavily on the Pharaonic ancient religion, as he imitated Antonius, the Coptic pioneer monk and father of monasticism, in roaming the deserts and living in Pharaonic temples and he took pride in being an Egyptian and never claimed any lineage to Arabs or to Ali and Fatima (like other Sufis did); he was also described as the pioneer of Egyptian Sufism whose influence was so great as a Sufi imam/sheikh who was loved and admired by Coptic Christians as well [19]. Some historians assert that Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry roamed deserts at some times, and in other times, he lived in Pharaonic temples while trying to decipher its symbols and drawings on the walls [20], while some others assert that he was an expert in alchemy that he supposedly learned from Pharaonic sources left by Pharaonic clergy [21]. Al-Masoody says in his writings that Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry had his own special Sufi ways that different from his contemporary, and he was therefore accused of being a heretic, and this resulted in his being arrested by men of the Abbasid caliph Al-Motawakil, but mediators managed to make the caliph set him free. Most Sunnite Egyptians thought that Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry was a blasphemer and an apostate [22]. Pharaonic traces in the notions of Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry include his hierarchy of Sufi statuses and clergy similar to hierarchy of Pharaonic clergy, and he introduced the Sufi notion of "the secret greatest name of God" known to high-rank Sufis alone (!) and some books ascribe Sufi miracles to Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry (after his death in 245 A.H.) and that he sanctified the Nile and certain animals revered and honored by Pharaonic Egyptians, and Sufis later on deemed Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry a great Sufi saint, leader, and imam [23]. Hence, Zu Al-Noon Al-Masry was the very first Egyptian thinker to provide full-fledged notions for Sufism as a religion separate from the Shiite one, especially that the Pharaonic Era and Coptic Era had their own Sufi notions re-introduced by this man within the Arab culture for the very first time [24]. Thus, the Fatimids found fertile soil of favorable environment fit for their Shiite propaganda that spread their tenets and beliefs. Even those who did not like the political propaganda of the Fatimids were drawn by their religious notions, especially Copts who enjoyed tolerance ad kind treatment by the Fatimids. Hence, the Fatimids appealed to the millennia-old religious sentiments and tenets of Egyptians, and the hierarchy of Shiite Fatimid preachers managed to get the attention of most Egyptians, as per Al-Makrizi  [25]. There are many shared points between Shiite Ismaili religion  and the Pharaonic religion, such as deification of mortals and making them after their death immortal deities controlling the universe, hierarchy of clergy, sacred secrets, and religious philosophies. Let us remember that the Shiite Ismaili thinkers were influenced by the Greek philosophies, which in their turn drew heavy from Pharaonic sources, and one researcher on Shiite Ismaili faith writes that Shiite thinkers mixed, selected, adopted, and adapted so many notions of ancient philosophies and creeds from all over the ancient world after giving them Arabic appellations that seem 'Islamic', as they also took many Pharaonic notions and integrated them into their Shiite theology [26]. We assert here that all polytheistic doctrines have but one basis despite their different names, locations, and eras; this basis is deification and sanctification of items, sites, and mortals by ascribing to them God-like qualities, epithets, and powers (such as controlling the universe and knowing the future and the unseen realm). This polytheistic basis makes gullible people imagine that they must worship names, items, sites, and mortals to gain benediction, intercession, aid, mediation, etc. Of course, the Quran refutes in many verses all such polytheistic notions in all eras before and after the revelation of the Quran. The query raised now is as follows: to what extent has the Fatimid Era influenced Egyptians' conversation to 'Islam'? A possible answer is provided in the following passages. Please read on.      

Spread of a distorted form of 'Islam' in Stage Two:

 Most Egyptians converted to the Shiite religion during the Fatimid Era (thinking that this was 'Islam'), and it is natural to assume that their adherence to the new faith was directly linked to religious fabrications and invented notions and practices introduced by the Fatimids, which were essentially similar to those of the Pharaonic ancient religion and the Coptic religion as well. Researchers assert that the Ismaili Shiites concocted their man-made doctrine using various notions from all previous creeds and cults in order to appeal to all people and urge them to follow the Fatimid rulers. Therefore, the Fatimid caliphs cared very much to participate in all formal and official celebrations of Coptic, Shiite, and Pharaonic feasts as well as those celebrating different Sunnite, Sufi, Shiite, and Coptic saints. Most of the religious notions and trends introduced within the Fatimid Era lingered throughout the eras of the Ayyubids and then the Mamelukes and the Ottomans. Even the sultan Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty after the collapse of the Fatimid caliphate, had to fight the Fatimid Shiite call by sponsoring and spreading Sunnite Sufism all over Egypt by enlisting the help of preachers loyal to him, and he closed down Al-Azhar. Saladin used anti-Shiite propagandists all over Upper Egypt as Shiite preachers left Cairo and settle in Upper Egypt. After the reign of Saladin, his successors went on with the policy of encouraging Sunnite Sufism and combating Shiite Sufism, and so did the Mameluke sultans. This means that Sufism went on within the Egyptian religious life without the Shiite political leanings or tendencies after the downfall of the Fatimid State, but the Sufis religion has remained until now like a twin of the Shiite religion and both drew heavily from the Coptic creed notions and the Pharaonic ones, as per what Dr. Muhammad Al-Bahy writes in his book [27]. Hence, this similarity among all these creeds and tenets made it easier for people to convert to any new creed, because it was actually the same creed minus the appellations or names of certain figures and notions, with essentially the same content. It is noteworthy that the Fatimid caliphs were tolerant toward Egyptian Christian Copts in most times, apart from minor persecution or discrimination incidents led by Sufis or the masses (without consent of the Fatimid authorities) and apart from the period of Al-Hakim who hated Christians though his mother was a Christian, but the discrimination incidents were mostly because of injustices and humiliations committed by well-off high-rank Copts against the Muhammadan masses [28]. Because Copts were not persecuted in general during the Fatimid Era, they competed against one another because of positions, rank, and interests, as we read in Coptic sources [29], but they were usually united in face of formal and official persecution of any other State, like the Umayyads.

Shared points and similarities in Egyptian religious life of Christians and Muhammadans:

   Of course, the Quran asserts that the Judeo-Christian notion of deification of mortals was borrowed from ancient pagan ideas of people that lived before the Jews and the Christians: "The Jews said, "Osir is the son of God," and the Christians said, "The Messiah is the son of God." These are their statements, out of their mouths. They emulate the statements of those who disbelieved before..." (9:30). The Quran asserts that Jews and Christians deified clergymen: "They have taken their rabbis and their priests as lords instead of God, as well as the Messiah son of Mary. Although they were commanded to worship none but The One God. There is no god except He. Glory be to Him; High above what they associate with Him." (9:31). Of course, this shows how Pharaonic tenets influenced Judaism and Christianity to a great deal, and the Quran makes Moses' Pharaoh and his people imams/leaders in Hell to those disbelievers who follow their footsteps: "So We seized him, and his troops, and We threw them into the sea. Observe, therefore, what was the end of the oppressors. And We made them leaders calling to the Fire. And on Resurrection Day, they will not be saved." (28:40-41). Hence, some Jews and Christians of the nations conquered by Arabs accepted the new faith only after its essence was changed distorted by incorporating the Pharaonic tenets. Hence, the ancient Pharaonic religion has distorted many notions to the Muhammadans and those of the Jews and Christians before them. The three Abrahamic religions have been Egyptianized, as we have explained above. This is why we assert the only real Islam is Quranism. Hence Muhammadans, Christians, and Jews who followed the polytheistic religion of Moses' Pharaoh will have him as their imam in Hell, unless they repent and return to their original monotheistic faith that contains no deifications of items and mortals. Later on, after the Fatimid Shiite Ismaili call had waned after drawing heavily from the Pharaonic religion, Shiite Sufis like Al-Halaj and Ibn Araby spoke directly about Pharaonic notions, and some asserted that the self-deified Moses' Pharaoh was the god and master of Moses (!) and that the real Sufis must worship and follow Moses' Pharaoh (!). one Sufi has written actually a booklet on clearing the name of Moses' Pharaoh and declaring him innocent while denying his being tormented and entering Hell in the Hereafter, and Ibn Araby authored distorted, twisted interpretations of all Quranic verses that mention Moses' Pharaoh [30]. In addition, we find in an another seminal book or source of 'moderate' Sufism that Sufis celebrated the self-deified Moses' Pharaoh [31]. This corrupt notion of praising the self-deified Moses' Pharaoh is echoed by other self-deified Sufis (in their notions of revelation, apotheosis, union with God, seeing God in Heaven, etc.) and by Al-Ghazaly in his seminal book "Ehiaa Olom Eddine" [32]. This means that Sufis at the time contradicted the Quran by thinking that Moses' Pharaoh is blameless and guiltless as he declared self-deification cherished by all Sufi saints and the Sufi hierarchy of sheikhs and imams. Thus, the Pharaonic ancient religion has huge influence over Egyptian religious life in all eras until now.  Since tackling more details on that topic is beyond the scope of this book, we trace very briefly below the main features of this similarity between the Pharaonic ancient religion and the Egyptianized religions and trends that came Egypt in the following three points.

1- Egyptology books prove that Egyptians knew God in the Pharaonic Era but preferred to worship their gods alongside with Him in addition to allies, saints, associates, and clergy who would mediate or interceded on their behalf before God. This is repeated in all eras of Egyptian history (Coptic, Fatimid, Mamelukes, etc.) regarding religious life of Egyptians and regardless of the new faiths coming to their land to be Egyptianized. Adolf Erman asserts in his book titled "The Religion of Ancient Egypt" [33] that the Pharaonic people knew God the Creator of the Universe: (…"… it is surprising that Ancient Egyptians, despite their so many deities, talked about a general God, as we read in their literature when the Supreme Power controlling fates of people is mentioned. For example, they would say 'what is going on is the Decree of God', '…God did not grant him success', '…What you sow, plant, and harvest is the bounty of God', 'The one beloved by God must be obedient to Him', '…God knows the evil ones and will punish them', 'When you feel happy, you must thank God for it'… … We read in an ancient papyrus scroll that contain wisdom that God is Unseen and people must sanctify and glorify Him …… Indeed, if these were such sentiments of Ancient Egyptians, they were very near to the true religion, but at the same time, they had adhered as well to the traditional religious heritage that made them faithful to their ancient deities as well…"…). This is asserted in the Quranic Chapter 12 as well. the Quran has preserved some Ancient Egyptian words in the Quranic Chapter 12, within the story of Joseph, words that entered Arabic language later on because of the influence of the Quran as a linguistic authority in later eras. For instance, the expression uttered by Potiphar's wife in 12:23 is in the Quranic tongue: "hait lak" , which literally translates as ''I'm yours'' or ''I'm here for you'', when she tried to seduce Joseph. Indeed, some people in Siwa oasis in Egypt whose dialect has retained some hieroglyphic words still say the term ''hait'' until now, to mean the command: ''Come!''. The expression "God forbid!" mentioned in 12:51 is in the Quranic tongue "hasha lillah", still used by Siwa oasis people as well as the other expression/term in 12:51 ''Has-Has'', which in their dialect means literally to make sure or to affirm something as true. When most Egyptians refused the message of monotheism of Joseph, they wished that God would not sent them another messenger: "Joseph had come to you with clear revelations, but you continued to doubt what he came to you with. Until, when he perished, you said, "God will never send a messenger after him."..." (40:34). This means that Ancient Egyptians knew God but hated monotheism.      

2- The Pharaonic people knew the notion of union with God or being united with the divine by saints and clergy as per certain rituals, and they thought that one's heart is where the divine nature resides in every mortal, and this heart needed to be trained by certain ranks of clergy named Sakhn Akh, which means the enlightened master [34]. The Pharaonic notion of union with the divine is linked to knowing the so-called "the secret greatest name of God" to have a type of esoteric arcane knowledge of sorcery secrets and abilities like the goddess Isis or any godhead [35]. Within the Coptic Era, the philosophies that advocate union between man and God spread, such as Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism, and all such philosophies are heavily influenced by the Pharaonic ancient religion that propagated the notion of being united with God through certain practices and rituals to purify the soul. Origen was the Egyptian theologian and church father born in Alexandriawho was a prolific writer in multiple branches of theology and who was one of the most influential figures in early Christian asceticism; his ideas spread all over Iraq and the Levant and reached the Muhammadans when translated into Arabic. These ideas (especially unity between man and the divine) influenced Sufis like Al-Ghazaly, Ibn Araby, Ibn Sab'een, and Abdul-Kareem Al-Jeily. In the early centuries of Christianity, the notion/term "Logos" spread to show how man and God can be united or how the divine would be incarnated or manifested in a human body, and Paul's ideas in the New Testament of the Bible reflect this view as well as the Biblical stories about the Holy Spirit entering disciples to enable them to heal the sick and predict the future; see Mathew 5:9 and Acts of the Apostles 2:5, 2:17, 3:6-9, 4:6-12, 4:31, 5:32, 6:5, and 7:55. Within the era of Sufism within the Muhammadans, the same Christian notions described above were popular and spread within Arabic names that retained the Gnostic and Christian content and meaning about seeking divine knowledge, and a Sufi 'saint' or sheikh was named "the knowledgeable one" to indicate he/she knew the future and the unseen realm. Even a 'moderate' Sufi author, Al-Jeineid, says that "the knowledgeable one" was the Sufi saint who would tell one's hidden secret though never divulged before, as he maintains that 'saints' receive direct divine inspiration from God [36]. The same idea of divine inspiration or direct intuition granted to certain men is propagated in writings of Sufis and Christians [37]. Hence, the Sufi or Christian saints would claim (or followers after the death of these saints would claim) that they know the unknown and the unseen realm and could predict the future. This is blasphemous for sure, because the Quran tells us that only God is Omniscient regarding the metaphysical and the physical realms, not any mortals: "Say, "No one in the heavens or on earth knows the future or the unseen except God; and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected."" (27:65). Many Sufi orders of the Muhammadans claimed they knew the so-called "the secret greatest name of God", especially the order of Al-Shaziliyya. Even the Sufi author Al-Shaarany claims in his writings that God granted him knowledge of "the secret greatest name of God" and he used it to make his prayers be answered immediately by God, and he has to hide such a ''name''/Logos because this is a divine secret given only to the chosen ones by God through divine inspiration and revelation [38]. This strange notion was linked of course to Sufis' claim of knowing and/or visiting the unseen realm to get to know the known and the future. In later eras, such notions were linked to alchemy (the claim to turn metals into gold) and Sufi miracles of Sufi saints [39] and Coptic saints [40]. It is noteworthy the terms ''alchemy'' and ''chemistry'' in English and in European languages are derived from the Pharaonic name for ''Egypt'': Kemet (from the hieroglyphic root ''kmt''), which literally means "the black land", in describing fertile soil of Egypt in contrast to barren deserts. Hence, the ancient word for Egypt is linked to secrets of sorcery and witchcraft of the clergy of the ancient Pharaonic religion.  

3- The Ancient Egyptians of the Pharaonic Era believed in the unity or union between mortals and the divine, and such people endowed with the spirit of God inside them could control the universe or the physical realm; in that context, Ancient Egyptians worshipped Pharaonic rulers and kings as well as demi-gods among mortals like wise men or clergymen like Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hapu. Pharaonic religion clergy used to have names and titles that indicate their being knowledgeable with holy secrets of heavens. Hence, the barriers were hazy between mortals and Pharaonic gods and their spheres overlapped and this made room for describing these gods and goddesses with human qualities and ascribing them human actions and sentiments [41]. Within the Coptic Era and the era of Christian Sufism, Copts used to believe that male and female saints can control the universe and interfere miraculously in the events of daily life, and the Muhammadans later on in Egypt have adopted the same notions without much change in their belief in miracles of their male and female saints. There is no room in this book to mentions much details to exemplify the similarity between Egyptian Muhammadans and Egyptian Christians in that respect; but we assert here briefly that Copts believed in saints' power to heal the sick and Paul has written this in the New Testament in the Bible; see Mathew 8:13 and Acts of the Apostles 3:6-9 and 4:6-12, and books of Coptic mythology and hagiology are filled with many examples of this [42]. Likewise, the Muhammadans believed in myths such as the power of entombed saints to heal the sick especially by using dust from their sanctified tombs or mausoleums, and this was part of social and religious life during the Mameluke Era [43]. All Sufi books of hagiology are also filled with mythical stories, about saints' miracles and healing powers, that imitate Christian hagiology, and this similarity is because of their shared source: the Ancient Pharaonic religion. Let us remember that for millennia, the Ancient Egyptians cared too much about erecting tombs and pyramids, as they believed in the Afterlife, and they built many temples dedicated to many gods and goddesses; the Copts imitated their ancestors in erecting many churches and monasteries dedicated to patron saints and sanctified clergymen and martyrs with many mausoleums for them. The Ancient Egyptians used to have 40 mausoleums for Osiris, and many Egyptians until now remember and celebrate the memory of their dead ones after 40 days of burial, and there were even many mausoleums for a Sufi saint named "Sheikh Al-Arbeieen" (i.e., literally in Arabic, the saint of the 40 days). Since the Fatimid Era, so many domes were erected above real or fake tombs of Sufi (Sunnite and Shiite) saints in cemeteries, with many books authored by Sufi writers to guide non-Egyptian people visiting Egypt to the famous mausoleums in Cairo and all over Egyptian cities and villages, and many Sufi sheikhs worked as tourist guides to visitors of such mausoleums and to inform visitors how to worship at them in detailed rituals and customs, as these saints were believed to be controlling the universe and the earth, and as mausoleums of the Sufi saints of the Muhammadans and those of the Coptic saints drew so many visitors and each had its own myths [44]. Apart from mausoleums, monasteries of Copts imitated the architecture of Pharaonic temples, and Copts imitated the systems and the clergy hierarchy of their Pharaonic ancestors. Later on, Egyptian Sufi Muhammadans imitated both Copts and Pharaonic ancestors in the same manner, as Sufis adopted ascetic lifestyle, living in isolated small rooms in deserts or remote areas away from people, and roaming deserts for long periods of time. It is noteworthy that one of the Coptic founders of monasticism during the Coptic Era, named saint Pachomius, used to advise his followers in monasteries to stop babbling and chattering as much as they could, and Al-Shaarany the Sufi author imitated Pachomius centuries later when he criticizes in his writings some Sufi followers and disciples who were busy chattering, babbling, and blubbering, especially about political issues     [45]. There were of course convents for Coptic nuns that were later on copied by Sufis who made Sufi certain special houses of worship confined to women or female Sufi disciples/followers [46].

Thirdly: Converging Trends in the Religions of the Muhammadans and Coptic Christian in Egypt:

 It is natural to expect and to find great similarity between Egyptian  Copts and Egyptian Muhammadans, past and present, in faith tenets and rituals since their religions are essentially, in fact, one religion of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaonic faith; this has been the shared source and basis for Egyptian religious life for millennia until now even with changed names of people, practices, and notions. Let us tackle very briefly this similarity between Egyptian  Copts and Egyptian Muhammadans, in the past, in the following points.

1- In locations: Many Coptic houses of worship were originally Pharaonic temples that were turned into a church or a monastery [47]. Some Coptic and Pharaonic houses of worship, especially in Upper Egypt, were turned into Sufi institutions, as per Al-Makrizi in his story about the several monastery in Upper Egyptian governorates (like Asyut and Qena) turned into Sufi locations, especially by the Sufi order of Al-Shaziliyya [48]. Al-Muqattam hill (in Cairo now, but outside it in the past) was sanctified and deemed to be a hallowed site by both Muhammadans and Copts in Egypt for centuries, and it was for a while the favored location to bury saints of different orders and denominations. It is said (by some Sufis and historians) that even Amr Ibn Al-As (the Arab military leader who conquered Egypt) made an agreement with the last Byzantine governor of Egypt to specify certain areas in Al-Muqattam hill to be cemeteries for Arabs and the Muhammadans in general, after this governor insisted, at first, to buy the whole area for 70 thousand gold dinars. So many Sufi authors have written about miracles and mythical stories related to Al-Muqattam hill and its tombs and invented ''hadiths'' about being buried in it, as per Al-Makrizi [49]. It is clear that the Muhammadans in Egypt were heavily influenced by Coptic heritage and mythology about Al-Muqattam hill to the extent that they have fabricated hadiths ascribed falsely to Prophet Muhammad about Al-Muqattam hill and Egypt in general (!), and this link between Pharaonic, Coptic, and Muhammadan mythology led to the spread of another myths related to discoveries of Pharaonic treasures near or inside Al-Muqattam hill [50].      

2- In feasts and festivities: These included moulids and other religious celebrations and festivals that have been enjoyed and shared by both Egyptian Muhammadans and Copts, as the Muhammadans celebrated with Copts in their Coptic feasts in monasteries and churches, and celebrations include banquets and vendors selling their goods, drinks, and food, and masters of ceremonies presenting their shows of Sufi dancing, singing, and theatrical pieces, horseback riding etc., as per Al-Makrizi [51] and his details about monasteries and festivities there attended by all Egyptians from all denominations, apart from shared festivities like Sham Al-Nassim (spring feast or Egyptian Easter) and the Nile feast, days of patron saints, days of martyrs, etc. It is noteworthy that some Sufi celebrations included tents for customers who liked to drink wine or to have sex, in return for money, with whores and homosexuals, and some crimes of theft and swindle were committed and had to be faced by the Mamelukes who imposed order on such gatherings in all festivities.      

3- In healing: As per Al-Makrizi, some of the Muhammadans for centuries believed that they could get healed through the healing powers of Coptic saints and clergy in churches and monasteries, even if the cure concocted to be consumed by the ill person contained pork flesh prohibited in the Quran. likewise, many Copts for centuries believed that they could get healed through the healing powers of well-known Sufi dead and living saints and sheikh, and one of them, Al-Shaarany, took pride in this, as we read in his writings [52].

  Of course, the above points about religious life and culture in Egypt after the Arab conquest show the huge gap between real Islam (i.e., only the Quranic teachings) and the practices of the Muhammadans performed under the label/banner 'Islam'. This is inferred undoubtedly when one reads historical accounts of Egyptians after the Arab conquest and use the Quranic text as a criterion to judge all their religious rituals and practices. Indeed, a real Muslim researcher of history must show this discrepancy in order to show true Islam (i.e. Quranism) to the Egyptian readers so that they purify their religious beliefs from myths of polytheism.       

References:

[1] "Khetat" by Al-Makrizi, pages 1/138 and 3/561, 581.

[2] Al-Makrizi, ditto, pages 3/536:538.

[3] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/546:547.

[4] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/293:298 and 303.

[5] Al-Makrizi, page 3/303.

[6] Al-Makrizi, page 2/278.

[7] "The Ismaili Shiite Sect" by Dr. M. Kamel Hussein, pages 151:153 and 156:157.

[8] M. Kamel Hussein, ditto, pages 159 and 160.

[9] "Al-Hakim Biamrallah" by Abdel-Moneim Majid, pages 74:75.

[10] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/448:449.

[11] Al-Makrizi, pages 2/161:162.

[12] "Takseer Al-Ahjar", a manuscript without a name of an author, papers 146 and 147, No. 404/6 in Cairo National Library.

[13] Al-Makrizi, pages 2/86:88, 482.

[14] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/170:172.

[15] Al-Makrizi, pages 2/204:215.

[16] Al-Makrizi, pages 2/170:174, 230:255, 274:282, 91:95, and 168:170.

[17] "The Link between Sufism and the Shiite Creed", by Mustafa Al-Sheiby, published by Dar Al-Maaref.

[18] "Al-Sayed Al-Badawi between Fact and Myth" A. S. Mansour, pages 22:32.

[19] Al-Makrizi, page 1/56, and "The Encyclopedia" by Muhammad Mustafa Hilmy, pages 9/411:412.

[20] "Moroj Al-Dhahab" by Al-Masoody, page 2/401.

[21] Hilmy, ditto, 9/409, "Islamic Sufism" by Nicolson (translated into Arabic), pages 9, 10, and 12, and "Ikhbar Al-Hukamaa" by Al-Qafty, page 127.

[22] Al-Masoody, ditto, 2/401, Al-Siyouti, pages 1/511:512.

[23] "Nafahat Al-Ins" by El-Jami, page 26, and ''Tabakat'' by Al-Manaoui, pages 1/223:224.

[24] "The Philosophy in the Orient", authored originally in French 1939 by Paul Masson-Oursel, a translated Arabic edition, page 63.

[25] Al-Makrizi, pages 2/97:104.

[26] M. Kamel Hussein, pages 174:175.

[27] "On the Islamic Thought" by M. Al-Bahy, 4^th edition, 1962, page 16.

[28] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/188, 541, and 570, and Al-Siyouti, page 1/601.  

[29] Menassa Youhanna, pages 455, 457, 461, 471, 475, 476, 482, 484, 514, and 522:525.

[30] The booklet titled (in Arabic) "Eman Pharaon" (i.e., in English, the Faith of Moses' Pharaoh) by Jalal Eddine Al-Dawany, published by Ibn Al-Khateeb, and quoted often by the Sufi Ibn Araby in his book titled "Fusus Al-Hukm", pages 248:264, with comments by Al-Kashany, editions of Al-Halaby Publishers. 

[31] ''Al-Risala Al-Qosheiriyya'', by Al-Qosheiry, page 8.

[32] ''Ehiaa Olom Eddine'' by Al-Ghazaly, pages 3/243:244. 

[33] Adolf Erman, page 70.

[34] "Periodicals of Cairo" by Abdel-Aziz Saleh, pages 27, 159, 195, and 195.

[35] "The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians" by Georg Steindorff, pages 84:86.

[36] Al-Qosheiry, ditto, pages 31 and 32.

[37] About inspiration among Coptic notions, Menassa Youhanna, pages 422, 593, 594, and 650, and about the unseen and the unknown, Menassa Youhanna, pages 142, 167, 196, 198, 201, 205, 301, 369, 385, 400, 401, 423, and 466, to name but few examples, as there are countless of them regarding that topic in Sufi references and seminal books.

[38] "Lataeif Al-Minan" by Al-Shaarany, page 508, ''Tabakat'' by Al-Shazily, page 253, and within the book-series of notable Arabs: "Al-Shazily", by Abdel-Haleem Mahmoud, page 44. 

[39] About alchemy and alchemists among the Copts, Menassa Youhanna, pages 294, 395, 438, and 509.

[40] About alchemy and alchemists among the Sufis, about Al-Shazily Sufi order, "Al-Tanweer" by Ibn Ataa, page 82, "Taateer Al-Anfas", a manuscript, pages 31 and 48, about the rest of Sufis: "Tabakat" by Al-Shaarany, pages 2/73 and 586, and "Lataeif Al-Minan" by Al-Shaarany, page 750, to name few examples.   

[41] "Life in the Pharaonic Era" by Cornell, page 13, Georg Steindorff, ditto, pages 22 and 56:57, and Ahmad Zaki Badawi, page 28.

[42] Menassa Youhanna, pages 27, 126, 229, 356, 388, 393, 420, 421, 424, 425, 473, 647, and 650.

[43] "Periodicals of Cairo" by Abdel-Aziz Saleh, pages 27, 159, 195, and 196, ''Al-Manhal Al-Safy'' by Abou Al-Mahasin, a manuscript, 1/93 and 2/405, and "Al-Kawakib Al-Sayyara", pages 144, 207, 244, 245, 294, 233, 197, 119, 184, and 291. 

[44] About Muhammadan Arabs, Al-Makrizi, pages 3/448 and beyond, 2/161, 3/478, 437, 446, 449, 479, and 485, about Copts, Al-Makrizi pages 3/552/569, and Menassa Youhanna, pages 224, 361, 376, and 444, to name but a few examples, about mausoleums of Muhammadan Arabs, Al-Makrizi pages 3/426, 437, 446, and 3/161, about mausoleums of Copts, Al-Makrizi pages 3/554:560 and 563:566 and beyond.

[45] Menassa Youhanna, page 195, and Al-Shaarany, ditto, pages 302, 316, and 340.

[46] Menassa Youhanna, pages 194 and 196, and Al-Makrizi, pages 3/423:267 and 565.

[47] Menassa Youhanna, pages 141, 175, 200, 210, and 309, and Al-Makrizi, pages page 3/559.

[48] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/560:561.

[49] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/450:454.

[50] Al-Makrizi, pages 3/561, 568, 569, and 581.

[51] Al-Makrizi, pages 1/125 and 3/555:558 and 579.

[52] Al-Makrizi, page 3/562, and Al-Shaarany, ditto, pages 272:274.