DISPLACING DHIMMĪ, MAINTAINING HOPE: UNTHINKABLE COPTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF FATIMID EGYPT

Extract

The Copto-Arabic Synaxarion entry for the repose of Abraham ibn Zurءah (975-78), sixty-second patriarch of the See of Alexandria, commemorates the miraculous moving of Muqattam Mountain (outside of Cairo) in response to a devastating challenge posed to Coptic Christians by Fatimid caliph Muءizz li-Din Allah (969-75). The challenge—move Muqattam Mountain or be persecuted—unfolds as an important representative narrative of Christian-Muslim relations in medieval Coptic literature. The Muqattam narrative maintains hope by veiling religious-political commentary in the cloak of a miraculous or “unthinkable” event. This type of narrativizing, as archetypically displayed in the Muqattam narrative, is an important way for Copts to critique their dhimmimacr; status and Islamic governance while simultaneously maintaining hope in their Coptic faith. Through a close reading of this narrative, I argue that the miracle story provides an empowering vision and sustains a triumphant representation of Coptic faith.