African Politics: The Role of Islam in Egypt

Originally written on May 20, 2018.

Many Islamic countries are in Africa, such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Somalia. Africa was the first continent in which Islam was preached after the initial rise of Islam in the Middle East. For this reason, most Northern countries have a powerful Islamic influence in their internal politics. However, Egypt was the first country in Africa to become fully Islamic shortly after Islam began to expand out of the Middle East in the seventh century when Islam was still a new religion (Kennedy, 2007). The research presented in this paper will examine multiple aspects of Islam's development in Egypt and its role in Egyptian politics. These aspects will include the history of Islam in Egypt, the general background of the religion of Islam, and the role of Islam in Egypt’s contemporary political climate (Najeebabadi, 2001). The thesis that is being advanced is that Islam plays a crucial role in the political culture of Egypt, and this fact is rooted in Egypt’s centuries-long deep-seated Islamic traditions.

History

To fully understand the role of Islam in contemporary Egyptian politics, it is necessary to provide a historical context on the development of Islam and how it came to be that Islam is the dominant religion in Egypt and has been for centuries (Kennedy, 2007). Such an analysis would include a detailed breakdown of the history of Islam in Egypt and an explanation of how Islam originally entered Egypt. It is also necessary to discuss how Islam influenced the political atmosphere during the development of the modern Egyptian nation. The history of Islam in Egypt is pervasive and extends as far back as the seventh century C.E. After the Prophet Muhammed received his revelation from Allah in the early seventh century, Islam began to spread rapidly throughout the Middle East. First, Islam came to dominate the Arabian Peninsula, which continues to be the site of the Islamic Holy Land and subsequently came to dominate other areas of the Middle East (Najeebabadi, 2001).

Islam eventually began to spread into Africa, and it was in Egypt that the impact of Islam first came to be known. Such a development was predictable because of all of the African nations; Egypt is the closest to the Middle East (Kennedy, 2007). During the seventh-century era, when Islam began to advance in Egypt, it was also confirmed that Egypt continued to be part of the Byzantine Empire (Najeebabadi, 2001). The late Roman Empire had been split into two major divisions two centuries earlier, including the Western Empire and the Byzantine Empire, of which Egypt was a part. Consequently, at this point, Egypt was a predominantly Christian region (Hourani, 1992). However, in 639 C.E., the Rashidun army began to cross the Egyptian border and proceeded to engage in the conquest of Egypt. The first sites in Egypt to be conquered were Pelusium and Belbeis, followed by the Siege of Babylon, a battle near Cairo (Ostrogorsky, 1956). The leader of the Muslims was Amir, and he subsequently received reinforcements from Medina. This Muslim holy city was currently under the leadership of Umar (Butler, 1902).

The next great battle in the Muslim conquest of Egypt was the Battle of Heliopolis, which took place in 640 C.E. The battle was followed by the conquest of Fayoum and Babylon and the subsequent surrender of Thebaid. This site was located in southeastern Egypt (Kennedy, 2007). The Muslim forces went on to march toward Alexandria. Alexandria was conquered in 641 C.E., and Egypt consequently fell into Muslim control (Ostrogorsky, 1956). The conquest of Egypt was followed by the invasion of Nubia to the south of Egypt. This Christian region extended from Aswan to Khartoum and from the Red Sea to the Libyan Desert (Najeebabadi, 2001). The Nubians proved to be very formidable opponents, and the Muslim forces subsequently withdrew and began to continue their conquest of Egypt. By 642 C.E., the Muslims had come to dominate Western Egypt and expel Byzantine influence from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan (Butler, 1902).

Following the conquest of Egypt by the Muslims, the Christians were allowed to continue to practice their religion and administer their affairs. They were also exempt from service in Islamic military forces (Najeebabadi, 2001). The Muslims successfully conquered Egypt because of their commitment to Islam, combined with the internal divisions of the Byzantine Empire and the weakness of the Christians in Egypt (Kennedy, 2007). Following the conquest, the Muslims moved the capital of Egypt from Alexandria to Fustat. They began implementing various reforms, such as building a canal to unite the Nile River with the Red Sea. Another plan to build a canal to unite the Nile River with the Mediterranean Sea was developed by the Muslims of Egypt but was opposed by Umar in Medina, the leader of Islam at the time. However, this same idea for a canal that united the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea became a reality 1300 years later when the Suez Canal was developed (Butler, 1902).

Islam

Islam has remained the dominant religion in Egypt since the original Muslim conquest in the seventh century. To understand the role of Islam in contemporary Egyptian politics, it is also necessary to provide background material on the religion of Islam, its origins, and its core tenants. This introduction to the origins and teachings of Islam will also help to facilitate how the migration of the religion into Egypt occurred in the seventh century. Islam is a monotheistic religion that teaches that there is only one God, called Allah. Muslims believe that Muhammed was the chosen messenger of God to whom His will was revealed (Cragg, 1975). Islam is the world’s second-largest religion, after Christianity, and Muslims include approximately one-quarter of the world’s population. Islam is the dominant religion in approximately 50 nations (Nigosian, 2004).

According to the tenets of the Islamic faith, God is omnipotent, endlessly merciful, and has a unique divine personality. God has also revealed Himself to humanity using the coming of the prophets, through the Holy Scriptures, and natural signs and wonders (Nigosian, 2004). Muslims believe the Holy Quran to be the word of God, and the Hadiths contain the teachings of the Prophet Muhammed. Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. However, the perfect and ultimate revelation was given to the Prophet Muhammed. Muslims are expected to adhere to the “Five Pillars of Islam,” which include faith, charity, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimages (Nigosian, 2004). The three holy cities in Islam are Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. Muslims believe that good people will be rewarded in heaven in a future life while evil people will be punished in hell (Khalil, 2013).

It is also necessary to provide a breakdown of the Muslim population of contemporary Egypt, the particular kinds of Islam that are found in Egypt at present, and the different categories of Islamic beliefs that each of these has. Muslims are approximately 90% of the population of Egypt, and most Egyptian Muslims are Sunni Muslims. This term indicates the loyalty of Muslims to the Sunnah, which contains the hadiths, which are the teachings of the Prophet Muhammed. Islam is the state religion of Egypt, and this has been the case since 1980. Historically, the Islamic religion has been heavily interconnected with the state. For centuries, Egypt was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and Islam was the state religion during this time as well. During the 1970s and 1980s, a large wave of Islamic political activism emerged in Egypt, and many other Islamic countries and this factor continues to influence Egyptian society today (Osman, 2010).

Conflict exists in Egypt between those who believe that religion and politics should remain somewhat separate and those known as “Islamists” who say that all of society, including government and politics as well as culture and education, should be made to conform to Islamic teaching. Religious fervor is the most common among Egypt's poor and uneducated classes. Different methods of practicing Islam are also prevalent in Egypt. For example, some Muslims have adopted unconventional practices such as the veneration of saints or the use of amulets. Other Muslims are firm believers in predestination, or the view that everything that happens is the will of God. Men and women will also practice Islam in different ways at times, and this takes place in part because gender segregation is common in Islam (Jones-Pauly and Tuqan, 2011). Islam is frequently taught by electronic media in Egypt as well.

Political Climate

It is also necessary to discuss the various political theologies regarding each particular tendency of Islam, including those that need to be addressed from a historical viewpoint through the different political tendencies within Islam during the modern day. Based on the information that has been given on the political climate of Egypt during the present time, it is possible to discuss how Islam has played a role in the advancement or destruction of the nation. Egypt has gone through a theatrical change in recent years with regard to terrorism, the vacuum of power, and uprisings. It is necessary to discuss all of these attributes. While it is undoubtedly necessary to recognize that Sunni Islam is the prevalent religion in Egypt, many tendencies within Egyptian Islam exist in a way that is parallel to the Sunni tradition. One of these is Sufism, which is a mystical tradition in Islam. Most of the practitioners of Sufism in Egypt are male (Osman, 2010).

Salafi is another form of Islam that is a rigorous and fundamentalist interpretation and application of Islam (Nigosian, 2004). Salafi is very similar to the Wahhabi tradition prevalent in Saudi Arabia. However, some Egyptian Salafi have argued that religion and state should remain separate, unlike the Wahhabi, who are firm believers in Islamic theocracy. Quranism is a form of Islam that is non-sectarian and rejects the Hadiths, believing only in the Quran. There are small numbers of Shia Muslims in Egypt. Shia is a type of Islam that traces its history to a different line of succession from the Prophet Muhammed than what is taught by Sunni Islam. Many Sunni Muslims consider Shiites to be heretics, and there has been violence against Shiites in Egypt (Khanbaghi, 2006). Ahmadiyya is a movement within Islam that has its roots in India and Egypt; the movement is also considered to be heretical by many Sunnis. The Ahmadiyya have been subjected to state repression in Egypt as well as to private violence. Many non-denomination Muslims can also be found in Egypt (Lewis, 1996).

The status of non-Muslim religious minorities in Egypt varies. Both Christianity and Judaism are recognized by the Egyptians, although there is some level of discrimination against religious minorities, particularly those who convert to other faiths from Islam. The most significant religious minority in Egypt is the Coptic Orthodox Christians. Among the different Christian minorities are the Coptic Catholic Church, the Coptic Evangelical Church, Coptic Protestant denominations, the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Latin Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Maronite Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church. The religious minorities that face the most significant amount of discrimination in Egypt are the Ahmadiyya Muslims, Shia Muslims, Baha’i Faith, Hindus, atheists, and agnostics (Lewis, 1996).

The role of Islam in Egyptian political culture is highly complex. Because Islam is a deep-seated religious tradition in Egypt, Islam has influenced the internal politics of Egypt to a great degree. While the roots of Islam in Egypt extend as far back as the seventh century C.E., the events of the twentieth century have most profoundly shaped Egyptian political culture during the present era, including the role of Islam in Egyptian politics. Egypt was under the rule of the Ottomans for three hundred years, from the early seventeenth century until the early twentieth century. The Ottoman Empire was also an Islamic state, and Egyptians were culturally acclimated to the idea that religion had a significant role in government. Egyptians do not have the “separation of religion and state” tradition found in the United States. However, some Egyptian Muslims favor a separation of religion and politics (Osman, 2010).

However, a conflict emerged in the post-World War Two era between the proponents of secular Arab nationalism and Islamic theocracy (Khavari, 1990). The Egyptian Revolution of 1952, led by Colonel Nasser, was essentially a secular nationalist revolution even if religious elements of Islam continued to be included in the state. Nasser was not an Islamist but a Pan-Arabist who wanted to unite the Arabic people of all spiritual and political persuasions against Western imperialism (Lewis, 1994). Nasser was a secular Arab nationalist, and his successor, Anwar Sadat, largely continued in his footsteps when he became the president of Egypt at the time of Nasser’s death in 1970. However, there have long been those in the Islamic faith in Egypt who claimed that the regimes of Nasser and Sadat were not committed enough to the Islamic faith. In response, Islam was declared to be the state religion of Egypt in 1980. Yet Sadat was assassinated the following year by an Islamist who objected to his policy of appeasement toward Israel. When Hosni Mubarak succeeded Anwar Sadat following the latter’s assassination, Mubarak received many of the same criticisms (Bradley, 2008).

It should be noted that the rise of political Islam in Egypt has corresponded to the failures of various secular or semi-secular Egyptian regimes. For example, the regime of Hosni Mubarak was essentially a dictatorship that maintained an aura of legitimacy using mock elections that were not genuinely competitive. Mubarak also engaged in the outright repression of political dissent, including much dissent originating from Muslim religious communities (Kassem, 2004). Mubarak ruled Egypt for thirty years as a de-fact dictator and failed to address many pressing problems, such as poverty and food shortages (Farah, 2011). Eventually, Mubarak was ousted during the uprisings associated with the Arab Spring beginning in 2011. Mubarak was subsequently placed on trial for various crimes committed while in power and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

The 2011 revolution in Egypt brought with it various changes in Egyptian politics. Egypt adopted a republican form of government with an elected president and an elected parliament. About twenty different parties currently hold seats in the Egyptian parliament. One of the significant sources of conflict and controversy in Egypt has been the role of Islam in Egyptian politics, with Islamist organizations wishing to have a more substantial Islamic presence in government and other parties preferring a more secular approach (Gratowski, 2014). Under the presidency of Mohamed Morsi, there was a decisive turn toward dictatorship. After Morsi was overthrown and imprisoned, the Egyptian nations took a decisive turn toward Islamism under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. At present, religious parties are strongly controlled by law in Egypt to prevent efforts to subvert the elected republic employing Islamist ideology. However, Islamism continues to have influential proponents in Egypt, including groups that have engaged in violence against their political opponents.

Given the discussion of the role of Islam in Egypt that has been provided above, it is also necessary to provide an overview of possible outcomes for Egypt and its potential advancements or destabilizations depending on Egypt’s political fortunes in the future. Currently, Egypt appears to be moving toward the eventual development of a secular democratic republic. Indeed, Egypt has taken steps in such a direction in recent years after a period of turmoil following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. If Egypt were to become a stable democracy, the nation would have the opportunity to also engage in economic development and increase national prosperity. Such an unfolding of events would be very helpful to the Egyptian people as poverty continues to be a serious problem in Egypt. Regarding the role of Islam in the government, it is necessary to build institutions capable of maintaining religious toleration so that democracy in Egypt can work on some fundamental level (Mauro, 2013).

Bibliography

Bradley, John R., Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.

Butler, Alfred. The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.

Cragg, Kenneth. The House of Islam. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1975.

Farah, Nadia Ramsis. Egypt's Political Economy: Power Relations in Development. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. 2011.

Gratowski, J. Thomas. "Is Egypt Breaking Apart?" International Affairs Review, February 17, 2014.

Hourani, Albert. Islam in European Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Jones-Pauly, Christina and Tuqan, Abir Dajani. Women under Islam: Gender Justice and the Politics of Islamic Law. London: I.B.Tauris, 2011.

Kassem, Maye (2004). Egyptian Politics: The Dynamics of Authoritarian Rule. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 2004.

Kennedy, Hugh. The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In. Milan: Da Capo Press, 2007.

Khalil, M. H. Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation, and the Fate of Others. New York: Oxford University Press. 2013.

Khan, Al-Hilali Khan and Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din. Noble Quran (1st ed.). Dar-us-Salam Publications, 1999.

Khanbaghi, A. The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.

Khavari, Farid A. Oil and Islam: The Ticking Bomb. Malibu, CA: Roundtable Publications, 1990.

Lewis, Bernard. Islam and the West. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Lewis, Bernard. Cultures in Conflict: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Age of Discovery. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Mauro, Ryan Mauro. “Dr. Ahmed Mansour: Human Rights Need to Be Islamic Law.” The Clarion Project, July 6, 2013.

Najeebabadi, Akbar Shah. History of Islam. Dar-us-Salam Publications, 2001.

Nigosian, S. A. Islam: Its History, Teaching, and Practices. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004.

Osman, Tarek. Egypt on the Brink. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.

Ostrogorsky, George. History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1956.