Islamic Conquest and the Ottoman Empire

Religion, particularly Islam, has traditionally been a powerful force in Egyptian politics, society, and culture. Prior to the Islamic conquest, Saint Mark the Evangelist brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st century CE, and Alexandria became one of the most important Christian centers in the world. It split from the larger Christian Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, establishing itself as the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which remains an important force in Egyptian religious culture to the present. In 639, Islam and the Arabic language were introduced to Egypt by the Muslim Arabs. Throughout the subsequent centuries, Sunni Islam blended with indigenous beliefs and practices, giving birth to the various Sufi orders that can still be found to this day. The Shi’a Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171) conquered Egypt in the late 10th century and founded the city of Cairo, which developed into one of the most important political and intellectual centers of the Muslim world. The founding of the Ayyubid Dynasty by Saladin in 1174 signaled a shift from Shi’a to Sunni political predominance and propelled Muslim forces to turn the tide against Christian crusaders in the Holy Land. The Mamluks, a Turco-Circassian military caste, came to power in 1250, and continued to rule even after Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt in 1517. Both the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire emphasized state control over the ulema religious leadership. While legally protected under the Millet system of the Ottoman Empire, minority religious communities were also discriminated against.