The intricate relationship between religion, culture, state, and society has led scholars to characterize the Coptic Church as “the church of Islam,” highlighting the pervasive influence of Islamic social and cultural norms (McCallum, 2010). Despite scholarly attention to the dynamics of Islamized Christian minorities (Pereira and Ibrahim ,2010), (Droeber, 2012), (Sookhdeo, 2002) the impact of Islamization on Christian theology concerning women in Egypt remains underexplored. This study aims to address this gap by examining the impact of Islamization on the contemporary Coptic Church, particularly on women, exploring the church’s discourse and practices and considering their social, cultural, and political implications.
Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Egypt has undergone a transformative shift from socialism and Marxism to various forms of Islamization, spurred by a pivotal ideological transformation following the defeat (Haddad, 1992). This shift has given rise to political Islamic movements, with proponents attributing the 1967 loss to divine retribution for embracing Western ideologies (Hamid, 2016)
The surge of Islamization in Egypt has been extensively studied, with Islamic revivalists striving to reintegrate Islam into public life through education, legislation, and jihad, aiming to resurrect the Islamic Caliphate state (Molnar, 1996). President Sadat’s support for political Islamic groups in the 1970s, along with significant Egyptian migration to the Gulf Area, facilitated the spread of Wahabi and radical Islamic ideas within Egypt, influencing social, cultural, and political spheres (Zeidan, 1999; Abdelrazek-Alsiefy, 2023).
These aforementioned changes have notably impacted the status of women in Egypt, influencing various aspects of interaction with an Islamized culture, such as the adoption of hijab and identity formation. Remarkably, the academic examination of the repercussions of Islamization on Christian women in Egypt remains limited, portraying the social changes as exclusive to Muslim women. Established in the mid-1st century by the apostle Mark, the Coptic Church stands as a unique Christian institution in the Islamic world, serving the largest Christian minority in the Middle East (Tadrous, 2013).
Sara Allam Shaltout is a scholar of the Anthropology of Religion and A PhD candidate at the Middle East and Central Asia studies center, University of St Andrews UK. In her doctoral project, Sara investigates the influence of the Islamization of Egypt on the Christian coptic theology regarding women. In other words, how the Islamized culture in Egypt influences the Coptic theology in terms of its view of women and gender roles. Sara obtained an Msc from the school of Divinity, Edinburgh university. She also holds a master’s degree in the Middle East studies from the American University in cairo , 2022.
