# Copts under Fatimid rule

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Coptic life under the Fatimids combined prominent administrative service and periods of peaceful coexistence with legal restrictions, occasional discrimination, and episodes of persecution.[^1][^5][^6]

## Overview

The Copts occupied important government posts during much of the Fatimid period, and most caliphs showed considerable tolerance toward them. This tolerance was not uniform: the sources identify serious persecution under al-Hakim and describe further tensions under later rulers.[^1]

The supplied accounts give different starting dates for the period: *Fatimids and the Copts* uses 972–1171, while another historical account dates Fatimid rule in Egypt to 969–1171.[^1][^2]

## Government service

Coptic participation in administration continued an established practice rather than beginning with the Fatimids. When General Jawhar and al-Mu‘izz arrived in Egypt, they found Jews and Christians serving at several administrative levels and retained this arrangement.[^3]

Christian officials continued to receive substantial responsibilities under later caliphs. In 1107–1108, al-Amir’s vizier al-Afdal appointed a Christian and a Jew to head the newly founded Diwan al-tahqiq, an office supervising expenditure. The Christian appointee, Abu al-Barakat Yuhanna ibn Abi Layth, remained in office until his execution in 1134.[^4]

## Legal status and religious institutions

Copts retained the legal status of *dhimmis*, which the Fatimids applied with some flexibility, but they did not enjoy unrestricted religious liberty. According to the account drawing on Abu Salih the Armenian, few new churches were built; Christians generally restored existing churches and monasteries under restrictions associated with the Covenant of ‘Umar. Occasional financial assistance or visits to monasteries by Muslim viziers and caliphs did not constitute a general policy.[^5]

## Everyday coexistence

Evidence for daily relations is limited, but the sources record peaceful interaction and shared participation in celebrations. Copts in Isna sang in processions before bridegrooms at Muslim marriages, while Muslims in Cairo participated in rites associated with Coptic Epiphany and New Year celebrations.[^6]

Such interaction sometimes met official opposition. Al-‘Aziz prohibited the celebration of Epiphany in 978, and al-Hakim did likewise in 1011. Nevertheless, al-Zahir attended the New Year celebrations with his wives in 1025, asking that Muslims and Christians refrain from bathing together in the Nile.[^6]

## Persecution and changing restrictions

Under al-Hakim, churches were destroyed, sectarian violence spread, and thousands of Copts converted to Islam. Some Copts who had been forcibly converted returned to Christianity when conditions eased under al-Zahir.[^7][^8]

During al-Mustansir’s reign, deteriorating relations with Constantinople may have contributed to harsher policies. In 1055–1056, the Fatimids permitted the pillaging of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, churches were closed in Egypt and Syria, and the *jizyah*, or poll tax, increased. The killing of sixty-three monks near al-Ashmunayn in 1066–1067 is attributed instead to regional disorder, rather than directly to the central government.[^9]

Under al-Hafiz, the reaction following the Armenian vizier Bahram’s fall also affected Copts. In 1138, the new vizier Ridwan dismissed numerous officials and revived discriminatory requirements concerning clothing and restrictions on forms of transport.[^10]

## Historical assessments

The accounts differ in emphasis when identifying exceptional periods of persecution. One identifies both al-Hakim’s reign and that of the final caliph, al-‘Adid, as especially tense periods involving persecution. Another describes al-Hakim’s reign as the sole period of sustained persecution and forced conversion under the Fatimids and Ayyubids. These formulations distinguish broader episodes of persecution from sustained persecution accompanied by forced conversion.[^1][^11]

## Sources
[^1]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 225)
[^2]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 675)
[^3]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 225)
[^4]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 226)
[^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 227)
[^6]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 227)
[^7]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 676)
[^8]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 225)
[^9]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 226)
[^10]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 226)
[^11]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 676)