Thread by @MENAactivist

Who are the Egyptian Copts?
A Thread:

The Egyptian Copts are an Ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who primarily inhabit modern Egypt.

- They are also known as Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christians.
- They belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria which is an Oriental Orthodox Church.

- The Copts are the largest ethnic and religious minority in Egypt as well as the largest Christian population in the Middle East, North Africa, and all of the Arab world.
- 10-15% of the Egyptian population is Coptic, that is approximately 15-18 million Egyptians.

Connections with Ancient Egyptians:

- Ancient Egyptians were Eastern Hamites.
- Almost all modern day Egyptians are descendants of Hamitic Ancient Egyptians. However, pharaonic heritage is most salient among the Copts & Fellahin because they were the least likely to Miscegenate.

- The Coptic language originated directly from Demotic (700 BC-AD 400), which originated from Late Egyptian, Middle Egyptian, Old Egyptian, and Archaic Egyptian (before 2600 BC).
- These are the exact languages the ancient Egyptians spoke.

Coptic Language:

- Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian were all written using both the hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts.
- The Coptic alphabet was meant to transcribe Demotic texts using the Greek alphabet, adapted for Egyptian phonology.

- With the spread of Christianity in Egypt, by the late 3rd century, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost, as well as Demotic slightly later.
- Coptic is now considered to be an extinct language but it is still spoken in the church as well as by many members of the church.

Religious History

- The Coptic people by blood are purely an ethnic group, therefore they are older than Christianity itself.
- They were first converted to Christianity in approximately 62 AD and now the church is the only thing left to represent/distinguish them.

- The Coptic Church was established by Saint Mark, an apostle, evangelist, the author of The Gospel of Mark and one of Jesus’ seventy disciples.
- Arab Muslim came to Egypt in the 630s AD.
- The Muslims laid siege to Alexandria in March 641 AD thus resulting in the fall of Egypt.

- By the 10th and 14th century (901-1400 AD) Arab Muslims became the majority.
- Churches were destroyed, books burnt and elders imprisoned.
- The Copts had become dhimma, non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection.

- As dhimma, Native Egyptians (the Copts ) were not allowed to worship freely nor have the same protection as Muslims unless they paid the jizya poll tax and land tax.
- They were even forced to wear heavy crosses around their necks until their skin became blue.

- They had to wear different colours and clothes from Muslims.
- They could not build new places of worship or repair old ones without permission, or construct them in such a way as to overshadow those of Muslims.

Modern History:

- in 2018, Copts face heightened persecution and marginalization as their churches get systematically attacked and as there is not a single Copt appointed on Egypt's government cabinet, nor serving as a governor.

- The government does not officially recognize conversions from Islam to Christianity.
- Certain interfaith marriages are illegal. Even someone who converts to Christianity can’t marry a by-born Christian...

as a result children of Christian converts are classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education.
- The government still requires permits for repairing churches or building new ones.
- Church attacks are so prevalent, all churches have metal detectors.

- Coptic women and girls are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men. Girls as young as six years old have been victims.

- Because of the anti-women radical trend in the Middle East, Coptic women are categorized as Crusaders, sharameet (prostitutes), lewd and are “willing to be raped”
- Copts are constantly being murdered for the religious beliefs, by other civilians and by law enforcement.

- They've been subject to numerous terrorist attacks by both Daesh (ISIS) and Muslim Brotherhood.
- There have been instances where the Muslim Brotherhood has attacked 58 churches and 160 Christian buildings all in one week.

- ISIS has “Declared war against Coptic Christians”, kidnaped, murdered and massacred countless Copts.
- These attacks are the worst violence against the Coptic Church since the 14th century, and there is virtually no media attention towards it.

Coptic Identity:

- Copts are classified as an Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian and Eastern Hamites (Not Semites)
- The term Copt designates the native population of Egypt, as opposed to the various invaders or settlers (Greeks, Romans, etc.) who came to Egypt from other countries.

- Copts are not Arab by bloodline nor history, therefore few identify as Arab. However, everyone identifies differently.
- While an integral part of their society, Copts remained culturally and religiously distinct from their surrounding.

- A genuine Copt is someone who is Native Egyptian by ancestry AND a member of the Coptic Church.
- However, there are ethnicity only Copts, just as there are religion only Copts.
- Ethnoreligious Copts also include Sudanese Copts, Libyan Copts, Ethiopian Copts & Eritrean Copts.

Since you’re all here…I’m trying to start up an Instagram account that focuses on Middle Eastern & North African topics. As a Copt myself, this will be a major focus but I’d appreciate it if you could give it a follow as I literally have 0 followers 😅

instagram.com/menactivist

I wanted to add, this is one of the reasons the Hotep ideology is problematic as it completely neglects the mistreatment, history, and existence of actual indigenous Egyptians.

If there’s one thing you should take to heart, it’s this:

Egyptian Copts are Native.
Egyptian Copts are Indigenous.
We are what’s left of the Ancient Egyptians and we are fighting to stay alive.