Al-Muqawqis (, ) is mentioned in

Muslim history Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraham (or ''Allah'') as it ...

as a ruler of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

who corresponded with

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. He is widely identified with the last prefect of Egypt, Cyrus of Alexandria, who was the

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria The Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria has the title Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa. The term "Greek" is a religious identifier and not an ethnic one; while many of these patriarchs were ethnic Greeks, some were Hellenized Egy ...

of the second era of

Byzantine Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, l ...

(628-642). An alternative view identifies al-Muqawqis with the governor of

Sasanian Egypt Sasanian Egypt (known in Middle Persian sources as ''Agiptus'') refers to the brief rule of Egypt and parts of Libya by the Sasanian Empire, following the Sasanian conquest of Egypt. It lasted from 618 to 628, until the Sasanian general Shahrbar ...

, said to be a Greek man named "Kirolos, leader of the Copts", although the Sassanian governor at the time was the military leader named

Shahrbaraz Shahrbaraz (also spelled Shahrvaraz or Shahrwaraz; New Persian: ) was shah (king) of the Sasanian Empire from 27 April 630 to 9 June 630. He usurped the throne from Ardashir III, and was killed by Iranian nobles after forty days. Before usurp ...

. When being presented with the letter of invitation to Islam by Muhammad, he said he couldn’t risk his kingdom, therefore not accepting Islam. He sent the messenger back with several gifts, including two women, and told his servants not to say anything.

Account by Muslim historians

Ibn Ishaq Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...

and other Muslim historians record that sometime between February 628 and 632, Muhammad sent epistles to the political heads of

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

's neighboring regions, both in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

, including to al-Muqawqis:

Al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

states that the delegation was sent in

Dhu al-Hijja Dhu al-Hijjah (also Dhu al-Hijja ) is the twelfth and final month in the Islamic calendar. Being one of the four sacred months during which war is forbidden, it is the month in which the '' Ḥajj'' () takes place as well as Eid al-Adha (). T ...

in the sixth

hijri year The Hijri year () or era () is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins its count from the Islamic New Year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (now Medina) in 622 CE. This event, known as the Hij ...

(April or May 628).

Ibn Sa'd Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd () and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE (168 AH) and di ...

states that the Muqawqis sent his gifts to Muhammad in 7 A.H. (after May 628). This is consistent with his assertion that Maria al-Qibtiyya bore Muhammad's son Ibrahim in late March or April 630, so Maria had arrived in Medina before July 629.

Letter of invitation to Islam

The epistle that Muhammad sent to al-Muqawqis, through his emissary

Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah Hatib Bin Abi Balta'ah () was one of the Companions of the Prophet. He was a veteran of the Battle of Badr and had participated in all the battles with Muhammad. Biography Hatib was a well-built man, with a light beard, slightly stooped, tending ...

, and his reply are both available. The epistle was signed with the

seal of Muhammad Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

. Al-Muqawqis ordered that the letter be placed in an ivory casket to be kept safely in the government treasury. The letter was found in an old Christian monastery among Coptic books in the town of

Akhmim Akhmim (, ; Akhmimic , ; Sahidic/Bohairic ) is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Khemmis or Chemmis () and Panopolis (), it is located on the east bank of the Nile, to the northeast of Sohag. ...

, Egypt and now resides in the Topkapi Palace Museum's Department of Holy Relics after the

Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...

Abdülmecid I Abdülmecid I (, ; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories. Abdülmecid's ...

brought it to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Al-Muqawqis is said to have replied with a letter that read: The two slave-girls mentioned are Maria al-Qibtiyya, whom Muhammad married, and her sister Sirin bint Shamun, whom Hassan ibn Thabit married. It is said that a recluse in the monastery pasted it on his Bible and from there a French Orientalist obtained it and sold it the Sultan for £300. The authenticity of the preserved sample and the elaborate accounts by medieval Islamic historians regarding the events surrounding the letter have also been questioned by modern historians.

Explanation of the name

The word ''muqawqis'' is the Arabized form of Coptic ⲡⲓⲕⲁⲩⲕⲟⲥ, meaning "the man from the Caucasus," an epithet among the

Copts Copts (; ) are a Christians, Christian ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are, like the broader Egyptians, Egyptian population, des ...

for the Melchite patriarch Cyrus, who was seen as a

corrupt Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and

foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

usurper of Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria. The word was subsequently used by Arab writers for some other patriarchs in Alexandria such as George I of Alexandria (''Jurayj ibn Mīnā'' "Georgios son of Menas Parkabios"; alternatively, "Jurayj ibn Mattá").

Film and television depictions

* Al-Muqawqis was portrayed by Egyptian actor

Salah Zulfikar Salah El-Din Ahmed Mourad Zulfikar (, ; 18 January 1926 – 22 December 1993) was an Egyptian actor and film producer. He started his career as a Egyptian National Police, police officer, before becoming an actor in 1956. He is regarded as one o ...

in ''Muhammad, Messenger of Allah to the World'', TV series aired on Egyptian TV in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muqawqis 7th-century Islam Muslim conquest of Egypt 7th-century Egyptian people Egyptian people of Greek descent