Thoughts on Copts, Muslims, and a World Gone (Temporally) Mad

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  • Sujet délicat: Whose Innocence?: Thoughts on Copts, Muslims, and a World Gone (Temporally) Mad
    http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/7372/whose-innocence_thoughts-on-copts-muslims-and-a-wo

    When I first watched the “film,” or the trailer, or whatever it is, I had little doubt that Copts, or someone quite familiar with Coptic historical meta-narratives, were behind it. Many of the slanderous comments against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in the film are made by all manner of right-wing Christians and Jews, but the Coptic give-away in that 13 minute clip was the bit about the Egyptians believing in one god some five thousand years ago. This is a typical modern move on the part of many Copts and the nineteenth century Orientalist scholarship of things Coptic from which these narratives have frequently drawn authority. If, once upon a time, Egyptian Christians were engaged in the destruction of a pagan Egypt, now they are concerned to show how Christianity in Egypt was the natural evolution of an Egyptian religiosity that already hinted at a triune godhead, resurrection of the dead, and eternal life. This largely has to do with a desire on the part of many Copts to secure their national and Egyptian territorial belonging. Other scenes in the available clip also supported my thinking that Copts might be involved: The scene in which the doctor is educating his daughters (?) on the ways of Muslims shows an image of Jesus that is extremely popular among Copts, an image that I have not seen popularly among other Christians. And the Syrian monk, Bahaira, who makes a later appearance, is an indication that whoever made this “film” 1) has a pretty good sense of contemporary Coptic monastic garb and 2) is aware of the very commonly held view among Copts (but also the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians that I have met) that the Quran was written by a (fallen) Christian monk. People who are aware of Islamic history know that Muhammad had met a Syrian monk called Bahaira. Many Copts hold that this monk is the “true” author of the Quran.