Today, the 9th August or the 3rd Misra 1741 AM is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, and today we celebrate and remember the sacrifices and struggles of the Copts as an indigenous people.
One of the most persistent and cancerous misconceptions in conversation about indigeneity – and one reason why critics reject the label of the Copts as indigenous – is the belief that indigeneity is a fixed, immutable label with neat and obvious boundaries, based mainly on stereotypes of indigenous people.
Certainly, it may appear as such because indigenous theories, practices, and groups have emerged from recently colonised groups, where the divide between indigenous communities compared to the colonising people is not only obvious in ethnic/racial differences, but language, religion, and culture.
The Copts are so often ignored or dismissed within indigenous discussions because they are perhaps the most obvious and perfect example of what a truly indigenous group look like hundreds of years after the point of colonisation. The Coptic people were first ‘truly’ colonised with the Arab Invasion beginning on the 12th of December 639 AD, or by Coptic dates the 4th Kiahk 356 AM. I personally believe and argue that the Byzantine/Graeco-Roman imperialism was vastly different from the Arab colonisation due to the level of independence of the Coptic people, where Coptic culture and civilisation flourished in many ways, despite persecution, contra to Arab colonisation, whereby Coptic civilisation suffered immensely in a purposeful attempt to force conversion and assimilation. Since the Copts were colonised in 639 AD, they have thus been living as an indigenous people for nearly 1,400 years. In comparison, many of the modern-day more easily recognised and ‘labelled’ indigenous groups’ first point of contact is around 2-300 years ago.
Thus, the diachronic positioning of Coptic indigeneity has allowed attackers of the Coptic people to claim that they are not truly indigenous, because they do not fit the stereotypes of other indigenous groups from the Americas or Australia, for example.
This however, could not be further from the truth. The Copts have managed to maintain an indigenous identity despite all odds and fully fulfil the requirements to be considered an indigenous group. The Copts continue to embody indigeneity within their identity, in a way that their Muslim counterparts do not.
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) suggests a criterion (you can access here). The Copts fulfil the fundamental criterion:
- Self-identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member.
Copts all identify and know themselves as ‘as’hab al ard al assleyen’/’as’hab al balad al assleyen’. This is the closest phrase in Arabic to the word indigenous (which it must be remembered is a modern Western word, so it does not have an exact translation in Arabic and thus relies on conceptual translation). Even the Orthodox Church publicly acknowledges this. For example, in 2010, Anba Bishoy, the Secretary of the Coptic Synod, stated that Copts are: “Ashab al baled el assleyen”/ أصحاب البلد الأصليين(you can see the reference here ). Many Islamic scholars and Muslim historians also identify the Copts as indigenous.
2. Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies
Copts did not assimilate with the Arabs, despite all odds and expectations. Of course, many converted to Islam (mostly forcibly and coercively, although some did, of course, by choice, albeit a minority), but not the majority. Copts remained tied to the land of Egypt, distinct in their identity from the invading colonial power and retained historical continuity as the pre-colonial society. The Coptic calendar, language, heritage practices, and rituals from birth to death are enacted in historical continuity with the Ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Whilst many Muslims understandably hold national pride in the history of Egypt, it is Copts who have preserved for thousands of years the spirit of Kemet. Copts have popularised some practices, but enacting their history runs deep in all aspects of the Coptic culture and identity.
One beautiful example is the influence of Pharaonic art on Coptic art, most especially Coptic icons. The below beautiful examples come from the art of Fadi Mikhail, who is a neo-Coptic iconographer – you can view and buy his work here. In the icons below, you can clearly see the memory and influence of the Pharaonic Ancient Egyptians on Coptic art and identity.
3. Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources
Copts have strong, centuries-old links to the land of Egypt, distinct from the Muslim majority. Many parts of Coptic heritage are directly tied to the Nile and Holy Sites tied to the land for centuries. For example, the Coptic calendar.
4. Distinct social, economic, or political systems
Perhaps one of the biggest struggles for Copts has been the application of Islamic Sharia law. One issue is that Sharia law is entirely inequitable, exploitative, and torturous to Copts who are considered infidels and placed under dhimmi status historically or as is the current system, subjects Copts to Islamic jurisprudence. The core issue for discussions of indigeneity is that Copts also don’t want to be subject to Islamic law, as they have their own distinct social, economic, and political systems. As every single indigenous group across the globe, systems of living are governed and mediated by their religious or spiritualist systems. For the Copts, the Orthodox Church and the Coptic people maintained pre-colonial and developed their own systems, which they internally apply within the community. Unlike other non-indigenous groups, they, to a certain degree, self-govern in an attempt to maintain their distinct systems. At times, even the government has recognised this, for example, the decades-long problem of Coptic exemption and allowance of a specific Personal Status Law.
5. Distinct Language, Culture, and Beliefs
Perhaps one of the most beautiful and tangible evidence of Coptic identity as a direct continuity of Ancient Egypt and placing the Copts as the modern descendants of the Pharaohs – the Coptic language. Copts have maintained their own language, culture, and beliefs. The Coptic language, the same language spoken by the last Ancient Egyptians, is maintained and taught within the communities and passed on intergenerationally. Whilst there is much to be said about indigenous Coptic culture and beliefs, let us briefly discuss the preservation of the Coptic language.
For instance, a singular example is Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (996-1021 AD), who declared that Copts could not celebrate epiphany or Christmas, banned wine which was used in communion, wear kilos-heavy iron crosses to be identified, and prohibited the use of the Coptic language in homes and public, under threat of cutting Copts’ tongues off. He even personally walked the streets of Cairo to eavesdrop on Coptic-speaking homes to punish Coptic-speaking families. During his reign, Copts lost their majority population status despite being indigenous to the land.
6. Form Non-Dominant Groups of Society
Copts form the non-dominant group of society. Whilst many racist and Christianophobic groups and individuals spread rumours of a secret Coptic plot of superiority or argue that Copts are treated with complete equality to non-Copts in Egypt, this is entirely inaccurate. Copts numerically, are the non-dominant group of Egypt, around 10-15% of the population. But also, in terms of access to political representation and power, and social equity, Copts are systematically discriminated against.
Returning to the point of the article, all of these different metrics of the Coptic indigenous identity only exist because the Coptic people, as a closed community, strived for centuries to protect their identity. Indigeneity is embodied through a clear group consciousness of that identity.
Thus, in the spirit of celebrating ‘World Indigenous People’s Day’, it would do to celebrate the resilience and beauty of the Coptic indigenous identity and community, and also to think of the generations before us that for hundreds of years paid with blood, sweat, and tears to protect and pass on this identity to us today.
