Encyclopedia of Islam

Egypt

 

(Official name: Arab Republic  

of Egypt)

Today’s Arab Republic of Egypt is the most popu-

lous country in the Arab world at 81.7 million 

residents (2008 est.), of whom probably 90 to 94 

percent are Sunni Muslims, with the remaining 6 

to 10 percent Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts. 

It has an area of 386,258 square miles, which 

Girls’ school in Upper Egypt 

(Juan E. Campo)

K  210  

Egypt

---

makes it about the size of Texas and New Mexico 

combined. Egypt is said to be “the gift of the 

Nile,” the great African river that bisects the coun-

try from south to north. The Nile drains into the 

Mediterranean Sea via the delta, which fans out 

northward from c

airo

. Egypt shares borders with 

s

Udan

 to the south, l

ibya

 to the west, and i

srael

and Gaza to the northeast. Its eastern limits are 

defined by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.

Modern Egypt’s government is based in the 

capital city of Cairo and consists of a very strong 

presidency, a parliament made up of a more impor-

tant lower people’s assembly and a less significant 

advisory council, as well as a fairly independent 

judicial system. Islam, according to the constitu-

tion amended in 1980, is the official religion of 

the state, and Islamic law (

sharia

) is proclaimed 

to be “the principle source of legislation” (Article 

2). Egypt’s economy is heavily reliant on agricul-

ture, most of which goes to the domestic market. 

The major earners of hard currency are tourism, 

remittances from Egyptians working abroad, and 

oil exports.

In ancient times, Egypt was one of several 

cradles of world civilization and one of the major 

world powers. Egypt was part of the Roman 

Empire, ruled from Constantinople, when it was 

conquered by the Muslim armies in 641–642. For 

the first several centuries, Egypt’s prime impor-

tance for the Islamicate empire, with its capital in 

m

edina

,  d

amascUs

, or b

aghdad

, was as a source 

of grain and of surplus wealth to be extracted in 

taxes. By the 10th century, however, the Abbasid 

Empire was weakening, and Egypt was becoming 

more independent. The foreign F

atimid

 

dynasty

of Ismaili Shiite persuasion, conquered Egypt in 

969, founded Cairo in 970, and made Egypt the 

center of a 

caliphate

 to rival that of Baghdad. Two 

dynasties followed, the Ayyubids (1171–1250) 

and the m

amlUk

s (1250–1517), both contributing 

greatly to making Egypt a great center of learning, 

culture, and power. a

l

-a

zhar

, originally founded 

by the Fatimids as the center of their missionary 

efforts, eventually came to be the foremost center 

of Sunni learning. The first Ayyubid ruler, s

ala

-

din

 (d. 1193), was responsible for defeating the 

crusaders and retaking J

erUsalem

. The Mamluks 

saved Egypt and Syria from the onslaught of the 

Mongols, who had already destroyed Baghdad 

and many of the cities in eastern Islamicate lands. 

In 1517, however, Egypt came under the control 

of the Ottomans, the last universal Islamicate 

empire.

Napoleon wrested Egypt from the largely 

nominal rule of the Ottomans in 1798. His domin-

ion lasted only three years, but the shock of the 

massive defeat suffered by the Ottoman troops 

Downtown Cairo and the Nile River, as seen from the 

Jazira Tower, looking southward. The Cairo Opera is in 

the foreground. 

(Juan E. Campo)