Egypt declared Islam the state religion in the 1971 constitution, the largest sect is Sunnis. Sunnis Islam is one of the larges groups of Islam, the difference between the two sections of Islam Sunni and Shia is the disagreement over the choice of Muhammad's successor. About 90% of the population in Egypt is Muslim while the remaining 10% is made up of mostly Christians. Although the constitution does allow for religious freedom the government has a long history with suppressing those rights. One of the codes within the constitution prohibits religious practices that conflict Islamic law, so allowing religious freedom is still very limited within Egypt. Since most of the people in Egypt are Muslim a majority of the capital city Cairo is made up of Muslim people too, their are numerous mosques all over the city ranging from small local mosques to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun the largest in the city, religion pervades most of the life in Egypt, even closing schools on Fridays to recognize the Muslim holy day. But Egypt has not always been a land of Muslim believers, over the years Egypt has seen many prophets and religions pass through its borders.
Ancient Religion
Religion in Egypt's history is complex with a broad system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were a major aspect of social and political life in Egypt. We are all very familiar with the pharaohs of Egypt. The center of the religion focused on Gods who were present in life and controlled all forces of nature; weather, motherhood, agriculture. The people of ancient Egypt's formal religion were set around the pharaoh, the pharaoh was the link between the people and the gods. This religion is what formed the many monuments and statues in which people from all over the world come to visit, the religious history of Egypt stretched over 3,000 years before we see the transition into the now Muslim country we see today. The transition was slow, and started prominently between 1650-1550 BC when increased contact with the outside people led to the adoption of many new religious beliefs, and then as Egypt grew weaker with foreigners seizing the country and assuming position of pharaoh, the title of pharaoh began to decline and emphasis on other religions began to dominate the culture.
Religious Myths
Many myths have risen from ancient Egypt ones of great gods swooping down and saving the nation or at sometimes even handing out punishments. Pharaohs were seen as the connection between the Gods and the people they were half human half god, and the many drawings and monuments of ancient Egypt show just those descriptions. Egypt lay very close to the Mediterranean world and many of the artifacts have been well preserved to help tell the stories of the time, one of the most well known myths is one that even Hollywood movies have emphasized "The Contending of Horus and Seth" the story depicts a jealous brother murdering to gain control of a nation. Seth believed because of his wisdom he should become the next leader for he had been the one in charge of guarding the ship of Ra as it sailed through monster territory, Isis the goddess of motherhood pushed for her son Horus to be the king and carry his father's legacy. The story tells of battle between the family were Isis loses her head and Horus his eyes. We see many of these depictions of the story not only in Hollywood films but also in the artwork throughout Egypt, the eye of Horus is one of the most renown images of Egyptian culture and statues of Isis headless are in numerous temples. The myths tell many stories of betrayal and conquest but overall show how many of the beliefs of greatness were spread. In Christianity we have many stories of prophets reaching extraordinary limits, Moses partying the Red Sea, Jesus turning water to wine and many other examples that show the power of our God. The myths of Egypt are no different they tell the stories of greatness and how these pharaoh and gods were everything but ordinary.
Religious Impact
Egypt was Christianized during the first century C.E., when the country was part of the Roman Empire, Coptic Christianity claimed direct descent from ancient Egyptians. The foreigners who came into the area had the largest impact on religion within Egypt, during a time of weakness Christianity took hold of the people and grew when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 4th century C.E. Although Coptic traditions differed from that in Rome held strong in Egypt for over 150 years when the next wave of religion took hold on Egypt. By 647 C.E. all of Egypt was under Islamic rule, and then not too long after Coptic Christians became a minority.
sources:
"The Eye Of Horus, by Moffarammes." Moffarammes. September 16, 2011. Accessed April 2017. https://moffarammes.bandcamp.com/album/the-eye-of-horus.
Baines, John R. "Ancient Egyptian religion." Encyclopædia Britannica. June 29, 2016. Accessed April 2017. http://www.britannica.com/topic/ancient-Egyptian-religion.
Belcher, Stephen. African Myths of Origin. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2005.
Reader, John. Africa: a biography of the continent. New York: Vintage, 1999
Quirke, Stephen. Exploring religion in ancient Egypt. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
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