Coptica v. 16 2017

Fakhr al-Dawlah ibn al-Muʾtaman

83

And thus, in the literature of the Coptic Church we have a wide spectrum of representation of the religious Other: there are texts that draw the sharpest possible contrasts between Christians and Muslims, often in un- nuanced and offensive ways; and there are texts that go to considerable lengths to avoid offense and that tend to portray Christians and Muslims as, essentially, in the same boat. What I want to do in the pages that follow is to look at a particular body of literature that I have been reading for a number of years, and think about what it contributes to this spectrum of representation. The literature in question centers on the patriarchate of Matthew I (the 87 th patriarch, 1378-1408), the only pope of the Mamlūk period to have a substantial biography in The History of the Patriarchs . 9 In addition to the Life of Matthew, we possess the Lives and Miracles of three holy men who were his contemporaries: the monk Marqus al-Anṭūnī (Abba Mark of the Monastery of St. Antony, d. 1386); 10 his disciple al-qummuṣ Ibrāhīm al-Fānī (the hegoumenos Abraʾām, d. 1396); 11 and the strange holy man best known as Anbā Ruways (Furayj, Abba Tegi, d. 1404). 12 I shall also mention a monk and theologian of the period, al-Makīn Jirjis known as Ibn al-ʿAmīd, who in the 1390s produced a huge theological and ecclesiastical compilation known as al-Ḥāwī . 13 I shall share a few passages from this literature, in the hope that they will provide some insight into the ways the literature characterizes some of the Muslim characters who come into its pages. 9 Most of the Life of Matthew is preserved in The History of the Patriarchs . See History of the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church, known as The History of the Holy Church, by Sawîrus ibn al-Muḳaffaʿ, Bishop of al-Ašmûnîn , Vol. III, Part III, Cyril II – Cyril V (A.D. 1235-1894) , ed. Antoine Khater and O.H.E. Khs-Burmester (Cairo: Société d’Archéologie Copte, 1970), 136-58 (Arabic text), 235-71 (English translation). (I shall refer to this volume below as HPEC 3.3.) For more detail, see my entry for “The Life of Patriarch Matthew I” in CMR 5:396-401. 10 I am using a copy of the Life and (34) Miracles of Marqus al-Anṭūnī preserved in MS Monastery of St. Paul, hist. 115 (1700 CE). See my entry for “The Life and Miracles of Marqus al-Anṭūnī” in CMR 5:203-6. 11 I am using a copy of the Life of Abraʾām al-Fānī preserved in MSMonastery of St. Antony, hist. 69 (formerly hist. 75) (1700 CE). See my entry for “The Life of the Hegumenos Abraʾām al-Fānī” in CMR 5:226-28. 12 I am using a copy of the Life and (14) Miracles of Furayj, known as Ruways preserved in MS Paris ar. 282, ff. 82v-143r (European folio numbers) (1650-1 CE). See my entry for “The Life and Miracles of Anbā Ruways” in CMR 5:287-90. 13 Printed edition: al-Mawsūʿah al-lāhūtiyyah al-shahīrah bi-l-Ḥāwī l-Ibn al-Makīn , edited by a monk of Dayr al-Muḥarraq, 4 vols. (Cairo: Dayr al-Muḥarraq, 1999-2001). For more detail on the author and his work, see Adel Sidarus and Mark N. Swanson, “Al-Makīn Jirjis ibn al- ʿAmīd,” CMR 5:254-61.