Ancient Religion To Modern Islam

Ancient Religion:
In ancient Egypt when a sculpture or picture was made of a person, plant or animal, it was believed that their spirit had the ability to inhabit that item.  Writing to them came from the gods and was to be revered and carefully used.  Once something was written, it took on the spirit of who the writing was about. 

A lot is known about the priest of Egypt.  “for example, the funerary cult of Neferirkare (Dynasty 5) had between two hundred and fifty and three hundred individuals associate with it.”[1]  Priest were everywhere within the culture of Egypt.  The priest of Egypt were part-time, many of them had a trade as well as being the priest in the area. 

The Wall at Karnak as pictured within this blog, shows the great detail taken to represent the realm of the gods.  Egyptians believed that the gods could literally jump from one image to the next.  Therefore, you could at any moment be in the presence of the gods.  The gods were believed to be as humans and needed to be fed and glorified.  Thus the temples were constantly being filled with food to appease the gods. 

It is interesting to note that one of the pictures shows them carrying the god.  This would make the belief that the Jews carrying the Arch of God through the wilderness as common, especially, since they would have been exposed to this in Egypt.  Where we see this as maybe strange in our day and age, this would have been something the Egyptian did with their gods; therefore, for the Jews to do it with their God would have not seemed strange to them.

Oracles were a huge part of Egyptian society. These oracles would speak for the gods in making decisions and providing answers to legal matters. The Egyptians were a very religious group of people and that is still evident in all the temples which are all over the country.

Modern Religion:

The Muslim world in Egypt was more than likely started by people who would pass through on their way to Mecca.  However, the Muslim army would enter and conquer Alexandria between 639 A.D. and 640 A.D. Amr was one of Mohammed's favored leaders. He led the battle into Egypt and conquered Egypt. With the Romans defeated, Muslims moved into Egypt and conquered the cities and built Mosques.  Amr built the first one in Egypt in 642 A.D.  He was actually welcomed by the Copts were glad to be rid of the Roman heathens and welcomed the Muslim army into their country.  Now Islam is the religion of Egypt, with Coptic Orthodox Church having a small percentage of followers to date.  This group considered themselves to be descended from John Mark of the book of Mark and was established in A.D. 1 or 2.  Egypt is considered on paper to allow religions; however, they have continued to have persecution between the Muslims and Christians since the Muslims are the ones in the power to make the laws.

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[1] Teeter, Emily. Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt. West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2011. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 16 July 2015.

Ark carried in an Egyptian procession.

Wall of Karnak

The Mosque of Amr

Bibliography:

Alfred J., Butler. The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of Roman Dominion. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Teeter, Emily. Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt. West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2011. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 16 July 2015.

Pictures:

http://www.bible-history.com/ibh/Egyptian+Stone+Reliefs/Processions/Ark+Carried+on+Poles+by+Egyptians+in+Procession

http://www.britannica.com/topic/hieroglyphic-writing/images-videos/Hieroglyphics-on-a-temple-wall-at-Karnak-Egypt/162627

http://www.ask-aladdin.com/Egypt-Sites/islamic_monuments/amromosque.html