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The widely held view that Cyrus of Alexandria was the Muqawqis that the Islamic prophet Muhammad corresponded with is based on untenable assumptions when one considers all the historical facts, given below. It is more likely that al-Muqawqis, briefly mentioned in Islamic History , was the Sassanid governor of Egypt just before Egypt was retaken by Heraclius . TIMELINE 610 AD. Heraclius is crowned for the second time. 616 AD. Sassanid Persians begin their offensive against the Byzantines. After 616 AD. Heraclius starts reforms and comes up with the idea of establishing administrative units (Themes) under the command of a Strategos (military and civil governor). According to Encyclopædia Britannica , he granted, "his generals (strategoi) both civil and military authority over those lands that they occupied with their "themes," as the army groups, or corps, were called in the first years of the 7th century." June 619 AD. Persian conquest of Alexandria is completed, according to an anonymous Jacobite Syriac chronicle. {Link without Title} 620 AD. Cyrus of Alexandria becomes the bishop of Phasis in Colchis . 622 AD. Heraclius starts his counter offensive against the Persians. 627/628 AD. Heraclius defeats the Persians. Historians say that he "re-conquered" Egypt in 629. February 628 AD. Treaty of Hudaybiya . Feb. 628 to 632 AD: According to Ibn Ishaq and other Muslim historians, Muhammad sends out letters to non-Muslim Arab and non-Arab foreign leaders, including to al-Muqawqis: "The apostle (Muhammad) had sent out some of his companions in different directions to the kings of the Arabs and the non-Arabs inviting them to Islam in the period between al-Hudaybiya and his death... {Link without Title} sent...Hatib b. Abu Baitah to al-Muqawqis ruler of Alexandria. He handed over to him the apostle's letter and the Muqawqis gave to the apostle four slave girls, one of whom was Mary (Mariah) mother of Ibrahim the apostle's son..." 8 A.H. 629-April 19, 630 AD in the month of Dhu alHijah, Mariah gives birth to Ibrahim, Muhammad's son. Tabari, Volume IX. 630 AD Heraclius restores the True Cross to Jerusalem. 630 AD. Cyrus of Alexandria is promoted by Heraclius to the vacant See Of Alexandria . 632 AD. Muhammad dies. Summary The important date that one needs to look at is 8 A.H. (May, 629-April 19, 630 AD) as per Tabari , the year Ibrahim was born. If one assumes that Ibrahim was born towards the end of April 630 AD then nine months earlier, by July 629 AD, Mariah was definitely in Medina. Therefore, the letter that Muhammad sent was written sometime in between February 628 and July 629 AD--the time when Mariah arrived in Medina. This is exactly the same period when Persian occupation of Egypt was ending and Heraclius was about to recapture Egypt. LETTER OF INVITATION TO ISLAM The letter that Muhammad sent to the al-Muqawqis, through his emissary Hatib Ibn Abu Baitah , and his reply are both available but their authenticity is questionable. The letter read: ''To Muqawqis, Vicegerent of Egypt'' ''Peace be on him who has taken the right course. Thereafter, I invite you to accept Islam. Therefore, if you want security, accept Islam. If you accept Islam, Allah, the Sublime, shall reward you doubly. But if you refuse to do so, responsibility for the transgression of the entire nation shall be yours.'' ''0 people of the Book! Leaving aside all matters of difference and dispute, agree on a matter which is equally consistent between you and us and it is that we should not worship anyone except Allah and that we should neither associate anyone with Him, nor make anyone else as our god.'' ''If you refuse it, you must know that we, in all circumstances, believe in Oneness of Allah.'' ''Seal: Allah's Prophet Muhammad'' Al-Muqawqis ordered that the letter should be placed in an ivory casket, to be kept safely in the government treasury, and he sent the following reply: ''From Muqawqis'' ''I read your letter and understood what you have written. I know that the coming of a Prophet is still due. But I thought, he would be born in Syria -- I have treated your messenger with respect and honor. I am sending two maids for you as presents. These maids belong to a very respectable family amongst us. In addition I send for you clothes and a Duldul (steed) for riding. May Allah bestow security on you.'' The two maids mentioned where Maria Al-Qibtiyya and her sister Sirin. Muhammad's letter to Muqawqis, was eventually preserved in the Christian Monastery of Akhmim in Egypt . There a Recluse pasted it on his Bible. The letter was written on a parchment. From there a French Orientalist obtained it and sold it to Sultan Abdul Majeed Khan of Turkey, for a consideration of 300 Pounds. The Sultan had the letter fixed in a golden frame and had it preserved in the treasury of the royal palace, along with other sacred relics. Some Muslim scholars have affirmed that the letter was written by Abu Bakr . WHY THE LETTER WAS NOT WRITTEN BY CYRUS OF ALEXANDRIA This letter, if authentic, could not possibly have been written by Cyrus of Alexandria for the following reasons: 1. Cyrus did not become the See until 630 AD, after Heraclius had recaptured Egypt. After the Persian invasion, "The Coptic patriarch Andronicus remained in the country, experiencing and witnessing suffering as a result of the occupation (Evetts, 1904, p. 486 ll. 8-11). His successor in 626, Benjamin I, remained in office well beyond the end of the occupation; during his time the Sassanians moderated their policy to a certain extent." {Link without Title} 2. Why would a Christian bishop send two Christian ladies, belonging to noble Coptic families, as slaves to a non-Christian ruler? It were the Persians who had been killing men and enslaving women, and it is highly unlikely that immediately after regaining freedom, Christians started shipping out their women to foreign rulers as slaves. Benjamin I was also not in a position to send the gift of two lovely slaves to a foreign leader under the watchful eyes of Persian occupiers. 3. Why would a Christian bishop believe in the prophecy of a new prophet and say that he was expecting the prophet to arrive in Shaam (Syria/Palestine)? Christians believe in the Second Coming, not in the arrival of a new prophet. If al-Muqawqis was indeed a Coptic Patriarch, Cyrus of Alexandria or Benjamin 1, one would expect him to reaffirm his faith in Jesus Christ. 4. Why would the Muqawqis use the phrase "who (are held) in high regard by the Copts" and not "who are held in high regard among us?" Now, there is some controversy over the exact wording of Muqawqis's letter, and some translate the message as "These maids belong to a very respectable family amongst us." However, the Arabic text says, "who among the Copts..." Taking Islamic history as is, the only logical explanation is that "Muqawqis" was not a Coptic Patriarch but was the Persian governor during the last days of the Persian occupation of Egypt. There must have been an abundance of Alexandrine women left after the massacre. "Severus b. al-Moqaffa...also reported that in Alexandria every man between the ages of eighteen and fifty years had been brutally massacred (Evetts, 1904, pp. 485 l. 10-486 l. 3)." {Link without Title} So from among the captive women, it seems that the Muqawqis took two Coptic sisters and sent them to Muhammad as gifts, realizing that the Byzantines were gaining ground and would soon re-take Alexandria. One possible reason that the Sasanian governor was kind towards Muhammad is that it is alleged that Christian Arabs assisted in Persian victory over the Byzantines, and al-Muqawqis simply wanted to reward Muhammad whom he saw as one of the Arab kings. "According to a Nestorian Syriac chronicle attributed to Elias, bishop of Merv (?), Alexandria was taken by treachery. The traitor was a Christian Arab who came from the Sassanian-controlled northeastern coast of Arabia." {Link without Title} DIALOG WITH MUGHEERA IBN SHU'BA Al-Muqawqis, like Caesar , also had a dialogue with Mugheera Ibn Shu'ba , before Mugheera became a Muslim. Mugheera said: :''"Once I went to the court of Muqawqis, who inquired of me, about the family of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.). I informed him that he belonged to a high and noble family. Muqawqis remarked that Prophets always belong to noble families. Then he asked if I had an experience of the truthfulness of the Prophet (S.A.W.). I told that he always spoke the truth. Therefore, in spite of our opposition to him, we call him Ameen (truth worthy). Muqawqis observed that a man who did not speak lies to men, how could he speak a lie about Allah? Then he inquired what sort of people were his followers and what did the Jews think of him. I replied that his followers were mostly poor, but the Jews were his bitter enemies. Muqawqis stated that the followers of the Prophets in the beginning are usually poor, and that he must be a, Prophet of Allah. He further stated that the Jews opposed him out of envy and jealousy, otherwise they must have been certain of his, truthfulness and that they too awaited a Prophet. The Messiah (A.S.) also preached that following and submitting to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) was essential and that whatever qualities of his had been mentioned, the same were the qualities of the earlier Prophets. |
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