The paper discusses the role and importance of Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (Bishop of al-Ashmunein in the tenth century AD) as a pivotal figure in the history of Arab Christianity and Coptic Arabic literature.
The ideas of the research revolve around the following main points:
The historical context of the Copts of Egypt: the Christian community’s confrontation with a major linguistic transformation after the Arabic language came to prevail in the state, and the loss of the concepts of faith because of the common people’s ignorance of the ancient Coptic language and the isolation of the Church. The contending currents: a struggle between a conservative current that refuses to abandon Coptic and an open current led by ibn al-Muqaffa‘ that realized the necessity of Arabization without surrendering identity or doctrine.
The intellectual and linguistic project of ibn al-Muqaffa‘: his reliance on deep knowledge of philosophy, theology (kalam), and the Bible to transmit the Christian doctrine into Arabic in an understandable language, and his establishment of a solid Arab Christian literature (such as the book “The Precious Pearl in the Elucidation of the Religion”).
Impact and influence: how ibn al-Muqaffa‘ made of the Arabic language a vessel for theological thinking and intellectual dialogue, thereby preventing the isolation of Christians, and offering a balanced model for combining authenticity and openness.
Keywords: Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘, Coptic Arabic Christian literature, the Arabization of the Church, the history of the Copts, Arab Christian theological thought, the Arab Christian heritage.
Introduction:
They no longer hear mention of the Trinity among them except rarely, nor is there mention of the Son of God among them except by way of metaphor; rather, the most that they hear [is] that God is One, Eternal (Samad), and the rest of this talk that others say. The believers grew accustomed to it and were brought up on it, until it became difficult for them to mention the Son of God, and they know no interpretation for it and no meaning. Most of them, when they hear “the Son of God” and “the Son of the Virgin Mary,” suppose that His beginning was from the Virgin Mary — just as others suppose about us that we say that — and they do not know that He was eternal with God, born of Him before Mary and before the ages; for God was never without Him, because He is His Son and His eternal Word with Him, who never ceased and never ceases.”
In the introduction to the tenth chapter of the same book he says:
“You mentioned, my beloved, that the Copts in this time have multiplied among them the various sayings concerning the Orthodox faith, and that one of them holds a view that no one else holds, and declares the other an infidel; and that you are astonished at this and bewildered. Do not be astonished at this, for the reason for it is their ignorance of their language; for the Arabic language prevailed over them, and no one of them remained who understands what is read to him in the church in the Coptic language; so they came to hear without understanding. For this reason the knowledge of the Christian doctrine, which first prevailed over all the tribes of the Christians, was lost among them.”
The contending currents in the Church:
After the entry of the Islamic state and the consolidation of its foundations in the Egyptian Coptic geography, the new Arab state began a movement to Arabize the state bureaus (dawawin), like all the states that settled in this land. In the face of this new movement, the Church found itself before a great challenge: should it move to writing in Arabic, or preserve its language and the language of the Coptic liturgy? Thus two currents appeared: a conservative current that works to preserve the Coptic language rigidly, its use and writing in it; and another current open to Arabic, whose adherents realized that history is here at a crossroads, and that it is no longer useful to remain in the past — that we must walk with the great change. So ibn al-Muqaffa‘ was among the adherents of the current open to Arabic.
Dr. Salah Eid says: “Perhaps this tendency — the current of integration adopted by Sawirus and those who followed his path afterward — walked with Arabization without sacrificing the identity and the religious particularity.” And George Ishaq says: “ibn al-Muqaffa‘ called for the use of the Arabic language so that the Christians would not be isolated or the Church imprisoned.”
ibn al-Muqaffa‘ as a link between ecclesiastical Coptic and Arabic:
I say here “ecclesiastical Coptic,” and not Coptic, because there is no Christian language in the sense of a language particular to Christianity; rather, it is the language of some community in some geographical region — just as Greek was the language of the Christians in Syria and Lebanon, for example, and Latin in the West. What I mean here by ecclesiastical Coptic is the Coptic that carried the faith of a Christian community in Egypt. Thus, more clearly, ibn al-Muqaffa‘ was the link between the Coptic Christian heritage and the new Arabic. The time in which he lived, as we said before, is the time when Arabic began to prevail as thought, administration, and rule; and when he realized that history has changed and that reality will not go backward, he realized the necessity of expressing the Christian faith and its history within the linguistic and cultural framework understandable to Arabic speakers — Muslims and Christians who had abandoned Coptic. Through his writings, Sawirus worked to preserve the essence of the Coptic doctrine while presenting it in an intellectual and methodical style consistent with the traditions of the Arabic language and its keys. His writings were not a mere literal transmission of ancient Coptic sources, but a reformulation of Christian thought in a conscious way that allows the transmission of Christian thought to the table of dialogue and disputation and the confrontation of the prevailing thought.
After the introduction of the book, Sawirus takes up the subject of faith in the one God, who
“we know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one essence, one nature, and one being.” The only argument that the writer of the text presents is “we only say that He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” because “the Gospel informed us” of that. The writer describes God as “active, self-subsistent, eternal, enduring, everlasting (sarmadi).” Then he explains the meaning of the Christians’ saying that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, saying: “We hold that this Creator is living and speaking; His utterance is His Word, and His life is His Spirit.” This means, according to the writer, that the Son and the Holy Spirit are of the very being, essence, and nature of the Father. For this reason the writer says, distinguishing between the eternal, uncreated Word of God and the speech of human beings, which is created speech, that “the speech of the Creator (blessed and exalted be He) is not like the transient, perishable speech of human beings, whose cause is the mixing of air with sound; rather, His utterance (blessed and exalted be He) is an essential, substantial utterance whose cause is the essence itself.”
In this way he contributed to preserving the Coptic culture in a phase of deep linguistic and social transformations, making clear that the use of Arabic does not mean surrendering Christ, but is a means of proclaiming His presence in Arabic. Here the role of ibn al-Muqaffa‘ stands out as one of the builders of Christian awareness, and a bridge that carried the Christians from one shore to another, without any doctrinal surrender.
The contribution of Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘ to the emergence of Coptic Arabic Christian literature
By taking the open side of history toward Arabic, and working in Arabic, ibn al-Muqaffa‘ was able in his era to make of Arabic a vessel for theological thinking and a ship that carries the faith to the shores of the Arabs. Thus he baptized Arabic, just as his predecessors had baptized Coptic and Greek, and Arabic came to contain words of Christian meaning, and his books were the fruits of this baptism; for he wrote dozens of books, such as:
- On the Union
- The Resplendent, on the refutation of the Jews and the Mu‘tazila
- The Eloquent, on the like of that
- On the refutation of Sa‘id ibn Batriq the Melkite, the patriarch known as ibn al-Farrash, the author of the history.
- The Explanation and Elucidation, on the refutation of Nestorius and his sect
- A Treatise on the Religion, which he wrote to ibn al-Yaman Qazman ibn Mina the scribe
- The Arrangement of the Jewel and the Pearl, on the refutation of the doctrine of predestination (qada’ and qadar)
- The Field (al-Majal)
- The Medicine of the Mouth and the Healing of Sorrow (the refinement of morals).
- The influence of ibn al-Muqaffa‘ on the present of Christians and their thinking.
The influence of Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘ in our present time is embodied in the intellectual model he presented for the creative interaction between faith and culture. Through his writings in Arabic he established an approach that shows how a religious community can preserve its fidelity to its heritage while, at the same time, consciously engaging in the prevailing cultural context. This approach still inspires today the Coptic thinkers and the Christians in the Middle East who seek to express their faith in the language of the age and its questions.
without surrendering the doctrinal constants; and his writings constitute an essential reference for understanding the development of Coptic theology, ecclesiastical history, and Christian–Islamic relations, which grants them contemporary academic and theological importance. In addition, Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘ offers a living example of the balance between reason and tradition, an example of the utmost importance in an age in which the questions of identity, shared living, and religious dialogue are renewed.
Conclusion
Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘ is regarded as a prominent figure whose works and influence continued across the centuries. He succeeded in linking the Coptic heritage with Arab culture, and worked to evangelize the language of faith, thereby preserving Christian thought and renewing its presence in a changing social and linguistic environment. His writings represent a living model of the balance between faith, reason, and cultural engagement, which shows how to safeguard the faith while participating in dialogue with the other in a broader, stronger, and more present manner. His legacy remains today an inspiration for contemporary reflection on theology, identity, and interreligious dialogue, and for how to transmit the faith to the whole world without fear or disturbance. The contributions of Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘ confirm that a deep adherence to tradition can harmonize with openness to cultural and intellectual development, making him a compass in our hands to direct our thought today and our convictions, to reach the other and convey Christ to him.
References
- The ancient Arab Christian heritage: Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa‘, the Ecclesiastical Institute of the Latin Patriarchate, no date, date accessed 14/12/2025, to view it https://2u.pw/dKVz3n
- Sawirus, ibn al-Muqaffa‘, The Precious Pearl in the Elucidation of the Religion, (Cairo, the Sons of Pope Cyril VI, no year).
- Hazimah, Yusuf, “A dialogue with Eid Salah: the interaction between the two Arab heritages, the Christian and the Islamic,” Muminun Bila Hudud (Believers Without Borders), publication date 2 July 2020, date accessed 12/12/2025, to view it: https://2u.pw/kAoi9T
- Farès, Robert, George Ishaq — in the tenth century “ibn al-Muqaffa‘” called for the use of the Arabic language so that the Christians would not be isolated or the Church imprisoned, the Portal of Islamic Movements, publication date 18 November 2025, date accessed 14/12/2025, to view: https://www.islamist-movements.com/72416
- Khalil, Samir. The book The Lamp of the Intellect, the series The Arab Christian Heritage (Cairo, Dar al-Alam al-Arabi, 1978), the second chapter.