Book on Medieval Muslim Interest in Ancient Egypt

This is really interesting. I got a notification on my Google news feed yesterday about the book Egyptology: The Missing Millennium – Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writing by Okasha El Daly. This refutes the standard view I grew up with that the invading Arabs had no interest in Egypt’s ancient history and culture, and that this only revived with emergence of modern Egyptology by Europeans following Napoleon’s invasion and scientific expedition.

However, the standard Islamic view is that the period before the coming of Islam is the jahiliyya, the age of ignorance or dark age, and Muslims are not supposed to be interested in it. It’s why Islamists like Anjem Chaudhary in Britain told a British interviewer a decade or so ago that he wanted the pyramids to be destroyed, and why the Islamic State, when the took Mosul, destroyed the pre-Islamic artefacts in the local museum. Egyptians do have a strong connection to their past. This was shown when one statue of an ancient overseer was dug up, and the Egyptian workmen on the dig called it ‘the headman of our village’ because of its likeness to their village elder. Even so, participation in modern Egyptology could be hazardous. Ghoneim, the first native Egyptian to head the country’s Egyptology department, was assassinated.

Here’s what Amazon says about the book:

Egyptology: The Missing Millennium brings together for the first time the disciplines of Egyptology and Arabic Studies, seeking to overturn the conventional opinion of Western scholars that Moslems/ Arabs had no interest in pre-Islamic cultures.

This book examines a neglected period of a thousand years in the history of Egyptology, from the Moslem annexation of Egypt in the seventh century CE until the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. Concentrating on Moslem writers, as it is usually Islam which incurs blame for cutting Egyptians off from their ancient heritage, the author shows not only the existence of a large body of Arabic sources on Ancient Egypt, but also their usefulness to Egyptology today.

‘Using sources as diverse a sthe accounts of travellers and treasure hunters to books on alchemy, the author shows that the interest in ancient Egyptian scripts continued beyond classical writers, and describes attempts by medieval Arab scholars, mainly alchemists, to decipher the hieroglyph script. He further explores medieval Arab interest in Ancient Egypt, discussing the interpretations of the intact temples, as well as the Arab concept of Egyptian kingship and state administration – including a case study of Queen Cleopatra that shows how the Arabic romance of this queen differs significantly from Western views.

This book will be of great interest to academics and students of archaeology, Arabic studies and Egyptology, as well as anyone with a general interest in Egyptian history.<br><br>

‘This is an impressive piece of work. It deals with a grossly neglected and misunderstood subject -the interest and knowledge of Ancient Egypt on the part of Arabic/ Moslem writers in the Medieval period – and it covers this subject from many aspects.’ Professor Charles Burnett, The Warburg Institute’