Introduction
In the history of the Coptic church, the Mamluk period (ad 1250‑1517) is characterized by intensified persecutions due to regional and religious tensions. During this time, some Copts chose to convert to Islam to avoid discrimination or to attain a better social status. The persecution of 1354 is widely considered to be “a turning point in Egyptian religious history”, on the basis of the accounts provided by the historian al-Maqrīzī (d. 1442) of mass conversions, due both to loss of income and to the destruction of churches. Nevertheless, and despite the ongoing background of persecution, we find a very different perspective in the accounts of monastic life in Upper Egypt provided by two Copto-Arabic hagiographies of the period, the Life and Miracles of Murqus al-Anṭūnī (hereafter, the Life of Murqus) and the Life and Miracles of Ibrahīm (Abraʾām) al-Fānī (hereafter, the Life of Ibrahīm): these works portray a thriving monastery filled with monks leading traditional a...


