Although we cannot ascertain what the precise beliefs of the invading Arabs were it should be maintained that Islam was the "raison d'etre" [1] of their military organization. As such they had distinguished themselves by 'iman (= faith) from the rest of the world which was regarded kufr [2] (= disacknowledgement [sic] of God [3]). Their arrival in Egypt sparked off the process of islamization in Egypt. Although conversion to Islam throughout the history of Egypt was slow in coming [4] a steady trickle of Copts converting to Islam was inevitable. At times this trickle swelled to a steady or even massive flow of new converts. The islamization of Egypt went through stages which were different in nature and occurred at different junctures in its history.