This extraordinary original document has been revised into English via an Internet-based medieval sourcebook. I selected this particular document because of our in-depth study of the rise of Islam and its movements in the Arab and Western world. The author of the original Coptic (hieroglyphic form of writing) piece entitled The Accounts of the Arab Conquest of Egypt, 642, was a bishop of al-Ashmunein in Upper Egypt, between al-Minya and Assiut, around the 10th century "called , Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa was noted as "the first of the great Coptic writers in the Arabic language". 2 (MacMillan) The purpose for the patriarchs of the Coptic Church to compile transcripts of events was the historical account of key events, figures; and biographies of battles, wars, and transformations in Egypt. The compilations derive from historical documentation and eyewitness accounts of events detailing Egypt's conquests. The original text, written in the 10th century, contained a series of biographies. In the 6th century – in the time of Ibn al-Muqaffa – subsequent significant events occurred and the documentation became longer. expanded and derived “from documents written by eyewitnesses of the recorded events.”3 (Orthodox Wiki) In line with the Ibn al-Maqaffa piece was a piece we studied recently by Pavlidis which states that: “I Arab rulers did not require their subjects to be Muslims."4 This statement coincides with... middle of paper... g), May 31, 2011. http://plbirnamwood.blogspot.com/2011/05/value-of -eyewitness-accounts-for.html (accessed November 9, 2013).Halsall, Paul, ed. Medieval sourcebook on the Internet. 1998. sv "Reports of the Arab Conquest of Egypt, 642." http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/642Egypt-conq2.asp (accessed 8 November 2013).MacMillan. New York, NY: MacMillan, 2013. s.v. “Sawirus al-Muqaffa.” http://us.macmillan.com/author/sawirusalmuqaffa (accessed 7 November 2013). Orthodox Wiki. 2009. sv "History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria". http://orthodoxwiki.org/History_of_the_Patriarchs_of_the_Coptic_Church_of_Alexandria (accessed 9 November 2013). Pavlidis, Theo. Islam City, “Chapter 6: The Rise of Islam and the Arab Conquests.” Last modified: October 16, 2011. Accessed November 9, 2013. http://www.theopavlidis.com/MidEast/part25.htm.