In recent years, sacred sites across the Eastern Mediterranean have become flashpoints in a broader conflict between religious heritage and state power. When Turkey’s highest court ruled in 2020 to reconvert the Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque, global reactions were swift – critiquing what many viewed as a retreat from secularism and an assertion of majoritarian identity over pluralist heritage.

Now, a similar controversy gets underway in Egypt, where a court ruling on May 28, 2025, declared that the 1,500-year-old St. Catherine’s Monastery and its surrounding lands are “public property” of the state, purportedly ending its historical autonomy.

This ruling has triggered a rift between Cairo and Athens and provoked deep concern among the global Orthodox Christian community. Despite Egypt’s formal assurances that the monastery’s religious character will be preserved, the court’s assertion of state ownership indicates a shift with far-reaching implications, not only for the monks who inhabit the site, but for the principle of religious custodianship itself.

Much like the Hagia Sophia decision, Egypt’s move is not merely administrative. It rather reflects a wider recast in how sacred spaces are governed, framed, and politicised in the name of national identity, development, and control. The court ruling has resulted in strong resistance from the monastery’s monks, who have now closed the sacred site in protest and visitors are not allowed to enter the place.

Historical continuity and legal precedent

St. Catherine’s Monastery, established in 548 AD by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, is not merely an architectural relic. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monasteries in the world, and a symbol of religious coexistence in the region. Placed at the foot of Mount Sinai, where tradition holds that Moses received the Ten Commandments, the monastery occupies sacred terrain central to Abrahamic religious memory.

Its legal and moral foundation, however, extends beyond its Christian origins. Following the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, the monastery was granted a written covenant of protection (ʿahd) reportedly issued by Prophet Muhammad himself, and transcribed by Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Though the original manuscript was later taken to Istanbul by Sultan Selim I during the Ottoman conquest, a copy remains housed in the monastery’s archive. This covenant, promising the security of the monks, their property, and their freedom of worship, became a touchstone for interfaith legal protection under Islamic governance, an example of how early Islamic legal thought could accommodate pluralism.

This protective tradition was reaffirmed over centuries by successive Islamic dynasties, including the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Ayyubids, Mamluks, and Ottomans. These regimes issued firmans (royal decrees) upholding the Prophet’s covenant, thereby creating an enduring chain of recognition that spanned religious, linguistic, and political divides.

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Even under postcolonial Egypt, no previous regime – not even during the nationalist wave following the 1952 revolution – sought to unilaterally redefine the monastery’s legal status or revoke its historically acknowledged autonomy.

A key feature of the monastery’s operational continuity was its network of waqf properties  – endowments legally donated under Islamic law from both Christian-majority and Muslim-majority territories, including Cyprus, Crete, Cairo, Gaza, and Syria. These waqfs were not informal gifts but were formally registered, validated by Islamic qadis (judges) and court notaries, and formed part of the economic bedrock supporting the monastery’s religious and charitable activities.

The Islamic legal framework thus became a custodian of Christian monasticism, demonstrating a rare case of juridical pluralism, in which Islamic courts institutionalised the preservation of a non-Islamic religious community.

Thousands of historical manuscripts, written in Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, and Georgian, remain preserved within the monastery’s library, some dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries, including the famed Codex Sinaiticus, one of the earliest complete copies of the Christian Bible. These texts reflect a shared intellectual heritage, with scholars from both Christian and Muslim worlds contributing to the preservation and study of sacred knowledge. The library is considered second in global significance only to the Vatican Library.

Against this deeply interlocked legal and religious history, the 2025 Egyptian court ruling that classifies the monastery and its lands as “public state property” appears legally ahistorical and morally discontinuous. The claim disregards not only centuries of uninterrupted monastic use but also binding legal customs rooted in Islamic jurisprudence.

Furthermore, the idea that the monastery’s inhabitants are merely beneficiaries rather than legal custodians – after over 1,450 years of unbroken presence – undermines both Islamic norms of protected dhimmi status and international principles on the rights of religious minorities and cultural property.

In essence, the monastery stands at the crossroads of sacred continuity and statist disruption. Any attempt to recast its status as a purely administrative or developmental concern must reckon with a multifaith legal ecosystem, one that long upheld coexistence and recognised historical possession, religious function, and communal stewardship as grounds for legal legitimacy.

The ‘great transfiguration project’ and tourism-driven development

Launched in 2020, Egypt’s “Great Transfiguration Project” aims to transform the Saint Catherine area in South Sinai into a premier destination for religious, environmental, and medical tourism. The initiative includes the development of infrastructure such as hotels, bazaars, heritage centres, and even an airport, all designed to attract a global audience of pilgrims and tourists.

The project is promoted by the Egyptian government as a means to showcase the spiritual and historical significance of the region, particularly Mount Sinai, revered in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

While officials assert that the monastery’s sanctity will remain untouched, critics express concern that the project’s true intent is to appropriate sacred land and reframe the space as a state-controlled tourism hub. This could potentially compromise the spiritual character of the area and the autonomy of the monastery.

The ruling, which declares the monastery and surrounding sites as state property, goes in line with a broader pattern of the Egyptian state centralising control over religious and heritage sites – a policy trend that some describe as “Neo-Ikhwanism” in practice, despite the regime’s avowed opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The judiciary’s role in this case, appearing to follow executive instructions, has raised further questions about the independence of Egypt’s legal system in matters involving religious minorities and cultural heritage. The Greek Orthodox Church has denounced the ruling as an attempt to alter a system that has been in place for 15 centuries.

Hagia Sophia and comparative reflections

Both St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt and Hagia Sophia in Turkey are symbolic of ancient Christian heritage, shaped by centuries of religious coexistence and later, politicised reinterpretation. Founded under Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, St. Catherine’s Monastery has continuously functioned as a Greek Orthodox monastic site at the foot of Mount Sinai. It gained protection under Islamic rule due to a covenant (achtiname) reportedly issued by the Prophet Muhammad himself, guaranteeing the safety and autonomy of the monastery and its monks.

Similarly, Hagia Sophia, built in 537 CE by the same emperor, served as the seat of Eastern Orthodoxy for nearly a millennium before its conversion into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It was later secularised into a museum by Kemal Atatürk in 1935 – symbolising modern Turkey’s secular turn – until its controversial reconversion into a mosque in 2020 by President Erdoğan.

Both sites are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and represent a shared history of interfaith reverence and cultural diplomacy. However, their status in the 21st century reveals a troubling pattern – religious heritage sites are increasingly reinterpreted through state-centred narratives. While Hagia Sophia remains open to visitors with Christian mosaics veiled during Islamic prayers, the recent court ruling in Egypt effectively transfers ownership of St. Catherine’s to the state, rendering the monks “beneficiaries” rather than rightful custodians.

This redefinition of sacred space – whether as a mosque-turned-museum or monastery-turned-tourist site—points to a clearer erosion of religious pluralism. Both cases raise urgent questions about the future of minority heritage in the face of state appropriation, and about the fragility of interfaith pacts that once upheld mutual respect and autonomy.

While Hagia Sophia’s reconversion caters to nationalist-religious sentiment, the expropriation of St. Catherine’s reflects a more bureaucratic assertion of sovereignty over religious minorities. In both cases, long-standing interfaith understandings – whether Ottoman-era endowments in Istanbul or early Islamic covenants in Sinai – are being reinterpreted or sidelined by modern states seeking to consolidate control over religious heritage.

Implications and the erosion of religious pluralism

The legal redefinition of ownership and use of Saint Catherine’s Monastery brings significant implications for religious pluralism, minority rights, and cultural preservation in Egypt. The very concept of religious endowments, spiritual heritage, and independent worship is jeopardised when sacred spaces are subordinated to administrative decisions and development agendas.

The Egyptian state’s position also raises questions about its international credibility, particularly in light of UNESCO conventions. Saint Catherine’s Monastery has been designated a World Heritage Site since 2002, recognised for its cultural and historical significance. The move risks diplomatic fallout with Greece and broader Orthodox Christian communities, as well as undermining Egypt’s image as a promoter of religious coexistence.

The case of Saint Catherine’s Monastery is not an isolated legal matter – it serves as a serious test case for how modern states treat ancient religious traditions and the communities that uphold them. It is also a barometer of Egypt’s commitment to historical continuity, interfaith pacts, and pluralist governance.

The encroachment – whether direct or administrative – on such a profound spiritual site calls for urgent international dialogue and domestic introspection.

If the Egyptian government continues to advance its tourism ambitions at the expense of sacred heritage, it risks transforming a sanctuary of prayer into a showcase of expropriated piety – a place where ancient holiness is preserved not for spiritual veneration but for curated spectacle.

The author is Director, Inter University Centre for Social Science Research and Extension (IUCSSRE), Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Kerala.  He also served as ICSSR Senior Fellow, Senior Professor of International Relations and Dean of Social Sciences at MGU.    

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