In my personal library, I found a nice book by the father: George Shehata Qanawati, entitled: "Christianity and Arab Civilization”. It is a medium-sized book but of great usefulness, in which its writer made an effort to clarify the role of Arab Christians and their cooperation with their Muslim brothers in building the edifice of Arab civilization and raising its status.
The book shows that Arab civilization is the fruit of the effort of both Muslims and Christians, and it is the pride of all those who speak Arabic.
Father George Qanawati divided his book into two parts: The first section: in which he studied the historical, social and cultural framework of Christianity in the Arab countries from its inception until the Abbasid era. The second section: a study of the Christian personalities who left their mark on the pages of Arab civilization, including poets, doctors, pharmacists, historians, philosophers, and translators. The book mentioned that the veteran poets such as: Amr Ibn Kulthum, Antara Ibn Shaddad, Al Nabigha Al Zebiani, Al Asha, Umru` Al Qais, Hatim Al Taie, Tarfa Ibn Al Abd were Christians.
The book states that Sawiris ibn al-Muqaffa is one of the first Copts in Egypt who used the Arabic language in speaking and writing as a substitute for the Coptic language, and he was famous throughout Egypt as a public speaker and writer whose Arabic is excellent.
