From the perspective of the Hebrew Bible the Egyptians represented the quintessential 'other' to the Israelites - lascivious, idolatrous, tyrannical, hostile and murderous. The biblical characterization of the Egyptians may be explained by the historical context in which early Israel emerged, a context in which Egypt represented a political, military and cultural threat to Israel's survival and distinctiveness, and in which the Israelites came to regard themselves as a covenanted people, in a unique and exclusive relationship with their God. This biblical perspective was inherited to some extent by the early Christian community, which according to the apostle Paul has been grafted into Israel's salvation history, and thus continued to associate the Egyptians with idolatry and base morality. The Islamic assessment of the ancient Egyptians, as presented particularly by the Qur'an, extra-canonical works and commentaries, and how it compares to biblical and extra-biblical views, is the subject of this study. Drawing on distinctions of covenanted and missionary identities as described in Anthony Smith's Chosen Peoples (2003), this thesis hypothesizes that the Qur'an and Islamic tradition with their pronounced missionary thrust present a rather different image of the 'other', particularly the Egyptians, given the historical context in which Islam emerged. This study presents a unique examination of the Egyptians in the Qur'an and extra-canonical texts as related through their encounters with the prophets Ibrahim, Yusuf, Musa and 'Isa. It combines a detailed exegetical and intertextual study of revelant Qur'anic verses with an analysis of extra-canonical texts such as the qisas al-anbiya' and traditions such as are found in al-Tabari's al-Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk. Moreover, this thesis addresses historical, Egyptological and archaeological issues, and how the Qur'anic portrayals of the Egyptians in particular reflect the concerns and values of the early ummah, a community of believers which not only struggled to survive the hostilities of the Quraysh, but which sought to bring them and others to faith in the God of Ibrahim.

Asfår Asāṭīr, le « Livre des Légendes », est une réécriture araméenne du Pentateuque samaritain basée sur le targum, centrée sur Adam, Noé, Abraham et Moïse, et conclue par deux apocalypses. Sa langue est un précieux témoin de l’araméen samaritain tardif des Xè-XIè s. Ses nombreuses traditions haggadiques proviennent d’anciennes sources samaritaines, ou sont liées à la littérature juive et aux Histoires musulmanes des Prophètes ; elles révèlent un état encore fluctuant de la religion samaritaine. Beaucoup furent reçues comme canoniques par les Samaritains, qui attribuèrent l’œuvre, anonyme, à Moïse. Cette étude se propose d’établir une édition critique du texte araméen et une traduction tenant compte de ses commentaires arabes et hébreux, afin de rendre cette œuvre accessible à tout chercheur français ou européen. / Asfår Asāṭīr, the "Book of Legends", is an Aramaic rewriting of the Samaritan Pentateuch focused on Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses, and whose framework is the Targum; it ends with two Apocalypses. Its language is a rare witness of Late Samaritan Aramaic, in the 10th and 11th centuries. The text brings together traditions from ancient Samaritan sources, or related to Jewish literature and to Muslim stories of the Prophets. It shows that Samaritan religion was still in flux in the early Middle Age. Many of its haggadic traditions became canonical among Samaritans who attributed this text to Moses.This study proposes to establish a critical edition of the Aramaic text and to provide a translation taking into account its Arabic and Hebrew commentaries, so as to make this work accessible to all French or European researchers.