Weaving and Wearing Joseph Tunics in Early Islamic Egypt.

This article examines the “Joseph tunics,” linen and wool garments decorated with scenes from the biblical and Qur’anic story of Joseph, which became popular in Egypt during the first three centuries of Islamic rule (7th–10th centuries CE). Challenging prior views that attribute these tunics solely to Coptic Christians, the authors propose a framework of “religious co-production” to highlight the shared and mutually influential narrative, material, and social practices among Christians, Muslims, and Jews in early Islamic Egypt. By situating the tunics within a multilayered archive of textual traditions—spanning Jewish, Christian, and Islamic versions of Joseph’s story—and comparing their pictorial programs to contemporaneous manuscripts and artifacts, the study reveals how these textiles embodied a common cultural repertoire that could be differently interpreted across faiths. The article further explores the social contexts of the tunics’ production, use, and display, emphasizing their role in multi-religious urban life and ritual, and discusses methodological challenges in reconstructing the meanings and interactions of religious communities through fragmentary material and textual evidence. [Extracted from the article]