Al-Muqawqis (, "the Caucasian") is mentioned in Islamic history as a ruler of Egypt who corresponded with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is widely identified with the last prefect of Egypt. Cyrus of Alexandria, who was the Greek (Melchite) patriarch of the second Byzantine period of Egypt (628-642). However, an alternative view identifies al-Muqawqis with the Sassanid governor of Egypt, said to be a Greek man named "Kirolos, leader of the Copts," although the Sassanian governor at the time was the military leader named Shahrbaraz. Account by Muslim historians Ibn Ishaq and other Muslim historians record that sometime between February 628 and 632, Muhammad sent epistles to the political heads of Medina's neighboring regions, both of Arabia and of the non-Arab lands of the Near East, including al-Muqawqis: Tabari states that the delegation was sent in Dhul-Hijja 6 A.H. (April or May 628). Ibn Saad states that the Muqawqis sent his gifts to Muhammad in 7 A.H. (after May 628). This is consistent with his assertion that Mariya bore Muhammad's son Ibrahim in late March or April 630, so Mariya had arrived in Medina before July 629. Letter of invitation to Islam The epistle that Muhammad sent to al-Muqawqis, through his emissary Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah, and his reply are both available. The letter reads as follows: The epistle was signed with the seal of Muhammad. Al-Muqawqis ordered that the letter be placed in an ivory casket, to be kept safely in the government treasury. The letter was found in an old Christian monastery among Coptic books in the town of Akhmim, Egypt and now resides in the Topkapi Palace Museum (Department of Holy Relics) after the Turkish Sultan Abdülmecid I brought it to Istanbul. Al-Muqawqis is said to have replied with a letter that read: The two slave-girls mentioned are Maria, whom Muhammad himself married, and her sister Shirin whom he married to Hassan ibn Thabit. It is said that a recluse in the monastery pasted it on his Bible and from there a French orientalist obtained it and sold it to the Sultan for £300. Authenticity of the preserved samples and of the elaborate accounts by the medieval Islamic historians regarding the events surrounding the letter has also been questioned by modern historians. Dialog with Mughira ibn Shu'ba According to another account, Al-Muqawqis also had a dialogue with Mughira ibn Shu'ba, before Mughira became a Muslim. Mughira said: