Living in Historic Cairo Past and Present in an Islamic City
Azimuth Editions in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
One of the great cities of the world, Cairo is an unsurpassed repository of history and civilisation. This illustrated book cuts across the conventional linear understanding of the historical process and examines Cairo in terms of the connection between its physical layout, its historic buildings and its economic, social, cultural and religious life, reflecting on the vital links between the present and the past. Thirty contributions by a wide variety of scholarly experts, architects, restorers and planners give a comprehensive account of past and present in Historic Cairo. As the glories of Cairo are refurbished, the past is portrayed, the voices of the residents of the old city are recorded, and their felt relationship with the great monuments like Bab Zuwayla is examined.
The creation of al-Azhar Park and the programmes of various organisations, including the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, for restoring historic monuments in the district of al-Darb al-Ahmar at the heart of the Historic City, and for reviving and improving the social and economic life of its inhabitants, are discussed and reviewed. Over 120 images illustrate life past and present in Cairo, restoration works and development initiatives.
Foreword
Farhad Daftary and Azim Nanji
Introduction
Elizabeth Fernea
Part 1: Al-Darb al-Ahmar in Egyptian History
1. The historical development of Cairo 20–923/642–1517: an overview
Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid
2. The urban character of al-Darb al-Ahmar
Nasser Rabbat
3. A traveller’s account: Nasir-i Khusraw in 5th/11th-century Cairo
Alice C. Hunsberger
4. The economy of Historic Cairo: a case study of the markets of Mamluk Cairo
Kassem Abdou Kassem
5. The question of guilds
Pascale Ghazaleh
6. Regulating medieval Cairo
Kristen Stilt
7. Women and family life in the darb
Amira Sonbol
8. Learning and science in Historic Cairo
Heinz Halm
9. Coptic Christians: faith and practice in Egyptian contexts
Febe Armanios
10. The Jewish presence in medieval Cairo
Norman A. Stillman
11. Faith and practice: Muslims in Historic Cairo
Roy Mottahedeh
12. The architectural heritage of al-Darb al-Ahmar
Caroline Williams
13. From shards to bards: pottery-making in Historic Cairo
Fahmida Suleman
14. Music in Historic Cairo: a sonic excavation
Jonathan H. Shannon
15. The representation of medieval Cairo in modern Arabic literature
Randa Abou-bakr
16. Transition, colonialism, modernisation; living with ‘Ali Mubarak Pasha: state and civil society in Egypt
Elizabeth Bishop
Part II: Al-Darb al-Ahmar in the 21st Century
17. Contemporary observations of al-Darb al-Ahmar
Karlin Ibrahim and Seif El-Rashidi
18. Remaking Cairo, revisioning al-Darb al-Ahmar
Kamran Asdar ‘Ali and Martina Rieker
19. The contemporary labour market in Egypt: formal and informal institutions in the construction sector
Ragui Assaad
20. Restoration processes for historic monuments: an introduction
Robert K. Vincent Jr.
21. Urban conservation: the inevitable task during single monument conservation in practice in Historic Cairo
Nairy Hampikian
22. The Sam Ibn Nuh Mosque: a community support project, Cairo 2000–2001
Agnieszka Dobrowolska (with material supplied by Barbara Drieskens)
23. Cooperative renovation of old houses in al-Darb al-Ahmar: a case study
Salah Zaky Said
24. Restoring the Qjjmas Mosque: a community undertaking by the residents of al-Darb al-Ahmar
Interviews with Hisham and 'Ali Mahmoud
25. The Projects of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in al-Darb al-Ahmar area of Historic Cairo
Stefano Bianca, Francesco Siravo, Cameron Rashti and Frank Matero
26. Background: starting up the Aga Khan Project
Mohamed El-Mikawi
27. Combatting urban poverty in al-Darb al-Ahmar: interventions and strategies for poverty reduction in Historic Cairo
Mohamed Abdel Hafiz Kotb
28. Heritage protection against what? A model to explain adverse change in historic districts
Dina K. Shehayeb and Ahmed Sedky
29. Representing al-Darb al-Ahmar on film
Maysoon Pachachi
Bibliography
Photocredits
‘This book tells the story of the restoration of the historic monuments in Cairo's al-Darb al-Ahmar neighborhood and of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities... lavishly illustrated, fascinating to read... Summing Up: Recommended.’
– Choice
Farhad Daftary is the Co-Director and Head of Department of Academic Research and Publications at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. He is a consulting editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica, co-editor of the Encyclopaedia Islamica as well as the General Editor of the Ismaili Heritage Series and the Ismaili Texts and Translations Series. An authority on Ismaili studies, Dr Daftary has written several acclaimed books in this field, including The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (1990; 2nd ed., 2007), The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Ismailis (1994), A Short History of the Ismāʿīlīs (1998), and Ismaili Literature (2004). Most recently, he co-authored (with Z. Hirji) The Ismailis: An Illustrated History (2008), and is the editor of A Modern History of the Ismailis (forthcoming). Dr Daftary's books have been translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu and numerous European languages.
Elizabeth Fernea was Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature and Middle Easter Studies at the University of Texas at Austin where she taught for 24 years. She was a noted author and filmmaker. She wrote memoirs of her time living in Iraq, Egypt and Morocco and edited academic volumes such as Middle Eastern Women Speak (1978), Women and Family in the Middle East: New Voices of Change (1985), and Children in the Muslim Middle East (1995). Her films include Some Women of Marrakesh, Saints and Spirits, Reformers and Revolutionaries: Middle Eastern Women and Living with the Past, which was the inspiration for this volume.
Azim Nanji is Senior Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University, California. He was Director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, from 1998 to 2008. Professor Nanji has also served as a member of the Steering Committee and Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. He has authored and edited several books, including The Nizari Ismaili Tradition in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent (1978), The Muslim Almanac (1996), Mapping Islamic Studies (1997) and The Dictionary of Islam (2008).