In her preface to The Minarets of Cairo, Doris Behrens�"Abouseif succinctly states the book's aim, "to present a survey of the minarets of Cairo �" a very specific and unique aspect of the monumental legacy of Islamic Cairo �" in all their glory and variety before any more of them are lost". Professor Behrens-Abouseif notes "a significant number of Cairo's historic monuments were destroyed in the twentieth century, while others have suffered through neglect and inappropriate development. The minarets and domes, which once penetrated the skyline of the city, are dwarfed and hidden by uncontrolled high-rise construction". The first photograph in the book by its principal photographer Bernard O'Kane aptly bears out her words. It is a view of the old city of Cairo replete with minarets and domes, jostled on all sides by random buildings, sprouting an astonishing number of satellite TV dishes, with encroaching high-rises in the background, all suffused in Cairo's characteristic haze. Not only is the historian and art historian author a renowned scholar, but she also has the gift of accessibility. Her clear, authoritative and descriptive text, will take any reader, from the novice to the expert on the subject, on a fascinating architectural journey, in its historical, religious and cultural context, recording what has been lost as well as celebrating the surviving minarets of Cairo. They are found throughout old Cairo including the cemeteries and the Citadel, and elsewhere in the city, but their most unexpected location is the seemingly inaccessible mosque of the Sheikh Shahin Al-Khalwati (1538), perched on the steep rocky slopes of the Muqattam Hills. After his death, the Sufi sheikh's secluded sanctuary was turned by his son into a Friday mosque, to which a minaret was later added, the subject of one of the book's compelling photographs. In addition to the contemporary and historical photographs, The Minarets of Cairo's 285 illustrations include drawings, paintings, prints and plans, with some exquisite and intricate details of the minarets on the 107 mosques and other Islamic monuments surveyed. Architect and architectural historian Nicholas Warner has contributed the architectural drawings and reconstructions and a chapter on 'The Minaret Depicted'. He refers to one of Cairo's epithets as 'The City of Thousand Minarets' attracting European artists and architects, whose depictions ranged from the romantic and Orientalist to the documentary and photographic. The scene is set by Doris Behrens-Abouseif with the call to prayer (the adhan) in Medina in the early years of Islam, when the caller (the muezzin) was appointed by the Prophet Mohamed. The first and the most prominent muezzin was Bilal, a freed black slave, known for his beautiful voice. To make the call to prayer, he climbed to a high place and used an elevated structure, the forerunner of the minaret, which developed a few years after the death of the Prophet (632), initially in Damascus. Until their replacement by amplified loudspeakers broadcasting the calls to prayer, the muezzins climbed the mosque minarets at least five times a day. Cairo's minarets are presented in the book in chronological order, with preceding chapters discussing their function, evolution, construction, choice of location, architecture, decoration and inscriptions, most of which comprised Quranic verses. The narrative unfolds the history of Islamic Cairo from the seventh to the 19th century, with its remaining minarets testament to the periods of its successive rulers, notably Fatimid (909-1171), Mamluk (1250-1517) and Ottoman (1517-1867). The oldest mosque to survive in its original form in Egypt is that of Ibn Tulun (879). It also has a singular minaret, with its external and still climbable spiral staircase, giving the visitor an overall perspective of the beautiful proportions of the great mosque and the shambles that surrounds it. Unique in Egypt, the minaret follows the pattern of the Great Mosque at Samarra, the temporary Abbasid capital and Ibn Tulun's birthplace. Al-Azhar (970-2), Cairo's eminent mosque, distinguished for its long tradition of religious studies, was founded by the Fatimid ruler al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah. The imam-caliph's name has been given to the nearby long and magical street (Bayn al-Qasrayn Street) with its veritable medley of minarets and domes on mosques and other Islamic monuments built over ten centuries, enhanced by its lighting at night, alternately dramatic and subtle. The minarets of Al-Azhar were rebuilt several times and today it bears three Mamluk and two Ottoman minarets. They were made use of in 1785 in popular protests, precursors of the recent days in Egypt, when the protesters climbed the minarets to broadcast injustice and make their demands heard. The striking accompanying photograph in the book, which also adorns the cover, shows three minarets at Al-Azhar in harmonious juxtaposition, one from 1339 and two built by the Mamluk Sultans Qaytbey and al-Ghawri in 1495 and 1511 respectively. Near the gate of Bab al-Futuh lies the imposing mosque of the caliph Al-Hakim bi Amr Allah, which was founded in 990 by his father. It has a complex architectural history whose mysteries echo those of the paradoxical al-Hakim himself, who disappeared in 1011 while riding his donkey at night, dressed as a commoner, as was his then habit. One such enigma was why he decided to build towers around the two original minarets. "The shape of these austere rectangular tapering towers, unparalleled in Islamic architecture, adds to the mystery" Doris Behrens-Abouseif observes. One of the latest monuments surveyed in the book, which dominates the Cairo skyline, with a particularly fine view from Al-Azhar Park, is the mosque in classical Ottoman style of Muhammad Ali Pasha (1830-48). "Against the background of the Muqattam Hill, the slender tall minarets point to the highest spot of historic Cairo. Because of its prestigious location and high visibility, the mosque of Muhammad Ali became a landmark of the city of Cairo, though it is the least Cairene of all mosques." The author devotes a chapter to the few surviving historic mosques found outside Cairo towns and cities, including Rosetta (Rashid) and Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, and in Upper Egypt and the oases. They include a charming mosque with a simple minaret in the evocative old town of al-Qasr in the far-flung Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert. It has been dated to the Ayyubid period (1171-1250), of which very few minarets survive in Cairo. The Minarets of Cairo is a very substantial book in every respect and not one that could be carried with you while visiting the mosques surveyed, much as it would enhance your appreciation. Reading it at home before a visit would provide an ideal preparation, quite apart from the intrinsic pleasure of its informed and informative text and complementary illustrations, and you would certainly want to return to it again and again. There is so much to learn and to enjoy in Doris Behrens-Abouseif's impressive fulfilment of her magnificent book's aim.
