American University in Cairo
Mon 8 Sept, 7pm (Cairo Time): Join an engaging online conversation with Nasser Rabat and Deen Sharp, co-editors of Reconstruction as Violence in Assad’s Syria, as they discuss the book’s critical examination of post-war rebuilding as a tool of political control and social re-engineering in Syria. In this thought-provoking dialogue, they will explore how reconstruction policies under the Assad regime have reshaped urban spaces, displaced communities, and deepened existing inequalities. The discussion will be moderated by Aya Musmar, who will guide the conversation through the book’s key themes and their broader implications for Syria’s future. A Q&A session with the editors will follow the discussion. The discussion link https://e.cglink.me/2kZ/r300114507
Diwan Bookstore
105, Abu Bakr El-Seddiq St, Heliopolis, Misr Algedida, Tel 02 2690 8184/85/ 0122 6000168
Thurs 28, 7pm: August book discussion presents The Awakening of the Ruled in Modern Egypt: From Subjects to Citizens (1798-2011) book by Mahmoud Hussein. It will be moderated by Ali Alaa.
ALEXANDRIA
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Port Said St, Chatby, Alexandria 21526, Tel (03) 4839999
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Conference Centre, Delegations Hall
Thurs 28, 10am - 7pm: “The Evolution of Minaret Architecture in Mosques: Origins, Function, and Identity: Future Visions” is the third International Symposium on Mosque Architecture. It is organized by The Centre for Islamic Civilization Studies, and the General Secretariat of the Abdullatif Al-Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture in Saudi Arabia. Researchers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Spain, and Turkey will participate in the symposium. The symposium’s topics include: Minaret Architecture: Minarets of Mosques Winning the Abdullatif Al-Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture,
the Minaret in Mosque Architecture: Symbol, Function, and the Future, the Aesthetics of the Visual Formation of the Islamic City as Applied to the Minaret, Criteria for Designing Minarets in the 21st Century, The Minaret as a Renewed Symbol Between the Sanctity of the Past and the Needs of the Future, Mosques Without Minarets in Contemporary Architecture, the Inevitability of the Minaret in Contemporary Mosque Design, European Minarets from Thessaloniki to Switzerland, the Evolution of the Ottoman Minaret in Cairo’s Religious Architecture in Terms of Location, Form, and Decoration, as well as The Political Use of Minarets in Egypt: From the Ottoman Era to the End of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, and Early Umayyad Minarets in Andalusia.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 28 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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