Jum'ah in Cairo

The streets are sublimely quiet. Qiraat is playing on the mosque's loudspeakers. It's Friday in Cairo and the streets are the quietest they'll ever be. Friday mornings are for sleeping in, recovery after the late Thursday nights spent going out.  Here Thursday nights are like Saturday nights elsewhere. Shortly, the muadhin will call people to prayer. The khutbah will be heard over the loudspeakers too, as well as the Jum'ah salaah.

And then Cairo will awake, and the streets will be filled with the chaotic disorder that makes Cairo the city it is.