The Cairene garbage collectors (the Zabbalin) settled on the Muqattam slopes in 1970. Soon they attracted the attention of different actors involved in development and religious mission: Egyptian engineers, a French Catholic Sister and the most central character of this story, Father SamÊ¿Än, who started a mission among the Zabbalin in 1974. This preacher founded several churches, today known as the Monastery of Saint SamÊ¿Än the Tanner, a complex of seven churches carved in the Muqattam walls. Through his charismatic style of preaching and his public exorcisms symbolically staging the struggle between Christianity and Islam, SamÊ¿Än has become a figurehead of his church.
Students and scholars interested in Christianity in the Middle East and urban studies. The book could also interest the Francophone public by proposing a counternarrative about the very famous Catholic sister, Soeur Emmanuelle.