Note on Transliteration
I have used the simplified International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES) conventions for most Arabic transliterations in this work. The ‘ represents the ع (ayn) and the ’ stands in for the ء (hamza). There are a few exceptions. In the Egyptian dialect, the Arabic letter ج (jiim) is generally pronounced as a hard “g” as in “girl.” Thus when referencing places in Cairo, I have chosen to transliter- ate the name of the area using the more common Egyptian colloquial form of pronunciation (e.g., the district of Gamaliyya instead of Jamaliyya). I have done something similar when referring to Egyptian writers and intellectuals (e.g., Gamal al-Ghitani and not Jamal al-Ghitani). Furthermore, for Arab writers and intellectuals whose works circulate fairly widely in English translation, I have referenced these proper names using the spelling most common to their publi- cations in English (e.g., Alaa al-Aswany instead of ‘Ala’ al-Aswani).