The two minbars (imam's pulpits) boast delicate carving in stone and wooden mashrabiya screens, while damaged marble floors and mosaics have been patched and re-laid.

Entirely funded by petro-dollars, additional Muslim contributions were assigned to the interiors; minbars were sent from Egypt, tiles from Turkey, and carpets from Iran (Tibawis 1983, 1-4).

FROM NONCONTESTATION TO FAKE CONTESTATION Beginning with President Anwar al-Sadat's agreement in 1974 to allow three minbars (pulpits), later transformed into political parties, to compete with one another, the Egyptian regime has been able to present itself as at least moving significantly away from the authoritarianism (what Dahl calls "inclusive hegemony") of the 1960s in the direction of polyarchy.