Chancy cracks
No sooner had a piece of ceiling from the prominent downtown Omar Makram mosque fallen on worshippers than rumour spread about its imminent collapse. Dena Rashed investigates
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Omar Makram mosque, its floor littered with plaster from the ceiling that fell while prayers were in progress
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Omar Makram mosque is a distinct downtown landmark -- known as the elite's favourite mosque, its annex has been an especially prominent place for relatives of the famous and deceased to receive condolences after the funeral. When an approximately 2x2 metre piece of plastered paint from the mosque's ceiling recently fell on five worshippers, widespread speculation that the building is in structural danger began.
Opposition papers said the mosque had become "dangerous for worshippers", with many an article calling the authorities responsible for the mosque to intervene before its collapse. In fact, a structural report on the 47- year-old mosque -- written two years ago but only recently leaked to the press -- helped reinforce the idea that the building was deteriorating. The press had a field day with headlines like "Report says there are 57 cracks in the mosque's walls".
Described by one newspaper as "a cry for help to save the mosque from destruction", the report was presented as evidence that the Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowments) -- under whose jurisdiction the mosque falls -- "has not taken action to save the mosque".
"It is amazing how facts are twisted to serve people's interests," said Mohamed Hashem, head of the Ministry of Awqaf's engineering department. Hashem told Al-Ahram Weekly that the report was real -- but that nobody had bothered to mention why it was prepared in the first place. Furious, he said, "the report is not our indictment." According to Hashem, the study of the mosque's condition was conducted by an independent contracting company -- El-Nil -- as a prelude to a major plan to build a massive underground garage under and around the mosque in Tahrir square.
By documenting the mosque's condition before the garage was built, it would be clear whether or not building the garage had any effect on the structures above it. The company building the garage, the Arab Contractors, would then be required to incur the costs of fixing any damage that might have been caused.
Hashem said the 57 vertical cracks in the walls of the mosque documented by the two-year-old report did not pose any danger to the foundations of the building itself, and thus did not threaten people's lives. "We know that the cracks are there, but they are superficial. Had they posed any danger to the building itself, the ministry would have intervened," he said.
Hashem does not deny the report's claim that the mosque has been badly maintained. The timing of the garage project, however, prompted the ministry to wait before proceeding with the necessary repairs. "It would have appeared as though we contracted out the repairs of the mosque even though we knew the garage that was being built may have required us to do further repairs afterwards."
Hashem said the fact that the building was strong enough to endure all the digging underneath it is proof of the non-urgency of the situation. "It was only a 2.5 metre piece of plaster from the ceiling that fell," he said.
According to a Housing Ministry official who spoke to the Weekly, Cairo governorate has already commissioned a report revealing the mosque's poor condition, and forwarded it to the Ministry of Awqaf. Hashem disregarded this report, arguing that, "we are the ones in charge of the mosque, and have already taken steps towards fixing it." This was obvious, he said, by the tender announcement that recently appeared in the papers, indicating that the ministry was accepting bids to repair a number of mosques, amongst which was Omar Makram.
"We chose the company that will do the repairs way back in June," he said, " but were just waiting for the garage to be finished. If the mosque is dangerous, why would its annex still be used so frequently by the elite?" he asked. "Do you think they would risk their lives if the mosque was really collapsing?"
