The Pure and the Powerful, the second book by the Oxford-based anthropologistNadia Abu-Zahra, is a case study of the rituals performed at the Cairo shrine of al-SayyidaZaynab, patron saint of women, during the anniversaries of her birth and death. Considered bymany to be the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, al-Sayyida Zaynab is the epitome ofpurity and has the power to heal the sick. Abu-Zahra sees religious practices at the shrine as ademonstration of Islam and Egyptian society's “integrated wholeness.” Inshort, the beliefs and practices of common people, intellectual elites, men, and women are moreanalogous than previously thought.