Early in 2013 Ibrahim ??ssa published his Booker prize winning novel Mawl?n? depicting a controversial image of the figure of the shaykh. ??ssa’s novel tackles important themes about the relationship between religious authority and the media in post-revolutionary Egypt. It illustrates a drastic transformation in the role of a figure such as that of the shyakh in the age of satellite channels. Although the relationship between intellectuals, the religious establishment and the public sphere in modern Egypt extends back to the19th century when the printing press was introduced, in ??ssa’s novel this relationship is complicated by the intervention of satellite channels and mass mediation. The novel’s themes and treatment of the figure of the shaykh raises questions about the role of mass media in forging the relationship between religious authority and public intellectuals. ??ssa’s award winning novel is representative of a new trend in literary writing in post- revolutionary Egypt that exploit the relationship between religious authority, mass media and the public sphere. In my presentation I will give an analysis of ??ssa’s award winning novel by situating it in relation to a long tradition of writing where religious and literary authority were not necessarily conflicting forces in the public sphere. For it was in the nineteenth and early twentieth century that the shyoukh of al- azhar played a major role as public intellectuals whose work synthesized religious and secular themes. I will illustrate how ?Issa’s novel exposes the transformations that occurred as a result of the expansive reach of mass media into the public sphere in Egypt. Bearing in mind that Ibrahim ??ssa’s novel is representative of a recent trend in literary writing I will attempt to answer the following questions: What rhetorical conventions does ??ssa use in his novel to reflect the social transformation that occurred to figures of authority in Egypt? And what are the forces behind the novel’s remarkable success in post-revolutionary Egypt?