Before the Throne

50

HORUS HAILED, “Ali Sundus!”

A powerfully built man of middling height walked in, halting before the throne.

Osiris asked him to speak.

“A water carrier, I lived most of my life under the Ikhshidid rulers,” Ali Sundus told the court. “Egypt had gone back to the fold of the Abbasids — and again, scores of viceroys came and went in succession, each inflicting injustices upon the Egyptians, whether Christians or Muslims. Finally, Muhammad al-Utfayh, a Mamluk descended from the kings of Farghana, took up our affairs. He made Egypt independent, and called himself ‘the Ikhshid,’ the customary title among the kings in his country. He drove away those who had designs on Egypt, and in each of his campaigns, urged the Christians to fight alongside him.

“Then power passed to his vizier, the eunuch Kafur, who called himself ‘al-Ikhshidi’ too. During his reign, Egypt possessed both the Hijaz and Syria. He purged the land of corrupt officials, and the nation flourished under his rule.”

“How could you tolerate being ruled by a castrated slave?” said Ramesses II.

“All that mattered to us as Muslims,” replied Ali Sundus, “is that he was a fair servant. A just slave is better than an oppressive prince.”

“And just how does a slave surpass a prince?” Ramesses II answered rhetorically.

“By worshiping the One God,” lectured Akhenaten. “All my life I appealed for human equality — only to be told that I was mad.”

“May peace be with you in your Islamic proceeding,” said Osiris to Ali Sundus.