Before the Throne

54

THOTH, SCRIBE OF THE GODS, read aloud, “When the Mamluk state vanished, Egypt fell as booty into the hands of the Ottomans. Hundreds of pashas came and went as governors over the country, the Ottoman army and the remnants of the Mamluks sharing control with them. Under them, Egypt knew ease and comfort but rarely, and for fleeting periods only. A deadly struggle broke out within the ruling regime, and assassination and treachery became the norm. The people drowned in worry, ignorance, and humiliation, a condition that lasted some hundreds of years.”

Horus then called out, “Ali Bey al-Kabir!”

A muscular man of imposing height came in, walking in his winding sheet until he stood before the throne.

“You are the first foreign ruler that we have summoned to our trial due to the clearly Egyptian tendency in your policies — a kind not seen before. Hence I invite you to address the court.”

“I started as one of the mamluks belonging to Ibrahim Kakhiya,” said Ali Bey al-Kabir. “He prized me for my courage — so I became one of the few who were given the title of ‘bey.’ Next I became ‘sheikh al-balad,’ or head of the provincial government. At this point I thought of making Egypt independent of Ottoman rule, and I did just that. Immediately the hardships upon the people lessened. I was a just ruler, reigning righteously in accordance with Islam, and the Egyptians were blessed with peace and security — Muslims, Christians, and Jews as well. My domain stretched over the whole of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and Nubia. If not for the treachery of Muhammad Abu al-Dhahab, one of my closest mamluks, Egypt’s fate would have been different. Yet I died nobly, just as I had lived.”

“Was not your making Egypt independent a violation of the unity of Islam,” complained Akhenaten, “the religion of the One God?”

“The Ottomans were tyrannical and corrupt, under a phony Islamic façade,” replied Ali Bey al-Kabir. “I was horrified by the torment that the Egyptians lived through. There was nothing for me to do but to make them happy under the shield of true Islam, if only by getting the Ottoman boot off their necks.”

“I want to begin by thanking you for retrieving part of my empire,” said Thutmose III.

Amenemhat I then said impatiently, “Didn’t you benefit from my Teaching, which I imparted after a conspiracy hatched by some of those who were the very closest to me — and which nearly devoured me as its victim?”

“Actually, I had never heard of it. Whatever I needed was found in the Qur’an and the Traditions of the Prophet — though precaution cannot thwart fate.”

Osiris then welcomed him, “For all that you deserve a seat among the Immortals — we shall note this in our certificate on your behalf.”