Chapter V: Princes’ Descendants

Throughout history, Egypt has been of utmost significance. The Pharaonic civilization was just a natural outcome of its favorable geographic setting for the birth of civilizations and the growth of societies. Up until Sultan Selim I’s authority over Egypt in 1517 AD, it had been ruled by various tribes, peoples, kingdoms, and empires. Sultan Selim I, was trying to once more bring the dispersed Islamic world together at the time.

After almost three centuries of Mamluk dominance, which began in 1250 AD and ended in 1260 AD with their defeat of the implacable Mongol army at the Battle of Ain Jalut, he gained authority over Egypt. The Mamluk state had been in power for nearly three centuries.

The Mamluks put up a fight and suffered heavy losses, but the rumbling of an emerging empire and the drive out of Anatolia did not stop there.

The Ottoman Empire continued to grow after gaining control of Egypt, and eventually, they were able to unify the entire Islamic world. The Ottoman Empire continued to dominate, and the Mamluks in Egypt were a part of it. The Mamluks soon started returning to important posts in the state after reaching agreements with Sultan’s officials. a contentious area, where disputes between the Mamluk beys and the Ottoman pashas for control of the top official positions were fought out both openly and in private.

Since Islam and the Ottoman Empire have the same intellectual and ideological roots, neither the Mamluks nor the Egyptian populace had a problem accepting each other as rulers. The Mamluk army, which served as Egypt’s guardian, was placed under the control of the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul.

Napoleon Bonaparte, who oversaw the French military operation against Egypt in the year 1798 AD, was a brilliant leader whose star shined widely in the West during that time. As the Ottoman Empire, which has come to be known as the sick man of Europe, is weak and indebted, he was able to take portions of it as part of the relentless British-French drives to rule the region.

As part of the Ottoman Empire’s military campaign to liberate Egypt, an Ottoman commander with Albanian ancestry named Muhammad Ali Pasha arrived there. After the French left in 1801 AD, following agreements between Britain and France, Muhammad Ali continued to fight with the Ottoman Empire’s armies, under its flag and in its name, until he tightened his hold on Egypt in the year 1805 AD and was named its governor. He referred to himself by several aliases, including Aziz of Egypt, the creator of contemporary Egypt.

He was referred to as smart and cunning, with the capacity to take advantage of situations, hard-hearted, and able to extend his grip over Egypt. He ruled it whatever he pleased, eliminating all of his rivals without showing mercy, and it then occurred to him to pursue the Mamluks in order to destroy them.

The Mamluk army was the forerunner in resisting Napoleon Bonaparte and had guarded Egypt since 1250 AD. No force dared to touch it.

Simply said, Muhammad Ali Pasha decided to destroy it because it was opposed by those in positions of power and authority, and since he knew that as long as the army in Istanbul that is loyal to the Sultan is still in existence, he would not be able to carry out his intentions.

Many Mamluks who had escaped his rule fled to southern Egypt, Upper Egypt, but with cunning and cunning, he was able to entice their notables and leaders under the guise of peace in the year 1811 AD. He prepared a dinner for all of the leaders and dignitaries among them and killed them all with one blow in a massacre that became known as the “Castle massacre,” which was immortalized in history.

An Ottoman ruler of Albanian descent proclaimed himself king over all of Egypt. On the orders of the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul, he conducted extensive military operations on the Arabian Peninsula, where he was successful in putting an end to numerous insurrectional movements. He then expanded his state to the south, controlling Sudan until his star began to shine and rise.

Then, his aspirations for power and influence reached a point where, if he wanted to overthrow the Ottoman Empire as a whole, he turned against the Ottoman Sultan and enlisted the aid of the former foes, the French and the British. He also initiated military operations in the Levant, maintained control over it, and used it as a base for his political and military operations. He came dangerously close to overthrowing the empire when he attacked it in its backyard in Turkey before returning to Egypt. Following international agreements between the Ottoman Empire and Britain, according to which the Ottomans accepted that Muhammad Ali Pasha and his descendants would rule Egypt forever, with Britain supporting them

The Ottoman era in Egypt came to an end, and after Muhammad Ali Pasha’s ambitions for power drove the first nail in the Ottoman Empire’s coffin and stripped Egypt of its historical army, the Mamluks, Egypt fell prey to the British Empire, which eventually came to rule it while it was officially under the control of Muhammad Ali Pasha’s family and under the name of the Ottoman Empire.

He established an iron and fire-based system of government in Egypt, turned all public lands into his personal property, and used the Egyptian people as slave laborers. Egypt transitioned into a period that can be compared to the second Pharaonic era, where the ruler owned everything and everyone else worked for him for a meager wage or hired hands to earn their daily food.

He enslaved people, and so did his ancestors after him, the people of Egypt Tens of thousands of Egyptians perished as a result of his son, the Khedive Muhammad Saeed Pasha, who employed them as slaves in the truest sense of the word to dig the Suez Canal, a waterway that connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, for the benefit of Great Britain, between 1859 and 1869 AD.

Even after Turkey was no longer a threat, many of the warlords in his army remained devoted to the Ottoman Sultan, resented his betrayal of the empire, and rejected his policies that reduced the Egyptian populace to servitude.

They understood that, through his betrayal, he had opened a door that would cause the Islamic world to come to an end and split up into weak, heretical nations once more. Their fate was to be executed at a dinner table or in a dark tunnel.

One of them, Prince Ismail, a gallant warlord of royal Turkish descent, traveled to Egypt with Muhammad Ali Pasha as part of the Ottoman campaign; to reclaim it, he engaged in bloody battles with the French, winning each one; he refused to accept what Muhammad Ali had done of betrayal and treachery; he refused to obey him and rebelled against him; Muhammad Ali attempted to kill him; The prince quickly recognized that the only way to avoid him was to flee from his grasp, so he followed the Mamluks’ lead. He fled Cairo with his family and a few staff, bringing the majority of the gold and cash he owned. In the heart of Badari, in Upper Egypt’s southern region, he started a new life.

He made an attempt to warn the caliph in Istanbul about Muhammad Ali, but his astounding accomplishment in putting an end to the insurgent movements in the Arabian Peninsula was heard louder than any warning he could have given. Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Muhammad Ali, was responsible for putting a stop to these movements that had long since worried the Sultan of Istanbul. As a result, the Sultan accorded Ibrahim Pasha special prominence before realizing his treacherous schemes and intentions.

He intended to assassinate everyone who he believed would oppose him and constitute a threat to him before starting his war against the Ottoman Empire itself, but Prince Ismail had gone one step ahead of him by siding with southern Egypt, where the Mamluk remnants were.

According to rumors, the state misses excellent leaders. Because of this, after they leave, it becomes progressively less powerful and people start to argue that the state has lost its meaning without them.

In fact, if the state fell after So-and-so, it was because he was the ineptest leader ever; losers receive tremendous legacies, then they plunder them, even if the state did not fail during their lifetime, but it quickly crumbles after their death. This is due to the fact that they destroyed everything they could have relied on, and their failure and ambitions served as the first nail in its collapse.

Since the Islamic conquest reached Egypt in the middle of the sixth century AD and up until the present, the country has been ruled by a variety of kingdoms and sultans, all of whom have one thing in common: they are all Muslims, of various races and origins, including Arabs, non-Arabs, Kurds, Mamluks, Turks, and others. Non-Muslims did not rule or had any authority over it.

Despite going through strong and weak points, nobody was able to occupy it. Hulagu, the leader of the Mongols, and all his predecessors after him dared not approach the Levant or Egypt after the power of the Mongols was broken on its land in the battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 AD, in which the Mamluk army confronted the strongest force on the face of the earth and destroyed their army from the ground up, expelling them from the Levant as a whole. Even Napoleon Bonaparte was unable to hold onto Egypt, or at least a portion of it, for longer than two years before fleeing on the third.

In any case, during this period of time, Egypt was still strong and able to resist any attempts at colonization by non-Islamic nations, despite the fact that its great leaders occasionally fought and wrestled with one another.

Muhammad Ali Pasha passed away in the year 1849 after suffering from dementia. Through businesses, investments, and other interests, Britain’s influence started to spread more into Egypt.  For them, the door was already opened. The successors of Muhammad Ali Pasha soon became in charge of administering a nation governed by colonial powers after Britain formally invaded Egypt in 1882 A.D.

Although it may not have happened during his lifetime, the effects of his acts and policies were immediately noticeable after his passing. He acquired control of a great nation before handing it over to the British on a golden platter.

Britain invade Egypt in 1910 after which Khedive Abbas Helmy II assumes control and formally joins the Ottoman Empire.

Prince Ismail’s descendants have risen to the top, engaged in trade and protecting their interests in southern Egypt. Naturally, as is Ottoman tradition, intellectual inheritance must be passed down from generation to generation. They were eager to teach their kids and grandkids about the ideals of the empire and the story of their brave grandfather who stood up to betrayal.

The Ottoman state will soon be a thing of the past, crumbled, fragmented, in its worst possible condition, deeply in debt, and the most worrisome development is that a secular movement has just recently won possession of power in Istanbul.

When Zainab awoke in the morning, she was found unconscious near to a waterwheel. When she opened her eyes, she saw a young guy who had just turned seventeen and was an Egyptian Ottoman, descended from Prince Ismail, with a face as round as the moon, brown hair, blue eyes, and white as snow.

Knowing that something had happened, he carried her into the carriage, hid her in a large basket, and hurried away with her.

-What’s your name, girl? he asked the little girl in the basket as he turned to face her.

In a trembling voice: Zainab.

-Whose daughter?
-Hajj Saleh’s daughter.

-I don’t know him. However, have no fear; you will be OK; my name is Hassan.

Who is following you, the man continued.

-The villagers, she muttered, have burned my sister, and they want to murder me.

-You mean the girl they said was possessed by a demon, he cut her off. Is she your sibling?

-Yes, they murdered my sister Fatima in a cruel manner.

-You’ll tell the entire story; let’s head over there now; you’ll be secure there.

The chariot entered a royal garden with a lavish palace in the middle of it, turned right among the trees, and passed through its gated entrance with numerous soldiers and a small army around it.

A short while later, he came to a stop in front of a little barn, closed the basket, and started to carry it. He was signaled to return by a servant who ran up to him, saying, “I’ll carry it myself; go tell my brother Mahmoud that I want him.”

He kept it hidden inside the barn while she started telling him what had happened to her, her sister, and herself, as well as how she had managed to escape. She revealed everything, with the exception of one thing, which she kept to herself and would not discuss with any other living thing. This secret belonged to Hatshepsut, and it will be buried in her chest for all eternity.

As a rebellious person by nature who despises Upper Egyptian customs and how they treat women, he made the decision to defend her. He was brought up according to Islamic beliefs, which included memorizing the Holy Qur’an, frequent prayer, and fasting.

-What do you want, Hassan? asked Mahmoud as he entered the barn. Who is this girl?

-I will tell you her story, but before I do, you must stay with her; I will bring her food and drink since I do not want any of the servants to see her.

The entire family had heard her story after only two hours.

He has a severe, powerful mother named Mrs. Karima. Following his father’s passing, she reared them and continued the family tradition. She has a strong Ottoman heritage and is highly aristocratic.

Aisha, his fifteen-year-old sister, resembles her mother a lot.

Mahmoud, his younger brother, is a young boy who spends his time learning, having fun, and riding horses. He is thirteen years old.

Since she is in the barn, he is particularly concerned about the servants, all of whom are residents of the nearby communities. If they discovered who she was and learned of her cover-up, there would be a serious issue and a confrontation would not be welcomed.

-Mother: Oh Hassan, she’s going to get us into trouble that don’t need. If she wants to leave, give her money and allow her to.

-They’ll catch her, she’s young, and God won’t forgive me if I do, so I can’t, Mama.

-if you started a battle in Upper Egypt, God won’t forgive you. This is something that your father would not permit if he was still living.

-We will keep it a secret, no one will know, and we will inform the servants that she is a new maid who will assist us within the palace.

-The news will leak out, my son. Don’t think they are stupid. I’m sure the whole village is looking for the girl.

-Let’s do our best, abandoning her now means her death.

-Well, but if the incident is made public and the villagers want her, she will claim that she brought her here without being aware of her backstory, and we will deliver her to them without engaging in combat.

-But mom…

-she interrupted him: Listen, Hassan, you are young and do not yet comprehend how things are going around you; this army of guards, servants, and farmers that surround us will desert us as soon as they learn that we have violated their norms and traditions; do not go too far. The villagers will attack us, and if those who support you continue to support you, and if your cousins back you, a war will break out here, and its echoes must reach Khedive Abbas and the British in Cairo. Do you really believe he is unaware of our presence? Instead, he is aware of our existence and keeps his distance from us because we don’t ask anything of him, don’t meddle in politics or the administration of justice, and instead focus on running our businesses and taking care of our personal affairs. However, if circumstances deteriorate to the point where we start a conflict here, he will use that as a pretext to expel us.

She added: If you want her here, you should know that we won’t go to war for her, so if you want her to stay, pray to God that no one finds out about her.

-Aisha interrupted them and asked what she did: I’m sorry, but did any of you listen to the conversation that was being had about her and her sister?

He waved his hand angrily since he didn’t like what he had heard.

-Stop calling me crazy, a believer in superstitions, and acting like an intellectual who doesn’t care about them.

-Since I am a memorizer of the Qur’an, I am not pretending to be interested in this quackery; rather, I am genuinely unconcerned. May God protect us.

-But what if she had already been cursed? And she brought the curse with her here? Shouldn’t we be considering this?

After she finished speaking, everyone was silent. They have all actually given it some thought, but they are refusing to give in. They reject the traditions and people of Upper Egypt. Many of them are viewed as being ignorant and based on paganism.

The mother, on the other hand, trusted what she said. The villagers will demand Zainab if they learn about her, and if Hassan refuses to give her to them, a fight will break out, upsetting the peace of the area. If Khedive Abbas in Cairo hears about it, he will reopen the case against Prince Ismail and his line of descendants.

While he agreed to his mother’s demands out of respect for her and out of a desire to avoid frightening or upsetting her, he knew deep inside that he was not the one who had abandoned one who seeks his aid to death.

As a consequence, he took steps to prevent the inevitable moment when he would have to face the villagers.

He urged Zainab not to leave the house so that she wouldn’t mix with anybody, but this did not stop the whispers from starting to spread covertly about a girl in the palace who no one knows who she is.

Rumors, if they reached the villagers, in conjunction with Zainab’s escape, could have disastrous results.

A potential clash is imminent, between the descendants of the Ottomans and the descendants of the Pharaohs.