1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 266: The Land of Desert and Palm

"O followers! When the call to prayer is made on Friday, then proceed diligently to the commemoration of Allah and excuse off your stuff. That is best for you, if only you knew.

when the prayer is done, disperse through the land and seek God's grace, and remember God greatly so that you may succeed."

-        Qur'an, Surah Al-Jumu'ah (62), Ayahs 9-10

On the Ninth of August 1454 AD, Abdullah with several other delegates protected by a war galley arrived outside the port city of al-Iskandariyya, or better known as Alexandria. 

People have always imagined the land of Egyptus as a vast kingdom built on a desert, upon the desert spans the softest gold the world has to offer in the form of sands and dusts, whispering the land's prehistoric history to the passing wind bringing the former glory of the Egyptian civilisation to the Mediterranean, With the heat from the mighty Nebu, God of Sun, tainting the eventide skies in a vibrant blossom red, creating waves after waves of heat accompanied by dust casting on to the passers by anchoring their souls making them become woven to this place. 

But actually no, the city of Alexandria at least shows no obvious difference than the other cities in Rumelia, and our dear Abdullah is surprisingly pretty familiar with this place remarking that this place has not changed for the last twenty years as he set foot on the port. In the harbour decorated from the dappled day light by the dom palm trees forming a line of defense against the erosion of land by the sea water, it is indeed a natural business harbour protected by a generous curve of land barricade bringing peace to the ships inside its warm hugs against the winds and tides outside. 

Abdullah looked at the city he has spent a year of his life in when he was young, with a complicated mind set. The port together with the city, is still filled with the noise of merchants from the lands of Italia, Rumelia, Jerusalem, Catalonia, Francia trying to sell their cash crops and domestic products in exchange for buying the golden artefacts and most important of all, wheat from the local Egyptians. Since the times of the Roman dominance the fertile irrigated lands along the river Nile is the main food source for the empire, and it continued until now. Especially after the various European autocratic government found themselves hard to feed their bursting population fast recovering since the dreadful bubonic plagues. 

This scene shall continue for some more time, but any one can see that the population of Egyptus is also fast growing and one day the Europeans will have to stop relying on Egyptian wheat and find a way to feed themselves, or, there will be war of uprising, with no doubt.

Abdullah remembered the days twenty years back when he entered the city as a junior student coming here to study Egyptus' rich knowledge, getting awed by every new stuff he came across touching here feeling there embraced by this piece of foreign land, with nothing in his mind except for the thirst and will for new knowledge. But now after twenty years, he is a different man. Alexandria is the same Alexandria, Mamluk is still the same Mamluk, Abdullah is the same Abdullah, but his heart and mind is now completely different. He came here this time not to play, tour and study, he came here for a diplomatic mission, he still has a city to save. 

There is a reason why he landed in Alexandria not the port in the port of Damietta, which is the closest route to Cairo the official capital city of the Mamluk Sultanate, is because Abdullah needs to take advantage of this metropolis and currently most populous city of Egyptus to fish out some information about the current political structure in the Mamluk Sultanate. Before his departure from Thessaloniki, he has already gathered some information about the Mamluk government from a merchant who has been out sailing in the seas even before the Siege of Constantinople, saying that the current Sultan Zahir Saif al- Din Jmqmq has been ruling Egypt, Syria and Jerusalem for almost two decades. 

Abdullah do have impressions of this Sultan who used to be a slave from Circassia, and he did further research about him before he set sail. What he found was demoralizing. This Sultan, who only came to throne in the age of near seventy, showed some great level of disdain negative diplomatic attitude towards the Christendom and pressed a much more friendlier gesture towards the states of the same faith, he tried to attack and subject the crusaders on the island of Rhodes three times, ordered the entire city of Cairo to celebrate when he received news of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II's victory against the Crusaders in Varna, apart from all of this, he is also known for his generosity towards the Islamic scholars with a high piety. Sounds just like the perfect model for any Saracen Sultan, which might not make the decision to help Thessaloniki against the Ottomans.

After thinking again and again Abdullah decided to do things in a safe way, instead of going straight to Cairo and meet the Sultan putting himself in danger, he paid a visit to one of his old school mate, who is now in office as a Mullah in the Mosque of Sidi Gaber, he ought to have some intel about what is going on in the Mamuluk political center of Cairo, and the likings of the old Sultan which might prove to be useful to Abdullah's mission. In fact, Abdullah has a great suspicion that the intel he acquired from the Egyptian merchants in Thessaloniki is severely outdated, because when he studied the flags with the insignia of the Sultan hang in the port, it is not the insignia of the Sultan Zahir Saif al- Din Jmqmq.

When the group of people went there to the mosque standing under it, a follower of Abdullah scrutinized it and exclaimed. "Damn, if I am only to look at this building itself, I would have thought that this is a church in Hagia Sophia! The two building structure are almost identical." 

"I have always said long before that there are plenty lot of similarities between the Rumelian, the Turks and the Saracens in many aspects and fields with the same historical cultural influence This is even more enhanced by the hundreds of years of living and mixing with each other, I can bet that most Ottomans carry Rumelian blood and like wise, many Rumelian carry Turkish traits. It is just that both sides have already lost their mind in the long term of fighting against each other creating too much hatred separating the two people further and further away, but when Antonius expands his territories further he shall face the problem of how to lessen the hate between both sides and live together harmoniously This shall be your topic question this week, I want you all to write an essay discussing this problem by next week." 

"Yes, master." Groaned his followers and disciples as they kicked the man who exclaimed just now for causing them extra trouble. 

It is a Friday today to the Christian calendar, which is also called the day of 'Jumu'ah' to the Muslims, a day of gathering, the most significant day of the week which all Followers of The Great Prophet shall bring their entire families to the near by mosques and pray for the remembrance of God seeking God's grace leaving all other mortal stuff aside. It is in the high noon now with the sun right above the blue sky, it is now the time for the alt al-Jumuah, or, in simpler terms, the Friday prayer. 

Following the huge amount of people gushing in to the mosque, Abdullah did see his old friend inside preparing for the coming prayers and sermons being in charge for the ceremony. He too saw Abdullah, and the later, out of courtesy and respect, did not go up and call him, instead the two old friends just nodded with each other and nodded, then went away doing their respective stuff. 

Abdullah and his followers queued to enter through the Mirhrab in to the prayer hall, and received a public blanket for praying which he got to return later, and lined up behind the crowd of people waiting for the prayer ceremony to start doing all the necessary things just like a Muslim, even for Abdullah's followers who are Christians. Because they knows that if that in a society as a logical man, especially in the world of diplomacy, the first thing in priority is to obey other people's rules and respect their heritage in order to get things done. 

The group of people followed exactly every step of the praying ceremony following their mentor Abdullah, going through the three stages of Khutbah Jumu'ah, Jumu'ah prayer, and Qunut. Echoing the prayers in the Qu'ran and Hadith despite they completely not understanding what these priests are talking about. They stood and kneeled there for almost the entire afternoon, and when they feel that their back is going to break, the ceremony finally ended.