PART 1

The Prayer of Doctor Mukhafal

“…In the latter half of the 13th century, the Egyptian army grew significantly due to the reforms of Sultan Baybars. It comprised 40,000 soldiers, of whom 4,000 were mamluks. By the early 14th century, the Mamluk army numbered 24,000 cavalry stationed in Egypt, 12,400 of them assigned to the emir’s units. In the provinces, there were 13,000 mamluks and 9,000 halqa troops. The most prestigious unit in the Mamluk army was the Sultan’s personal guard...

Baybars substantially increased the salaries of his mamluks.
In addition to monthly pay, they received regular allowances—once or twice a year—for clothing. Each warrior had a daily meat ration and a biweekly stipend for horse feed. On top of this, officers were granted lavish gifts before military campaigns or during the ascension of a new monarch. By the early 15th century, the pay for an ordinary soldier was 3 dinars, while an officer earned 7...”
(From historical records)

Doctor Moufaq Mukhafal.
Professor at Cairo University.
Sorbonne alumnus. Fluent in five European languages.
Seventy-six years old. Energetic as ever. I suspect he runs on solar panels. And here, the sun shines all year round...

We’re traveling across land soaked in the blood of prophets.
This is where the world’s three great religions were born—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Why God chose this land for His divine dialogue, I do not know. But it was here that the longest conversation between man and the Almighty took place.

We drive across the plains of Moab, now a region straddling Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. We’re in search of traces of the mamluks—and there are many to be found.
We’re traveling through a rocky desert, guided by 13th-century maps. Modern ones are useless here.
The borders of the Arab Caliphate were different then.

We’ve passed Al-Maghtas, the baptismal site.
Skirted Bahr Lut—Lot’s Sea, the Dead Sea.
We drove by the fortress at Machaerus (now Mukawir), where Herod Antipas had John the Baptist beheaded.
Passed through Umm al-Jimal, a ghost city built entirely of black basalt.

These men—once slaves—eventually became defenders of their new homeland. And over time, they transformed from servants into sovereigns of this blessed land, leaving behind monuments to their greatness.
What could be nobler than that?
And yet, somehow, all of it has faded away.

Strange.
I don’t know if God heard me.
But the professor and I had to keep moving.

We were expected in the village of Sandanaya.
That’s already Syria.
In its central square stand two houses of God: a church and a mosque.
Both were completed by the mamluks…

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