Sons of the People: The Mamluk Trilogy by Reem Bassiouney

Author:Reem Bassiouney
Format: epub

People in Cairo locked their doors and windows and brought in supplies of milk and bread. They stayed seated indoors, waiting for the conflict between Mamluks to come to an end so that they could go out into the streets and eat sweets on the banks of the Nile. No one knew when it would all end or indeed begin. People said that the deputy in Aleppo and governor of Malatya had both declared rebellion against the sultan. Syria was the key to Egypt, and rebellion in Syria meant ruin for Egypt and the end for the sultan. People kept whispering that Barquq had to be stupid if he thought that the Bedouin were his enemies, or the Ottomans or even the Mongols. No, the real danger was coming from the north, the far north, in Malatya.

The shaykhs noted that Mintash, the governor of Malatya, was renowned for his courage and bravery. He had joined forces with Yalbugha an-Nasiri in order to depose Barquq and reinstall the legitimate sultan. They were eager to restore justice throughout Egypt and to give government some legitimacy again.

Some sons of the people and Mamluks pointed out that justice was a term that Egyptians hated; all it brought was ruin. It needed to be erased from memory. Had not the judge of Qus invoked it before killing the amir’s son? Justice could go to hell, because all it brought were wars and pestilence. Even sweetmeats had disappeared from the markets. Did the salt-seller woman have any feelings? Sentiments among the poor were muted; for them, death was something to be taken in stride, not so? Jamaq’s mother would be weeping and would want us to feel how sad she was. But no one knew the slightest thing about the salt-seller woman. What kind of era was this in which everything was being turned upside down? The two amirs would arrive, finish off Barquq in Cairo, and that would be the end of it. That done, they could go out and eat sweets by the Nile banks. End of topic.

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