Amir:
In this context, Mamluk military officers of different ranks, including the rank of Amir of One Hundred and Amir of One Thousand.
Atabeg:
In Mamluk Egypt, a military leader of the highest level.
Banyan:
Banyan merchants is an expression used widely in the Indian Ocean trade to refer to Indian merchants who are clearly distinguished by their clothing, their religious and cultural dietary choices, and by the manner in which they conduct trade.
Bunder boat:
A small boat used to transport people between large ships and harbours.
Caliph:
A person considered a political and religious successor to the Prophet Muhammad and a leader to the entire Muslim community.
Caravel:
A type of small ship used by the Spanish and Portuguese at the time.
Dawadar:
The bearer of the Sultan’s inkwell, the equivalent of Chamberlain in the Mamluk hierarchy.
Dervish:
Member of a Sufi Muslim ascetic path (Tariqa), known for their extreme poverty and austerity. Dervishes focus on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego in order to reach God.
Dhow:
A lateen-rigged ship with one or two masts, used chiefly in the Arabian region.
Dhul-Qarnayn:
A figure mentioned in the Quran, believed to have built a great barrier to hold Gog and Magog at bay.
Emir:
A prince or sovereign in the region.
Frankish:
A blanket medieval Muslim term for all Christian peoples of continental Europe and the British Isles.
Ghutra:
The traditional Arabian headdress fashioned from a square scarf (also known as keffiyeh or hattah).
Hadith:
Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, separate from the Quran.
Haggadah:
The text recited at the Seder on the first two nights of the Jewish Passover.
Izar:
On the Arabian Peninsula, a large piece of cloth men wear around the waist, similar to a sarong.
Jabrid:
A tribal dynasty that ruled a large part of the western coast of the Arabian Gulf.
Jinn:
In Islamic theology, they are demons with free will made from smokeless fire.
Khasiki:
Bodyguards of the Sultans and high-ranking amirs.
Khawaja:
A title commonly used in the Middle East and Asia, meaning ‘master’ or ‘lord’.
Majlis:
A room where rulers held council and received guests. In a private home, a room for receiving and entertaining guests.
Malabar:
Mercenaries from the Indian region of Malabar.
Mamluk Sultanate:
Militaristic medieval realm with its capital in Cairo that ruled over Egypt and Syria, initially formed by an aristocracy of slaves.
Palanquin:
A passenger conveyance, usually for one person, consisting of an enclosed litter and carried by means of poles on the shoulders of several people.
Pasha:
A title used in the Ottoman Empire for high-ranking military and political officials.
Qizilbash:
Shi’i militant groups that flourished in Azerbaijan, Anatolia and Kurdistan from the late thirteenth century onwards, some of whom contributed to the foundation of the Safavid dynasty of Iran.
Si:
A title meaning ‘mister’ or ‘sir’ in Tunisian Arabic.
Vizier:
A political adviser or minister of the highest rank. A Grand Vizier is similar in importance to a modern-day prime minister.
Zaidism:
An early sect which emerged in the eighth century out of Shi’a Islam.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Green, Toby, Inquisition: The Reign of Fear, London, Pan Books, 2008
Hall, Richard, Empires of the Monsoon: A History of the Indian Ocean and its Invaders, New York, HarperCollins, 1998
Khalidi, Azzam bin Hamad & Khalidi, Iman bint Khaled, The Jabrid Sultanate in Najd and Eastern Arabia, Beirut, Al-Dar Al-Arabiya lil Mawsou’at, 2010
Khalil, Mohamed Mahmoud, History of the Gulf and Eastern Arabia also known as the Bahrain Region under the Rule of Arab Statelets (469–963 AH/1076–1555 AD), Cairo, Al-Madbouli, 2006
Newitt, Malyn, A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion, 1400–1668, London, Routledge, 2004
Al Omar, Said bin Omar, The Arabian Gulf: Its Political History and its Relations with the Countries of the East and West, Dammam, Maktabat Al-Mutannabi, 2008
Zine al-Abidine, Bashir, Bahrain and her Foreign Relations in the Sixteenth Century, Manama, Centre for Historical Studies, University of Bahrain, 2009
Author’s Note
I have long been intrigued by the period of time between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Many major events took place during those fateful decades, not only in the Near East but in the rest of the world as well. Ultimately, it was the moment of history that ushered the Near East into a dark age just as Europe emerged from its own.
In the final decades of the fifteenth century, Europe sent its fleets to discover the world and take control of maritime trade routes. Christopher Columbus eventually reached the New World, the Portuguese circumnavigated the Cape of Good Hope, and the powerhouses of Europe began to close ranks against the Ottomans. At the same time, the Islamic world, which, unlike Europe, had enjoyed a great deal of religious tolerance and coexistence, was going into decline. In 1508, the Portuguese fleet reached the shores of the Arabian Gulf, setting off a chain of events that led to the demise of the Jabrid sultanate, then the most formidable power in Arabia. The Jabrids fiercely resisted the Portuguese invasion, but were eventually defeated, thus ending their reign. The Mamluk sultanate in Egypt, a militaristic state that dominated the Muslim world for centuries, collapsed at the hands of the emerging Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Marj Dabiq. The Ottoman Sultan Selim became the new Muslim caliph, after the last Abbasid caliph handed over his seal and the Prophet’s cloak, officially recognising him as his successor. Istanbul became the capital of the Islamic world.
This period may be well chronicled in Western records, but in the Arab world it is obscure and inaccurately described, vague and neglected in academic books, despite the commendable efforts of some academics to gather as much information as possible about this historically significant era.
I have relied on Arab and Western references to set the historical background of this novel; some of the works I am most indebted to are listed in the bibliography. I was keen to use characters who were actual historical figures, and honour their role in the events described in the novel. My aim was to link these events together and to revive figures who have been forgotten over time or who have been overlooked by historians in light of the successive tumultuous events that followed.
Arabic edition first published in 2014 as Al-Shiraa‘ Al-Moqaddas by
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Copyright © Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud, 2014
Translation © Karim Traboulsi, 2015
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ISBN: PB: 978-9-9271-0167-0
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