Zayni Barakat

Zayni Barakat by Al-Ghitani is a fictional account of the last year of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt, right before it is taken over by the Ottomans. The premise of the novel is based around Zayni Barakat who is the Markets Inspector of Cairo and the Land of Egypt who keeps rising in rank and status as the novel progresses and eventually gains the addition of more titles to his name which lead to an increase of power. He holds one of the highest position in Egypt at the time, however he has no blood relation to the Sultan and basically does his bidding for him. One of the most interesting things about the novel, in my opinion was the issue regarding the lamps. Zayni, as Markets Inspector is responsible for protecting the people of Egypt. He establishes laws and rules and makes public announcements which apparently was a rare thing to see in a man of his power. These public announcements account for his actions and this reasoning behind them throughout the book. The issue with these lamps was concerning God and privacy. I thought it was interesting how Zayni Barakat made the announcement to place lamps around the city to fill it with light during the night so that the people would be safe from whatever mischief the Mamluks would cause, that the people had objections. This ties into political affairs and and to me seemed to show signs of a democracy. Zayni wanted these lamps to help protect the people and administer justice but the people objected claiming that God wanted the light in the day and the darkness in the night. The claimed the darkness was a shield that God intended to place over them and protect them and provide them privacy. After the objections from the people the Emirs or nobles got together to discuss this issue with scholars. The two parties had different ideas on the matter. The Scholars were in favor of the light because they felt the people needed protection even if it meant taking away some of their privacy. The Emirs however didn't want the lamps at all and the scholars thought this had to do with them wanting their Mamluks to be able to cause any mischief they would like. The decision was made to get rid of the lamps. I thought this was one of the most interesting episodes in the novel. It shows a strong example of how politics worked during the last year of the Mamluk dynasty and it showed and example of religion and culture.
In my honest opinion, although there were some interesting points, this book was difficult to follow. I understand that since it is historical fiction that names and language and every day activities must be true to fact but I think that is what made the novel hard to follow. The names were long and hard to pronounce and therefore as a reader I had difficulty keeping tract of who was who and therefore did not grasp the full historical context behind it. From a literary standing point i thought the novel was compelling. It used great imagery and diction to convey a the feeling behind the setting. The novel is set in a time of great suspicion in Egypt and through literary elements it is definitely successful in conveying those issues. As for an historical analysis, I found that since i knew little about this era before reading the book, that I was unable to comprehend the full historical significance behind many of the events.