An unsung hero

The tomb of Al-Ashraf Khalil needs an immediate salvage operation

Watts was talking about Al-Ashraf Khalil's monumental tomb, located 500m south of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, a high dome set on a square base whose entrance, due to the rising level of the adjacent streets over the last 700 years, is now five metres below street level.

"During the winter months, the floor of the tomb is covered with fetid waters coming in from the ice-cream factory which abuts it to the north, and the apartment house which abuts it to the south," said Watts. "A sizeable crack can be seen from within the great dome on the north-east. Stones on the corner of the exterior wall on the south-east are currently being propped up with an oversized broomstick."

So, who was Al-Ashraf Khalil, what did he liberate, when, and why is this tomb worthy of attention?

"The year 1291 was of central importance in the history of Egypt and the Levant," explained Watts. "For it was then that Al-Ashraf Khalil, our Mameluke sultan, completed the work first put in motion by Salaheddin by finally clearing the whole of the Levant of infidel invaders."

"With his capture of the port city of Acre in May that year, Khalil initiated the long era when the lands of the Levant and Egypt remained free from European rule," Watts went on. "Not until five hundred and ninety-one years later (in 1882) did the era end, ingloriously, with the British conquest of Egypt."

Al-Ashraf Khalil was still a young man when he undertook the tremendous task of mobilising the combined military force of Egypt and Syria for the attack on Acre, in Christian hands since 1104 and serving as a principal entrepot for the sale and exchange of the life-enhancing products of the East for the armaments of the West.

"European kings and princes assumed that the Mamelukes would not want to disrupt this profitable trade," Watts explained. "In their ignorance they failed to understand that in the eyes of Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil, the ending of the Christian occupation of Palestine and Syria was of far greater importance than the maintenance of trade. And, as the triumphant siege and reconquest of Acre proved, the Mamelukes themselves produced armaments of the most distinguished sort. At Acre, the sultan's forces were instrumental in destroying the massive walls which stood around the 'English Tower' and the 'Accursed Tower,' thus giving Mameluke troops under the command of the white-turbaned emirs ready access to the city's streets."

Why then do teachers and school children know everything about the English crusader king, Richard the Lion-hearted, contemporary and adversary of Salaheddin, but can barely remember the name of Al-Ashraf Khalil, the liberator?

"With the liberation and conquest of Acre, writers and propagandists in Italy, France and England tried to explain the reasons for Europe's dramatic defeat. The arguments they built up remained part of the common European culture for the next 700 years and more," said Watts. "After the British conquest of 1882 these ideas were introduced into Egyptian primary school curricula. It is the well-known prerogative of conquerors to rewrite the history of those who have been conquered."

That may be so, but is it not time to remedy the situation? "With the ending of British rule nearly half a century ago, Al-Ashraf Khalil should be given full recognition for his great and enduring contribution to Egypt," said Watts, who suggested that, as a first step, his tomb should be given due attention, and as soon as possible.

Aside from its historical value, the monument itself is artistically noteworthy. A portal leads into the structure. Floating above the walls, borne up by squinches, is the great drum of the dome. It is pierced by eight arched windows below which a magnificent band of carved stucco bears inscribed verses from the Holy Qur'an. Below, in the drum of the dome itself, are the eight windows, some still containing the green, blue and yellow glass, which once shed light on the sarcophagus.

"Al-Ashraf Khalil deserves to be recognised as one of the great heroes of medieval Egypt," said Sheldon Watts, who added: "I look forward to seeing immediate drainage operations in the tomb as a prelude to its restoration."