The Morning of the Mogul Series

This is the story of two successive military coups in an Arab country. The first is accomplished by a republican secularist junta, and the second by Islamists. The narrator, Bassam Bourasin, an eccentric and zealous bank clerk, decides to write down a top-secret report to protest against his incarceration by the new regime. His purpose was to clean up himself from the serious charges he was facing and prove that he was well devoted to the new masters of the country. As the narrative develops, he unveils many details about his life in his village, 'Ouja, and his new condition in jail. Thus, he tells the reader about his obsessions and secret ambitions, his old mother living in the past with the British settlers, his fiancee Dalila whose hugging or kissing is forbidden to him by social traditions, and his secret archives where he had managed to record for the posterity many details concerning life and people of 'Ouja. That entire world collapsed when a coup overthrew the King, and the big purge started. What happened to him and his boss, Mr Aroussi, was all the more painful that the man for whom he was working as a snitch, the mighty chief of the party's cell, Hamda La'war, was still free. The latter was considered a national hero in the country since he was awarded the Order of High Merit from the former king for cuckolding the village's shoemaker and getting an eye punctured in the brawl. To obtain the same medal, Bassam was ready to do anything, even if he had to convince the new masters of the country of a conspiracy against the security of the state being concocted by the cooks of the prison and their occult allies. That is the second purpose of his top-secret report, which he intends to submit to the authorities. But out of the blue, a second coup led by the Islamists happened; a mutiny burst out in prison, and Bassam was forced to readjust his views to be in the "right" direction of the wind. Henceforth, he devotes himself to the Islamist cause and tries to be the benevolent "historian" of the Islamist "revolution." Taken between the anvil and the hammer and fearing for his life, he endeavours to prove that he had always supported the Islamists since he had discovered the plot of the cooks. He does not mind if some of his new "friends" are members of the Mafia or trained terrorists. His dream is to be permanently helpful, and his ambition is to be like his hero, John Law, a great brain in the finances. An acquaintance from prison will help him make his dream true. Hassan, an opportunist journalist, will be propelled to the front scene by the new regime. The influential Director of State Security will make a deal with Bassam. He will release him, make him a wealthy businessman and offer him to marry his sister Sophia. He will use him as a screen in some not very orthodox deals. Somehow unaware, Bassam will be transformed into a merchant of weapons and, occasionally, a constructor and share-holder in a major bank. Meanwhile, the civil war burst out.

This is the story of two successive military coups in an Arab country. The first is accomplished by a republican secularist junta and the second by Islamists. The narrator, Bassam Bourasin, an eccentric and zealous bank clerk, decides to write down a top-secret report, to protest against his incarceration by the new regime. His purpose was to clean up himself from the heavy charges he was facing and prove that he was well devoted to the new masters of the country. As the narrative develops, he unveils many details about his life in his village, ‘Ouja, and his new condition in jail. Thus, he tells the reader about his obsessions and secret ambitions, his old mother living in the past with the British settlers, his fiancee Dalila whose hugging or kissing is forbidden to him by social traditions, and his secret archives where he had managed to record for the posterity many details concerning life and people of ‘Ouja. That entire world collapsed when a coup overthrew the King, and the big purge started. What happened to him and his boss, Mr Aroussi, was all the more painful that the man for whom he was working as a snitch, the mighty chief of the party’s cell, Hamda La’war, was still free. The latter was considered a national hero in the country, since he was awarded the Order of High Merit from the former king, for cuckolding the village’s shoemaker and getting an eye punctured in the brawl. To obtain the same medal, Bassam was ready to do anything, even if he had to convince the new masters of the country of a conspiracy against the security of the state being concocted by the cooks of the prison and their occult allies. That is the second purpose of his top-secret report, which he intends to submit to the authorities. But out of the blue, a second coup led by the Islamists happened; a mutiny burst out in prison, and Bassam was forced to readjust his views to be in the “right” direction of the wind. Henceforth, he devotes himself to the Islamist cause and tries to be the benevolent “historian” of the Islamist “revolution.” Taken between the anvil and the hammer and fearing for his life, he endeavours to prove that he had always supported the Islamists since he had discovered the plot of the cooks. He does not mind if some of his new “friends” are members of the Mafia or trained terrorists. His dream is to be always useful, and his ambition is to be like his hero, John Law, a great brain of the finances. It is an acquaintance from prison who will help him make his dream true. Hassan, an opportunist journalist, will be propelled to the front scene by the new regime. The powerful Director of State Security will make a deal with Bassam. He will release him, make him a rich businessman and offer him to marry his sister Sophia. He will use him as a screen in some not very orthodox deals. Somehow unaware, Bassam will be transformed into a merchant of weapons and, occasionally, a constructor and share-holder in an important bank. Meanwhile, the civil war burst out. The country is divided. Some people are with the new regime; others will side with “The Scoundrel” — i.e. the former president who had taken refuge in the oil-rich desert. An odious massacre is perpetrated in ‘Ouja. The Islamists and their rivals charge each other of the slaughter. Bassam is caught in a dilemma. He suspects Hassan of being the instigator of the massacre in which his mother and former fiancee were killed. Then who is Hassan? Who is Bassam? Are they not the obverse and the reverse of the same coin?

In this fourth volume, Bassam Bourasin continues his hurly-burly speculation on the conspiracy of the cooks, members of the Global corporation of the Muslim Brothelhood. He fights on all fronts: Rats, angels, aliens, and the Multinational Muslim BrotheLhood Corporation, hijacking women and forcing them to work for the company. When he asks Mr Aroussi, his jailed bank Boss, to hire Frankenstein after release as a vigil, he discovers that the latter has robbed a bank. Advised to hire a lawyer, he accepts without conviction, hesitates between pleading guilty or not guilty, and decides to be not guilty. As he is not sure the authorities jailed him without reason, he will continue writing down a top-secret report for the highest spheres to prove his loyalty to the government of Our Beloved General President (BGP). The visit of his fiancee Dalila and her refusal to postpone their marriage for over twenty years plunges him into spleen and depression. The Afghan and his Muslim brothelhood propose he join them. He refuses, although he is sure the conspiracy of the cooks is coming to a climax. He prepares himself for the worse, foresees his death, hears the voices of Munker and Nakeer, the prosecuting angels of the grave... and, out of the blue, explodes the thunder...which he takes for the voice of God speaking to him. But actually, it was just the detonation of guns. For the rebellion has started in the Bastille!

Nothing in Bassam Bourasin's story is what it seems to be. We may deduce this from Part One of The Morning of the Mogul. Part Two reveals that the novel's narrator, the events and characters, the country itself, time, and space are all warped or have numerous levels and dimensions. What is real? What isn't? In Book (5), Bassam Bourasin witnesses an insurgency overthrowing a dictatorship to install another in the name of religion. As he analyses the events leading up to his detention, he begins to assume that his "angels" are members of the invisible state police and the Muslim Brothelhood. Had he misinterpreted the cause of his incarceration? Is he really innocent, or is he a pawn in a larger game? Who is controlling the events and the characters in the background? If he indeed worked for the old regime, he is in grave danger. For the time being, the Islamist state has been proclaimed.