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They are the ten thousand students come from all parts of the world to absorb the changeless doctrine of El-Azhar. At the first view it is difficult to distinguish them, for they are far down in the shadow, and out here we are almost blinded by the sun.
And it is not difficult to understand, perhaps, how the spectacle of our troubles, our despairs, our miseries, in these new ways in which our lot is cast, should make them reflect and turn again to the tranquil dream of their ancestors. . . . While waiting for the conclusion of the morning studies, we are conducted through some of the dependencies of El-Azhar.
Michael imagined that he would find that stage if he went to his old friend at el-Azhar, if he went humbly and asked him to lead him into the way of peace, if he went that very night and confessed to him his own failure to reach the stage which is enjoyed by all devout Moslems.
It had been the ambition and the desire of his life to study in the great university of el-Azhar, the most important Moslem university in the world. His money had all been stolen from him, when Michael's servant found him.
The inexhaustible wealth of buried Egypt forced before his eyes the treasure of gold of which Akhnaton had spoken, that imperial wealth which he had buried behind the hills of his fair capital. He felt convinced that it was there; he felt convinced that his friend in el-Azhar had seen it, just as the Arab soothsayer had seen the royal effigy dressed as a bride.
And the girl's whole being seemed inundated with the light of the gorgeous heavens above her as she passed down the Sukkariya, the broad and pleasant path running under the gate, and her eyes shone as they rested on the huge and ancient El-Azhar, the university of all Islam.
The little incident was as illustrative of the effects of Islam as the peace within the courts of el-Azhar. Michael sat in the cemetery, which had seemed to him to be of no more consequence than a heap of stones by the wayside, awaiting the roadmender's hammer. Yet, with the strange inconsequence of Orientals, it was evidently a sacred spot. It had its pilgrims and its uses.
"I take that risk. But, honestly, dear, are you going to adopt that fanatic, take him on with you?" "I'm going to look after him until he's better," Michael said, "if that's what you mean." "You've got one protégé in el-Azhar. I wonder where this one will find his home?" "He will be all right in the morning. Some food and sleep will set him on his way again."
At the gates of el-Azhar Michael paused and listened. The praises of Allah, and man's love for Him, went up from a hundred devout voices. The pillared courtyard looked vast and solemn; the soft air of the summer night vibrated with the sonorous chanting of students and professors.
These men at el-Azhar were learning nothing which could ever serve to put one penny into their pockets. He could hear Freddy repeating his favourite words of a great modern writer, "I should always distrust the progress of people who walk on their heads. I should always beware of people who sacrifice the interests of their country to those of mankind."
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