and unit the faithful from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, rejecting the failed foreign system that had been imposed by the Europeans, who had destroyed their culture with the foreign ways of the Nazarenes.
He focused his attention on the internal problems of his country, leaving traditional foreign demons to one side. The oil and gas riches were directed to developing agriculture and infrastructure, building industries adapted to the real needs of his country, pushing back the desert. He created an economic miracle, certainly modest compared to the economies of Asia, but considering the catastrophic state of his country, economically and psychologically, he achieved a success unknown in the Arab world outside of the small oil rich countries of the Gulf, giving his people pride in their unity, their religion and their economic advances under a purely Arab concept of government.
His achievements brought the admiration of the other countries of the Maghrib who prayed for the rebirth of Arab dignity. He created the Arabian Caliphate of the West composed of the North Africa countries, which became Sultanates in the Caliphate, the seat of which was Algiers. The Caliph delegated his power to the leaders of those countries, who acknowledged his authority, making it possible to reconcile the existing political powers with the symbolic power of the Caliph. The ministers, or Wazirs, of the Caliph coordinated political affairs with the Sultanates and the Ulama watched over religious affairs. The Caliphate extended from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, in a similar manner to that which had existed during the early Arab expansion and during the Ottoman Empire.
The Caliphate was stable under the selfless leadership of the Caliph, El Rashidun - the Guide. It remained nevertheless a mosaic of states that always squabbled and competed with each other, incapable of any real cohesion throughout their history, exactly as all other Arab tribes, kingdoms or nations throughout their peoples' history.
Algeria, with its Sunni population, its agricultural resources; wheat, olives, citrus fruits, its industries, oil and gas and its proximity to Europe, gave it the role of economic motor, the natural leader and federator of North Africa. Attentive to the susceptibilities of Egypt, Rashidun acknowledged its pre-eminence as the cultural and religious centre of the Caliphate, though leaving no doubt as to the political and military leadership of Algeria.
The expansion of the Algerian Caliphate had first commenced with Morocco and Tunisia, then Mauritania and Libya, and finally Egypt, when its government realised that they had much to gain and that El Rashidun's ambitions were not motivated by his personal aggrandisement, but by the creation of a united Arab Caliphate with a privileged voice amongst the nations of the world and where the well being and prosperity of its peoples were placed above all other considerations.
Though Egypt remained the cultural and commercial centre of the Arab world with its great population and Cairo the capital of the Sultanate, the representative political power of the Caliphate remained in Algiers, which expanded into a city with a population of six million, reinvigorated by its new role as the seat of a new Mediterranean power.
Rashidun’s unaccomplished dream had been to extend the Caliphate towards the south, to the Islamic countries of Central, East and West Africa. Those countries weakened by decades of disease, depopulation and disintegration.
Arab intellectuals and nationalists had long dreamed of the creation of a new Caliphate after the decline and conquest of their world by the Ottomans in the 16th century and the division of their lands into separate states with their borders drawn to suit the ambitions of the colonial powers of Britain and France at the end of World War I.
A number of caliphates had existed since the birth of Islam; the first was established in Medina, Arabia, followed by caliphates of Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo and other cities. The Turk, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, abolished the last so-called caliphate in 1924 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Rashidun did not make socialist promises, empty of real substance, but concentrated on obtaining real results, jobs, education and training, encouraging the traditional Arab family and spiritual values, uniting the African Arab nations for their mutual benefit and not for personal ambition. His sincere rule set the example hunting down corruption and nepotism, promoting pan-Arab cooperation and joint projects, a trans-North African highway and railroad, electrical power generated by gas and oil in Algeria distributed by a grid serving all regions of the Western Caliphate.
His political ideas were not to the liking of the Americans or Europeans. To their great dismay he had little need for Western political concepts or reforms, which had done nothing but harm to the countries that had experimented with such political forms, especially Algeria with its calamitous experience of soviet style socialism and industrialisation that had handicapped the country’s development over a period of more than fifty years.
The fundamental Islamic movement had evolved towards a larger concept of pan-Arabism with the traditional political structures of the Arab world, rejecting Western values, which to them signified European philosophy and the traditions of Christianity. These were not adapted to the Arab world for a multitude of different considerations: history, tradition, climate and geography, which had continued to exist and prosper without any fundamental change since pre-Christian times in the Middle East.
Why should Arabs have accepted Western values when they had their own beliefs and values, cherished by a people living in the vast arid region that lay between the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans? Why adopt so-called liberal democracy when political problems could be solved by chiefs and wise men, as they had been done since ancient times? Why accept the concept of a separation between the God and his earthly realm when the two formed the very basis of Islam?
Those who rejected the instauration of the Caliphate were not persecuted, but were simply shamed by solid public opinion and those who were proud of their rediscovered destiny. The discontented were encouraged to change their ideas or leave.
The aspirations of the Caliphate came to a heartbreaking and tragic end when El Rashidun, who had become a living myth, was struck down by a grave and debilitating illness; his vision of the future and a monumental task was left in the hands of sincere but less capable men.
The Western Caliphate was almost paralysed and agonised in the hope of a miracle from Allah. It slowly slid into a long period of decline after almost two decades of hope and renewal.
The greatest legacy of Rashidun was the disappearance of the legendry animosity and competition between the different African Arab countries that once again looked to the east for leadership.
A certain degree of prosperity had reigned in the Western Caliphate and the past financial aid from the oil rich countries of Arabia was no longer needed, they had attained a degree of economic independence though there was the mounting problem of the falling oil and gas exports, and the growing problems of drought and desertification.
During the troubles in Algeria and North Africa, which had given birth to the Western Caliphate, the European Federation was engaged in the assimilation its new member states, ex-communist block members. Europe was concerned with its internal economic problems, the problems of national identities and minorities, human rights, women’s rights, and not least the dangers of the Federation's polarisation between north and south. Europe looked across the Mediterranean with a mixture of fear and contempt as they observed the birth of a new power with a population of two hundred million people. Grateful at the same time that their needs for oil and gas had declined and they were no longer dependant on the volatile decisions of the energy producing nations.
The hard line political attitude to non-European refugees from the Caliphate had become part of everyday life across the Federation, even though the Federation remained the principal trading partner of the Caliphate.
The City
The Old Port did not resemble the postcards that Ennis had seen in the hotel lobby shop, though the sky was blue and the buildings in the distance were off-white and rose-coloured. The boats moored in the harbour were not so pictur
esque, mainly small fishing boats lacking maintenance, and a few other old wrecks with one or two exceptions. The oily black water lapped the harbour walls, flowing onto the sidewalk at high tide leaving an odour of salt, oil and sewers in the air. There was nevertheless a certain picturesque charm, when seen from a distance.
“So Ennis, here is the port. It’s true it’s changed but today it’s a working port, a fishing port, not for pleasure boats.”
“I thought there was also a bigger port, an industrial port?”
“Yes, the ocean port, in that direction,” he said pointing to the west.
“It’s still there?”
“Of course, all the commerce with the Caliphate passes through the shipping port. Under the French there were a lot of problems, you know dockers’ strikes, unions, communists...all that's changed now, people are happy to work.”
“I suppose it’s still possible to get a fish stew...bouillabaisse...and sardines in the restaurants.”
“Naturally, a bouillabaisse, let’s go and see,” Djellali said looking at his watch. “It’s lunch time.”
His many responsibilities forgotten, they lunched in one of the many harbour front restaurants; it was called ‘Le Rascasse’. A smart