“Hi, there,” Silas said to the short, pudgy woman with gray hair swept into a bun that meant business. “We’re looking for Professor Emile de Saulcy. Can you direct us to his office?”
She peered over a set of narrow lipstick-red glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, one eye twitching with suspicion between him and Celeste. "And why do you need to see the professor?”
“Is he here, in his office?” he replied, side-stepping her question. “I understood this to be his office hours.”
The twitch was growing faster with skepticism. “He is. But what is the nature of your visit?”
“Forgive me, madam.” Silas chuckled, playing the part of the absentminded professor. “My name is Silas Grey, professor of religious studies and Christian history from Princeton University.”
“Princeton? From America?”
He smiled, glancing at Celeste. “That’s the one. You see, I’m working on an urgent…academic matter, really an archaeological matter that I believe the good professor could help me with. I also believe it is in his own best interest.”
“Really? In what way?”
Silas held his grin. She was far too nosy for her own good.
“It's a private matter, but concerns the professor's own academic and archaeological interests. So if you wouldn't mind directing my colleague and me to his office, we would be much appreciative.”
Her face sagged, having been denied some juicy, institutional gossip. But she rose from her chair without a word and waddled toward a doorway. “Follow me.”
Silas and Celeste glanced at each other, then followed the woman to the end of a long hallway. She stopped at a door and held up her hand, instructing them to wait at a distance from the entrance while she announced them to the professor. After a few minutes, she returned. “He's meeting with a student, but will see you when he is finished.”
Silas smiled. “Thank you, madam. We appreciate your help.”
She smiled curtly, then waddled back to her desk. In a few minutes, a young man emerged clutching a paper and a scowl. Apparently, his appeal hadn't gone very well.
Good for you, Professor.
He loathed open hours when students would barge into his quiet space and demand a passing grade or an adjustment of a half letter-grade, simply because they tried their best or spent all night studying or they weren’t feeling well the day of the test or whatever other reason they gave. The worst was when parents came riding in on their helicopters to save the day. While he generally could keep his cool with students, it was those conversations with parents that he prayed for an extra ounce of the good Lord’s mercy and patience.
“Professor Grey,” said the squat man in an ill-fitting suit coat with saggy jowls and shaggy, gray hair. He rose from his chair and extended his hand. “Pleasure meeting you. Your reputation precedes you.”
Silas gripped Saulcy’s hand. “That’s very kind of you to say. I hadn’t known my work made its way across the pond.”
Saulcy smiled. “When you’re in our line of work, the pond separating us is more like a puddle. Sit, sit. And who might this be?”
“Forgive me,” he said motioning to Celeste. “This is my…research assistant. Celeste Bourne.”
She smiled wryly at Silas, then extended her hand. “A pleasure, Professor.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” He held her hand a beat too long before Celeste gently withdrew her arm.
“So, Professor Grey, my executive assistant mentioned some sort of academic and archaeological crisis you needed me to help come to the rescue and solve?”
He laughed. "My goodness, she has quite the imagination. I'm not sure I put it in those terms. There's certainly no crisis. But it does concern a bit of research I’ve been undertaking. Concerning the Ark of the Covenant.”
The man’s caterpillar eyebrows wiggled with recognition, then rested again. “Oh, really? And what’s the nature of this…bit of research?”
Silas and Celeste both shifted in their seats, glancing at one another. Silas said, “I’m not sure if you’ve been following the events in Israel, at the Western Wall with Lucas Pryce.”
“Yes, yes. Most unfortunate. I had hoped Pryce could have pulled off the greatest archaeological coup the world had ever seen, especially after he found proof of the Ark’s existence in the first place at Tell-es Sultan.”
After he found proof of the Ark’s existence at Tell-es Sultan?
Heat began rising up Silas’s neck. So was his blood pressure. Celeste gently touched his leg, as if understanding the annoyance at having to relive the professional slight.
“I believe you were there, weren’t you? Pryce mentioned a bright up-and-comer assisting him way back when who found himself teaching at rival Princeton.”
Silas smiled weakly at the man. “Yes. I was…assisting, as you say. Anyway, as you know, the Ark and other Temple treasures were not in the chamber beneath the Temple Mount after all. But, given my experience at Tell-es Sultan, I myself have been fascinated with finding the Ark and have been working on a sort of side project, trying to discern the possible location of the fabled, lost relic. That’s when I came across an article you co-authored with our good friend Lucas Pryce. Or L. James Pryce, as he pseudonymously wrote under.”
“Ahh, yes. ‘Islamic Tradition and the Ark of the Covenant.’ That was quite the eye-opening endeavor.”
Silas shifted in his seat. “Well, that's what we hoped you could help us with. Because during our research, while we located the article, we couldn't view it anywhere. It seems to have gone missing.”
Saulcy smiled curtly. “That’s because Pryce wanted the article pulled several years ago.”
Silas glanced at Celeste, furrowing his brow. She said, “Why was that? Seemed like an important contribution to scholarship to simply pull it and stuff it in a sack.”
“It was. And I was furious at the suggestion. But…” Saulcy folded his hands on his desk and stared down at them. “Pryce can be persuasive.”
Silas noted that seemed to be a few years after he had made his discovery of the Ark scrolls. Was Pryce trying to hide any evidence connected to the Ark even back then? Burying any trace of its possible locations?
“Alright, so what did your article say?” Silas asked.
Saulcy turned toward a bookshelf behind his desk, then ran his fingers along a series of journals. “Ahh, here it is.” He pulled one out and handed it to Silas. “Read for yourself.”
Silas flipped to the article and started reading the abstract.
“Can you give us the bird’s-eye view, professor?” Celeste asked as Silas read.
“Certainly, madam,” he said winking. “In Islamic theology, the Ark of the Covenant is the name of a treasure chest given by Allah himself from Heaven and used as a weapon of war by the Prophets. This included Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon. And many Islamic scholars also believe by their holy prophet Muhammad.
Saulcy leaned back heavily in his chair, resting his hands on his belly, then continued. “For Muslims, the Ark is a sign given to them by their prophet. As the Qur’an says in al-Baquarah, ‘And their prophet said to them, Truly the sign of his sovereignty shall be that the Tabut come to you bearing tranquility from your Lord and a remnant left by the House of Moses and the House of Aaron, borne by the angels. Truly in that is a sign for you, if you are believers.’”
“Excuse me,” Silas interrupted, “did you say Tabut?”
“Yes. It’s Arabic for ‘Ark.’”
He nodded with recognition, noting how similar their word for Ark was to the Ethiopian tabot, the supposed replicas of the Ark used in Ethiopian churches. “Sorry for interrupting, professor. Continue.”
“One Islamic commentary explains that this Ark contained the Covenant, the Sakina, of the Islamic people. This covenant assured divine help and victory over the infidels with the prophetic relics contained in the Ark. These relics were connected to the rulership of God on earth as channeled by his prophets and messengers. And as such, the Sakina assured unfathomable and unrivaled powers to whoever possessed the Ark.”
Sounded a lot like what the Nazi’s had sought in George Lucas’s hit flick. He could understand why Pryce would want such an object. And Nous for that matter.
“According to Islamic lore,” Saulcy continued, “the Ark of the Covenant was actually from the era of Adam, not from the time of the wilderness experience post-exodus as it is according to the Judeo-Christian understanding. It was brought from Heaven down to earth. With the Ark, Adam was empowered as the Viceroy of Allah, and it contained the Black Stone in Mecca’s Grand Mosque known as the Hajar al Aswad, the Staff of Moses, the Ring of Solomon, and the Sword of Prophet Muhammad called Zulfiqar, among other relics. The Ark was passed from Adam to Seth, and then to Thoth where it was moved to Egypt.”
“Thoth? As in the Egyptian and Greek god?” Silas asked.
“Yes. Hermes Trismegistus, to be more exact, is a representation of the syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth that’s also important to Islamic tradition as Arab genealogists believe Muhammad to be a direct descendant of Hermes Trismegistus. But this is a digression.”
“Sorry. Proceed.”
“It is said that the Ark continued to be guarded by Adamite prophets who ruled in Egypt until the marriage of Hagar to Abraham and the birth of Ishmael, who is said to have inherited the Ark from his mother under the supervision of his father. The children of Ishmael, the Arabs, continued to possess the Ark, and it was moved to Al Khazneh in Petra, the treasury of the Pharaoh. According to this tradition, the Ark was eventually inherited by the Prophet Shuaib, whose daughter Safura married Moses. He was eventually given guardianship of the Ark of the Covenant and blessed to go free the children of Israel. Through the blessings of the Ark, they were freed, and Pharaoh was destroyed.”
Silas asked, “So that’s how the Israelites came to be in possession of the Ark, according to Islamic tradition?”
“Exactly. The Ark stayed with Israel, and in it they placed the relics of Moses and Aaron, the ones the Hebrew Scriptures describe. Then, when the children of Israel rebelled against Moses, the Ark was taken from them and hidden during the era of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Eventually, they got the Ark back when Saul retrieved it. The Qur’an states that David inherited the Ark and the kingdom from Saul when he killed Goliath. Then Solomon inherited the Ark of the Covenant from David and thereby became king. He rebuilt the Baitul Maqdis in Jerusalem, also known as the al-Aqsa mosque. King Solomon married Queen Sheba, and from her had a son, Menelik I. He gave the Ark's guardianship to his son, who carried it to Ethiopia after the death of Solomon, which was kept in secret for centuries.”
Silas and Celeste looked at each other. This closely followed the legend of Kebra Nagast. Another connection with the Queen of Sheba and Ethiopia. More confirmation that it was likely the hidden location. Had to be.
Celeste asked, “So does Islamic tradition still hold that the Ark is in Ethiopia?”
Saulcy shrugged. "At this point, the tradition is unclear, as the location has remained a secret sworn to the Twelve Imams, and known only by the Mahdi."
“Islam’s End Times savior,” Silas said.
“Yes, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for a various number of years, depending on the interpretation, before the Day of Judgment and will rid the world of evil. According to the Sunni hadith, there will be a return to a governance system along the pattern of spiritual and secular monarchial governance mentioned in the Qur’an. Al Mahdi is said to be from the bloodline of the prophet Muhammad and from the descendants of Abraham and Ishmael. He will rule as a king over the Ishmaelites with the Ark in his possession.”
“The Ark is important, then, to this End Times savior?”
“It is everything to the fulfillment of those eschatological prophecies.” Saulcy retrieved the journal from Silas, who had closed it as he listened. He searched for a page, then began reading:
In one Hadith, the reports and traditions of Mohammed’s teachings given after his death, the importance of the Ark and the Mahdi are clear: “The reason he will be known as the Mahdi is that he will show the way to a hidden thing. He will bring the Ark to light from a place called Antioch.”
Similarly, Sulaiman ibn Isa states: “I was informed that the Ark of the Covenant will emerge from the Tabariyya Sea through the efforts of Imam al-Mahdi. It will be placed before him at the Sacred House. When the descendants of Judah see this Tabut, all except a few will embrace Islam.”
The Qur’an itself reveals that the Ark is “a sign” for faithful believers, and some understand it to signal the identity of the Mahdi and the sovereignty of Allah he bears when it is found, evidencing his dominion and ushering in an era of moral purity and tranquility: “Truly the sign of his sovereignty shall be that the ark comes to you bearing tranquility from your Lord and a remnant left by the House of Moses and the House of Aaron, borne by angels. Truly that is a sign for you, if you are believers” (al-Baqarah; 2:248).
He closed the journal and set it on his desk. "It is unclear where the sacred house refers, either the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or the Ka'aba in Mecca, but the link between this End Times prophet and the Ark of the Covenant is clear. It is vitally important for the fulfillment of their End of Days prophecies."
“So according to Islamic tradition,” Celeste said, “the Ark of the Covenant will be revealed by the Mahdi, a descendant of both Abraham and the bloodline of Muhammad, ushering in the final Day of Judgment and an epoch of Islamic rule. All will view this retrieval of the Ark as a sign, embracing Islam in response, even Jews. Is that right?”
“You're right, madam. After revealing this sacred, prophetic treasure, the Mahdi will be coroneted king of the Kingdom of God, ruling as both sacred and secular monarch.”
Silas sighed, taking in the gravity of this Islamic connection with the Ark. This was huge, for the Ark’s unveiling meant fulfilling Islamic End Times prophecy, which would usher in their own messianic, salvific era—and usher in the eschatological era of Islamic rule. But he was confused by Pryce’s interest in the tradition.
“What did Pryce think about your findings?”
Saulcy breathed in deeply, then leaned forward in his chair and rested a thick arm against its armrest, staring at his desk as if searching for the words. “Titillated is the word I would use.”
Silas coughed. “Excuse me?”
“It excited him, but in a way that went way beyond the bounds of academic inquiry. Frankly, he became obsessed with the idea of the Ark-eschatological savior connection and began exploring them on his own after we completed our co-authorship. But that didn't surprise me.”
“Why not?”
“Why, because Lucas is Muslim?”