Elephant Park

Elephant Park

Moussa Ould Ebnou

Translated from Arabic by Marhaba Language Expertise

Mounir Oyo was walking through ʿUrana, heading toward Namira on the day of Arafat. Before he crossed the valley, a one-eyed sheikh stopped him. The sheikh was thin, limping, crying, and hunchbacked. He wore a green silk cloak and held a pitchfork in his hand. Mounir thought, “This is Satan who was described in the ancient books!” He became sure of this when the sheikh greeted him with the jinn greeting:

          “May darkness prevail, Hajj [pilgrim]! What country are you from?”

Mounir said:

          “Satan! I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, from his evil humming and whispering, and from his descendants and helpers.”

“Don’t seek refuge with Allah from me! I will not violate the sanctity of this great holy day. I am a pilgrim like you! What country are you from?”

“I’m from America.”

“Awesome! The Great Satan who rules the world, the country of millions of my servants and followers whom I have seduced and led astray! How are the people of America? How did the recent elections in your country go?”

“The Republican candidate Abraham McLashram won.”

The cursed Satan was overcome with joy and started clapping and shouting. Then he exclaimed:

          “What an opportunity! You’ll see how I will tempt him to repeat Abraha al-Ashram’s attack on the Kaaba!”

Remembering that Ayat al-Kursi (the verse of the throne) scares Satan away, Mounir recited it. The cursed Satan ran away, leaving behind him a trail of stinky odor.

As soon as the setting sun crowned Mount Arafat, like a hat on its top, the cursed one flew to Washington, D.C. Soon, he hovered over the White House, the official and central residence of the President of the United States of America. The newly elected President was sitting in the garden enjoying the fresh evening breeze when he saw a tall person hovering between sky and earth, holding a pitchfork. The person’s feet soon touched the ground, and walked forward, limping slightly on his left leg. One of the security men reached for his gun, but he froze before grabbing it. The other officers also froze and became statues. The person approached the President:  a man in his sixties, with a white goatee, wearing a uniform in the colors of the American flag. He was wearing a high, starred hat over his long hair and a blue jacket with its chest, collar, and the tips of its sleeves lined with white silk striped in red. His pants were in the same color. He was one-eyed. His blind eye was all black and the other one was greenish and squinting. His gaze had a seductive sparkle, and his mouth was crooked. Between his lips, the teeth were protruding, sharp, yellow, and engulfed in darkness. The President was taken aback and shouted in amazement:

“Uncle Sam!”

Uncle Sam asked in a distinct Texan accent:

           “May I have a seat, Mr. President?”

The President readily offered his seat.  

          “With pleasure! Go ahead, go ahead!”

Satan quietly took his place on the seat.  

          “Allow me, Mr. President, to congratulate you on your resounding success!” As he said this, his squinting, greenish eye glowed.

“That warms my heart! It is a great honor for me to have Uncle Sam congratulating me, the man whose name replaced the name of the United States of America and who became the symbol of its struggle for freedom!”

Satan got to the heart of the matter:

          “Do you know why the Founding Fathers chose the elephant as the logo of the Republican Party?”

“It is the symbol of the balanced Republican voice that does not fear the Democrats’ jackass, that cheap voice in the shape of a donkey!”

“No! The elephant, symbol of the Republican Party, is the elephant of Abraha...”

“Abr... what?”

“Abraha al-Ashram.”

“That name sounds like mine.”

“That’s because you are the modern Abraha.”

“And when did Abraha live?”

“He lived in the happy Jahiliya, the pre-Islamic era. When the Al-Ahbash appeared in the land of Yemen, their king was Abraha…”

“Who are Al-Ahbash?”

“The inhabitants of ancient Abyssinia, present-day Ethiopia. Abraha built the Qulleys church in Sanaa, Yemen, with the help of Byzantine craftsmen. It was a church like no other in the east or the west. He wrote to Ashama al-Najashi (the Negus, king of Ethiopia) that he would not stop until he had forced the Arabs to make their pilgrimage to the Qulleys church instead of the Kaaba in Mecca. The news of Abraha building the church spread and the Arabs spoke of his letter to the Negus. A man from Kinana got angry. He set out till he reached the church, where he urinated. The incident was reported to Abraha, and he asked about the culprit. he was answered: ‘This was done by one of those Arabs who went on pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca. When he heard of your declared intention to divert pilgrimage from their Sacred House to your recently built church, he got angry and came to urinate in it, declaring it to be unfit for pilgrimage.’ Upon hearing this, Abraha flew into a rage and swore that he would demolish the Kaaba. He ordered the Abyssinians to prepare for war and led a big expedition against Mecca with an elephant. Today, Abraha returns to life in your body to attack the Kaaba anew.”

“No problem! We can launch a missile carrying a nuclear warhead from one of our ships in the Gulf to destroy it and wipe Mecca off the map!”

“No, no, the Kaaba is protected by Holy powers and will not be destroyed by a missile. It will only be destroyed by Dhul-Suwayqatayn (the man with the thin twisted legs) from Abyssinia.”  

“Who?”

“Dhul-Suwayqatayn. The Prophet of Islam, who spoke nothing but the truth, said: ‘The Kaaba will be destroyed by Dhul-Suwayqatayn from Abyssinia. The sea will bring a group of Sudanese people, they will be in large number and will flow like ants until they reach the Kaaba in order to destroy it and steal its treasure and kiswa, [the cloth covering it]. I swear it is as if I could see him now: twisted legs, bald head, blue eyes, small ears, snub nose, fat belly. He and his companions will take the Kaaba down brick by brick, and then throw the bricks into the sea’. Dhul-Suwayqatayn will destroy the Kaaba and remove it. You will assign him this task.”

“But where is this Demolition Man? In any case, this is a mission that requires an entire army and cannot be entrusted to one person.”

“Dhul-Suwayqatayn will be able to perform the task if you clone him. If you transport the clones by sea, in large numbers, and make them flow like ants to Mecca, they will reach the Kaaba and destroy it. In present-day Ethiopia, only one person matches the description of Dhul-Suwayqatayn. His name is Bero Maskal, an eunuch monk serving St. George’s House Church in the city of Lalibela in the Amhara region, northern Ethiopia. Clone him and assign the clones the task of demolishing the Kaaba.”

“Tell me what happened to Abraha’s elephant. Was it killed?”

“No, he got lost for a while between Taif and Mecca, then died of thirst.”

“We will send excavations to extract its remains and bring back to life the symbol of our party.”

A wind blew and shook the leaves of the trees. Low black clouds gathered foreshadowing a cold, rainy night. Uncle Sam got up to leave and said:

          “Excuse me, Mr. President, but I have to leave. Undoubtedly, I have a lot of time, but I also have a lot to do!”

“I am overjoyed by this visit, which I see as a good omen at the beginning of my term!”

          On Tuesday, July 29, the President convened a National Security Council meeting devoted to discussing the trends of the new Arab politics and the reasons behind the hostility of Arabs and Muslims toward the United States and ways to confront it. The meeting was attended by orientalist William McDonald; Joseph Davis, Director of Georgetown University’s Center for Oriental and Arabic Studies; Imam Dawud Hussein, a member of the North American Muslim Union Association; and Kevin Jacobson, Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, as well as permanent council members. Mint candy was placed in front of each participant. The President unwrapped his candy and ate it. He peered at the candy in front of the Secretary of State, then gestured to him if he wanted it. The Secretary of State shook his head; the President grabbed it and ate it. Then he addressed a question to Joseph Davis:

          “How do we ensure the success of our new policy in Arabistan?”

“Changing the Arabic language, Mr. President, is the key to…”

         “What do you mean by changing the Arabic language?”

“For example, deleting some letters, such as qaf as in al-Qaeda and al-qaid (the leader), kaf as in al-kufr (unbelief), and jim as in jihad (holy war). We should also have the CIA hack the Arabic language academies.”

The CIA director interrupted him:

          “We have agents inside the Arabic language academies. We can mobilize them to achieve this goal.”

“There is no point in changing the Arabic language, the root cause of terrorism, extremism, and the hatred of Arabs and Muslims toward America is the pilgrimage to Mecca. Arabistan must be subordinate to the United States, the American flag must be raised on the Kaaba, and the pilgrimage to Mecca should become a pilgrimage to America!”  

“Why not demolish the Kaaba and build another one in Ground Zero, in the same site where the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed in the 9/11 attacks, and make the Muslims do their pilgrimage there?”

Dawud Hussein interrupted:

          “The Kaaba cannot be moved to any other site. Allah guided Ibrahim to the place of the Kaaba and authorized him to build it.”

“There is another solution: We take out the Black Stone and display it in the September 11 Memorial Museum. Muslims will come to it for blessings, and thus we will have diverted the Muslims’ pilgrimage to the Museum of the pain that will never be erased from our souls. They will see the names of all the victims of their barbaric attacks engraved on the bronze panels that surround the walls of the two memorial sites and the waterfalls flowing over them like heavy tears. Then they will regret what they did…”

The President asked William McDonald:

          “Has the Black Stone ever been removed from the Kaaba before?”

“Many attempts have been made to remove the Black Stone from the Kaaba.  In the year 317 AH (930 CE), the Qarmatians attacked Mecca and took the Black Stone with them to their lands and its place in the Kaaba remained empty. People kept touching the empty place, seeking blessing. The Black Stone remained in the possession of the Qarmatians in Bahrain, before returning to Mecca twenty-two years later...”

The President interrupted him, asking the Imam:

          “Why is the Black Stone so important to you?”

“The Black Stone is the holiest part of the Kaaba. It is a precious stone from Paradise. Orientalists claimed that the Black Stone was nothing but a normal basalt stone. They wanted to prove their claim, so the Royal Geographical Society of Cambridge University sent Mr. Humphrey, the famous British spy, to steal a piece of the Black Stone, and deposited the piece of Black Stone in the Natural History Museum in London for scientists to analyze. They found out that it was a meteorite of a unique type. The spy was affected by that and declared his conversion to Islam. He also wrote one of the most beautiful books on the subject called A Trip to Mecca in two parts. He described in the first part his hostility toward Islam and his conspiracy against Muslims. In the second part, he described his submission to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.”

The President said:

          “All this proves that if we moved the Black Stone to the September 11 Memorial Museum, Manhattan would become a Mecca for Muslims!”

“Mr. President, why don’t we colonize their countries and do to them what we did to the Indians?”

“Because their land is barren, and its heat is unbearable. If you eat ice cream there, it melts before it reaches your mouth!”

“Or encourage Jewish settlers and give them back what was taken away from them.”

Conde Ummu Hamal, the national security advisor, whispered in the President’s ear:

           “The video call with the Najdi Sheikh has started, we can see him.”

Addressing the audience, the President announced:

           “This is a sheikh from Najd. We invited him to the meeting to participate in our discussion, hoping that he will provide us with sound advice.”

There appeared on the screen a one-eyed sheikh. He was wearing a green square silk cloak and held a pitchfork in his hand. He looked like he was in his sixties and his face was pale, concave, and bony. He was astonishingly well-informed, speaking English with a wondrous fluency, tainted only by a light Arabic accent. He gave a presentation on the institutions, associations, and organizations that demanded the revival of paganism in the Arabistani region, as well as their capabilities and effectiveness, and how they had succeeded in planting some of their agents among the workers in the ongoing expansion of the Haram (The Sacred Mosque).

When the image of the Najdi sheikh disappeared from the screen, William McDonald interjected:

 “There is no point in attempts to revive paganism as long as America is unable to communicate with the Arabs.”

“How can we communicate with people who support al-Qaeda, make their women wear veils, eat camel meat, and hate us?”

“Mr. President, if you want the Arabs to respond to you and accept your policies, you must address them in a style familiar to them.  If you had put the political messages addressed to them in the form of long, rhymed poems, they would have received them enthusiastically. I suggest that the White House spokesman be bearded and dressed in Arab clothing. He should also be a talented poet who delivers his statements addressed to Arabs in well-composed verses. The podium of the press hall should be replaced by a camel for the spokesman to ride, gesturing to journalists with a stick...”

“How would the camel be cared for? And what would do we do with its urine and feces in the hall after each conference?”

“We could use a genetically modified camel that urinates and defecates only at specific times. We should also have a glass of wine by the press secretary, instead of the current glass of water.”

“That would get us in trouble with alcohol control organizations, in addition to the trouble that the camel would cause with the animal protection organizations.”

“This is nonsense! With Arab extremism on the rise, Arabistan has become a threat to our national security, and it is now necessary to change the government there.”

“You mean inciting a revolution or a coup?”

“No, as long as the rulers are Arabs, the situation will remain the same or even worsen. We must seize power in Arabistan, give it to an officer of our armed forces, and ask the King of England to make him nobility. If he becomes a nobleman, the tribes will race to pledge allegiance to him.”

“He will not be able to rule because he is not a Muslim.”

“His religion does not matter. They forbid disobeying the ruler no matter what. They see that if they are under infidel government, they should adhere to their Islam and their faith, but not risk themselves or venture to confront the ruler.”

The Secretary of State spoke up: “Mr. President, where are our democratic principles? Have we not pursued the policy of the Greater Middle East for more than half a century and sought to change dictatorships and replace them with elected democratic rule?”

“Arab extremism and Islamic terrorism are currently the greatest threats to democracy!”

At the end of the meeting, which ran for ninety minutes, the CIA director noticed that the President was eyeing her candy, so she passed it to him.

          The following Monday morning, the Council met to discuss the elephant issue. They listened to a presentation by Alfred Rosenbaum, an archaeologist from Yale University, head of the U.S. expedition to excavate the Bir Hima (Hima well) archaeological site. Before the presentation, Rosenbaum handed the President hard copies of the slides that would be featured during the presentation.

“Abraha’s military campaign, known as the elephant incident, as narrated by the Quran in the Surah titled “Al-Fil” (The Elephant), took place during the Ethiopian rule of Yemen. The Arabs call that elephant Mahmoud…”

The President thought: why don’t we change the name of the Republican Party and call it Mahmoud’s Party to pay tribute to the Founding Fathers?

         “Hima wells are one of the most important rock petroglyphs and inscriptions sites in Arabistan. That site has one of the most unique collections in the world in terms of the number and quality of rock carvings as well as the diversity and number of inscriptions and historical writings preserved there. There are also elephant drawings and inscriptions of the name Abraha. An unfinished sculpture of an elephant was also found near Bisha, on the road from Najran to Mecca. In Wadi al-Qura, in Al-Ula, north of Medina, now known as Wadi al-Jazl, there is a large elephant carved on a rock a few meters high.  Other inscriptions of elephants, two of them with their riders, and inscriptions of Abraha near them, were also found, confirming that these inscriptions are related to Abraha's story. The relationship of these inscriptions to the elephant incident is confirmed by the writings discovered close to the drawings of elephants in which the name of Abraha is mentioned. This proves that the Abyssinian and his army passed through the wells of Hima.

           “The elephant incident had a great impact on the Arabs, and it is still alive in their collective memory to this day. For example, part of the road connecting Najran to Mecca is called Darb al-Fil (the elephant road), which shows the importance of this event in their collective memory. I remind you that the elephant is an animal that disappeared from the Arabian Peninsula more than 200,000 years ago. There is no doubt that Abraha's elephant passing through Najran must have stunned the locals, hence the inscriptions of Hima. There is no longer any doubt that the elephant drawings in Hima represent the elephant of Abraha. The elephant in these inscriptions is giant, matching the characteristics of an African elephant. Its ears are large, and it has two holes at the end of its long trunk. His fangs are massive, and his back is hollow. There is a bump on his head, and he has five fingers in the front legs and three in the back. The African elephant is one of the largest land mammals, living in savannahs, plains, forests, swamps, and river edges. It eats grass, fruits, leaves, bark, and roots. It drinks a lot of water, so it always settles near a water sources. It's a social animal that lives in herds of dozens of elephants. The social structure of the elephant herd is matrilineal and the herd is led by an elderly female followed by her offspring. Young males are expelled from the herd at about the age of fourteen and lead a single life, except for the mating season. Elephants have a deep sense of family and a great ability to express their feelings, especially when one of their peers dies. There is great solidarity within the herd. It does not have a predator due to its large size. However, the lion can attack baby elephants. It is believed that Abraha's elephant was not a war elephant participating in the attack, like the elephants of the Persian army that repelled the Muslim armies, but it was more of a symbol of the king Abraha. It is said that in the thirties of the sixth century, Negus, the king of Abyssinia, received a Byzantine ambassador sent by Justinian. He sat on a throne carried by four elephants”

          On the morning of Thursday, July 31, the Ethiopian ambassador came to the White House, in response to the President’s request. He was happy with this spontaneous interview that gave him the opportunity to try to gain the President’s support for the financial request presented to the United States Government to help Ethiopia, under the World Heritage Convention, to restore the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, listed among the Endangered World Heritage Sites. One of the reception staff came to tell him:

           “Mr. Ambassador, come with me, the President is waiting for you!”

The ambassador followed the staff member until they reached the padded door of the President’s office:

           “Please come in, Mr. Ambassador!”

 “Hello, Dean, may I address you with this title? You are now the Dean of the African diplomatic corps. The Lord's Assemblies, the American branch of the International Fellowship of the Lord’s Assemblies, of which I have the honor of being a member, intend to organize a forum entitled "The Ethiopian Eunuch, Minister to Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians", and they want a certificate of an Ethiopian eunuch. They have chosen Bero Mescal, who is an eunuch priest guarding the Church of Saint George in Lalibela. I would like you to deliver to him this envelope containing a cash amount and an invitation from The Lord’s Assemblies to participate in the forum to be held in Springfield, Missouri, on the first of September 2053.”

“I will, Mr. President. But allow me to speak to you on another matter...”

“Go ahead, what is it?”

“I want you to support the request made to your government to help my country restore the rock-hewn Lalibela churches listed as Endangered World Heritage Sites...”

“Your country is not eligible for this type of aid, because it has granted asylum to a terrorist group!”

“Ethiopia has not granted asylum to any terrorist group! We are keen to apply international rules against terrorism...”

“Don't you remember when a group of Muslim terrorists took refuge in your country?”

“Which group, Mr. President?”

“Muhammad’s companions who fled Mecca.”

“That was in Abyssinia, in the days of the Negus, nearly two thousand years ago!”

“Anti-terrorism laws do not lapse by statute of limitations!”

          Bero Maskal received the invitation and prepared for the trip. On the day of departure, he said goodbye to his family a few hours before heading to the airport. But his mother’s goodbyes were completely different; for she felt that something evil awaited her son in the dark. He went to Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, finished the procedures, and then boarded the plane, heading to his seat. At 8:30, the plane began to move slowly, then it took off and the flight to New York began, which would take 17 hours and 45 minutes without any stoppage. Bero Maskal continued reading the Bible until he heard the arrival announcement to the United States, a few minutes out from Newark Liberty International Airport. He arrived at 7:15 pm New York time, got out of the plane, walked through corridors, and. Before reaching the immigration office, he passed by a space with huge windows overlooking the towers of Manhattan. He enjoyed the unique view for a few minutes before heading to the airport hall, which was organized despite being crowded. He walked through the rows until he found the crowded lane designated for those holding entry visas and stood in it. He approached the immigration officer, handed her his passport and the documents he had in his possession. She then gave him the entry form, since the airline didn’t distribute the forms on the plane. He filled it out before the watchful eye of the officer, who invited him with a smile to take his time. After that, he took his bag from the baggage reclaim area and passed through customs without being searched. Heading toward the exit, he glimpsed an electronic board, similar to those referees hold in football matches, with his name written on it in illuminated green letters. He went to the woman holding up the board.

“Are you Bero Maskal? Welcome to the United States! I’m Emily, from The Lord’s Assemblies, in New York. Let’s go to the hotel!”

Emily accompanied him until he reached his room. Before leaving, she told him that she would be taking him to Najd’s clinic the next morning. “As part of the routine, you will undergo a medical examination.”

He asked her when the trip to Springfield was.

          “The date has not been determined yet. I’ll keep you posted.”

          Emily returned the next day and accompanied him to the clinic. There, a nurse led him through a sterile corridor that creaked under foot and reflected objects in sticky, ever-forming images. At the end of the long corridor, he was greeted by a young brunette. Her figure looked sculpted, her hair flowed, and she looked graceful in a snowy, wide-pocketed blouse. She looked enchanting, like an idol! Her gaze was incapacitating, like the sting of a jellyfish. A strange red line, no wider than the edge of a knife, encircled her neck. Her earrings were shaped like mice… «The mice are alive!» The mouse hanging from his left earlobe climbed up to explore the earlobe! She made Bero Maskal wear a light robe with a tie in the back, and gave him slippers, gloves and a mask before leading him behind a rubber curtain.

          On the sixth day of his stay in New York, Emily informed him that the forum had been canceled and that she had reserved a seat for him on the flight back to Addis Ababa. The purpose of Bero Maskal’s visit to Najd’s clinic was to take cells from his skin and use their DNA to clone him. The cells were cultured, and their nucleus removed. Fresh, mature egg cells from highly fertile women were selected and enucleated. The nucleus of Bero Maskal’s cells was inserted into the enucleated host eggs, to produce zygotes. The fertilized eggs were stimulated by electric shocks to divide. One hundred thousand eggs began to form embryos. Fifty thousand were selected, and before it reached the blastocyst stage, they implanted it in the artificial wombs. To accelerate the growth of the embryos, they were immersed in a cytoplasmic solution enriched with a growth hormone, to obtain clones of Bero Maskal’s age at the same time. Then, the clones’ brains were reprogrammed according to the pre-coded ‘Demolition Man’ program.

          President Abraham McLashram was known for his impulsive, humorous nature. But he was not in the mood to joke when he welcomed Bahart Wayman, the famous paleontologist of Yale University, to appoint him to head the team tasked with excavating the elephant skeleton and bringing it back to life.

“The elephant the Abyssinians led to destroy the Kaaba is the one which our Founding Fathers chose as a symbol for our Republican party. It died between Taif and Mecca. I choose you to head the team tasked with excavating his skeleton, bringing it back to life, and cloning one thousand replicas of it.”

“This requires obtaining a license to conduct excavations in the Mecca area, which is impossible, because Islamic laws prohibit the entry of non-Muslims into that area.”

“This is unacceptable and contrary to our principles. We must find a way to change it.”

“We could issue a decision from the Security Council that forces Arabistan to open the area around Mecca to non-Muslims.”

“No, the United Nations would only get us in trouble. I will summon the Arabistan ambassador and will try to obtain the license without resorting to the Security Council. NASA has begun operating a network of satellites moving at an altitude of 700 kilometers, scanning the surface of the region in the infrared field. This wavelength range shows differences in soil density, enabling embedded skeletons to be highlighted.”

          As soon as the ambassador of Arabistan took his seat in the oval-shaped room of the ambassadors, and began to admire the panoramic painting covering the walls, one of the reception staff members came toward him and said:

          “Mr. Ambassador, come with me. The President is waiting for you!”

The ambassador followed the staff member until they reached the padded door of the President’s office:

          “Please come in, Mr. Ambassador!”

The ambassador entered, feeling a sense of awe at being in the Oval Office, the place symbolizing the power of the President of the United States. The three large windows behind the President’s desk almost reached the floor. The President stood between two high-backed armchairs next to the fireplace, in the corner of the room opposite his desk. He shook hands with the ambassador and invited him to sit down.

          “We haven’t had the chance to meet since my appointment...”

“Allow me to get to the heart of the matter I summoned you for. I would like you to facilitate a project that is of utmost importance to me.”

“At your command, Mr. President!”

“I need permission to organize archaeological excavations in the region around Mecca, in order to find the remains of the elephant that died there…”

“The elephant that died in that area was Abraha’s elephant, which was led to destroy the Kaaba.”

“That is the elephant which our Founding Fathers chose as a symbol for our party! I want to extract its skeleton and revive it again.”

“We are extremely proud that Arabistan owns the symbol of the Republican party! If your teams could determine the location of the skeleton, that would greatly enrich our country’s map of archaeological sites. Is it possible, Mr. President, to honor our National Museum by hosting the skeleton and including it in our exhibits? That would surely attract more attention from the visitors.”

“We’ll see, we’ll see. When do we get the permission?”

“As soon as possible. Once I return to my office, I will contact the Antiquities Authority and ask them to issue the permission.”

The President pressed the ringer button, signaling the end of the meeting. The staff member entered and escorted the ambassador to his car.

          The US space agency NASA directed all its satellites, which were equipped with ground-penetrating radars, to take thousands of high-resolution images from space of an area surrounding Mecca by 2,000 square kilometers. After three weeks of geospatial exploration, a complete skeleton of a fossilized elephant, in an almost perfect state of preservation, was discovered in the sand northeast of Taif, in Saiysad National Park. They were able to date the skeleton and confirmed that it belonged to an elephant that lived approximately 1,482 years ago, which was the period of the Elephant Incident. The United States purchased Saiysad Park. An international nature reserve was established over a large area that included a wide range of natural environments. A large international reserve has been established and named Elephant Park. Kiewit Corporation, a leading engineering and construction company in North America, was contracted to construct various civil facilities such as residential and service buildings, roads, drinking water supply networks, water pumping stations, and sewage networks. Forests were planted to provide grass, fruits, leaves, bark, and roots for the elephants (each elephant needs between 200 kg and 300 kg of food daily). Rivers, lakes, and swamps were excavated because elephants drink a lot; although they can survive for several days without water, they can drink up to 200 liters of water daily. That was how Saiysad Park was converted into an African Savanna that could accommodate clones of Abraha’s elephant.

                    A cloning laboratory and a complex of massive artificial wombs, which would serve as surrogate mothers for elephants, were built. They took samples of genetic material from the skeleton and cultured them for a period of time to fill in the missing sequences in the genetic code and obtain a complete sample of chromosomal DNA. The nuclei were inserted into enucleated eggs of female elephants. The fertilized eggs were stimulated by electric shocks to divide and to form embryos. Before the embryos reached the blastocyst stage, they implanted it in the artificial wombs. To accelerate the growth of the embryos, they were immersed in a cytoplasmic solution enriched with growth hormone. This was how they were able to produce 1000 adult elephants in 40 days, which meant that what would have been begotten in 30 years was achieved in less than two months. All the elephants were healthy, their sizes were large, their backs arched; their tusks were long, and their large ears resembled the continent of Africa. They weighed 8 tons, and were 7.50 meters long, 4 meters high, and had a trunk length of 1.15 meters.

          An agency of the Department of Defense, in cooperation with Houston Dynamics, an American robotics company, oversaw the development of driver robots that matched the number of elephants. Those robots were operated by “Mahout” program to tame and train elephants. The National Park Service issued a call for applications for the position of park director. Ryan Bouchana applied for it. He was the perfect nominee, due to his 30 years of experience in reserves in Malawi, Chad, and Kenya. He was initially excited about this new challenge, but his first visit dampened his enthusiasm. He found a large herd of elephants with no females, and local residents who hated the elephant. But the National Park Service was able to convince him to accept the position and pledged to clone the females. He was also promised that he would have the final say in every matter whatsoever (unlike many reserves in the United States, where park directors serve as advisors to government employees). The biggest problem Bouchana faced was the jihadist attacks. The first step he took upon his arrival was to appoint a director in charge of combating terrorism. Then he invested heavily in security measures. He distributed communication devices among clan leaders and asked them to report any suspicious activities, promising them financial rewards. Moreover, he called on them to convince the locals to bear the responsibility and respect the value of the park. Bouchana also recruited 600 guards from among the people of Ta’if. He was able to gain their trust, and convinced them that jihadists, contrary to what they claim, were not God’s soldiers and could be defeated. He sought the help of Tom Dusek, a retired Navy officer, who applied the training program of the US Marine Corps on them, then formed a rapid intervention squad composed of carefully selected guards.

          Will Burns, an advertising expert, was named the park’s marketing director. When he was assigned his tasks, Ryan Bouchana said to him:

          “People here despise the elephant. You have to make them love it, and accept the park!”

“Successful promotion creates a brand story. We must tell the Elephant’s story first and then promote the park second. We should present the Elephant Park as the place of resurrection of the righteous Wali (saint) Mahmoud, Abraha’s elephant which refused to enter Mecca and demolish the Kaaba, so it deserved to be honored and to become a symbol of piety, righteousness, blessing, and devoutness to Allah. We should invite people to visit the pious Wali Mahmoud in his garden, sanctify themselves by seeing him, and earn his blessings to be cured from incurable diseases, produce a healthy offspring, and have all their needs fulfilled.”

Elephant Park became the favorite park for Arabistanis. The park received great reviews and star ratings on TripAdvisor and other review sites. Elephant Park became one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world. In 2055, the number of visitors reached 150 million, and by 2057, the number was doubled to more than 300 million. Visitors would stay with the elephants for three days for ten thousand Arabistani Riyals per person, including bed and breakfast for two days at the hotel, as well as participation in most of the activities such as cornac courses to learn to train elephants, or walking alongside them in the Park. Seeing the elephants, riding them, and walking with them were special and enjoyable experiences. In this unique park, visitors spent unforgettable times feeding the elephants, riding on their backs, taking tours on foot or by trains accompanied by tour guides. The Arabistanis called the park "The Shrine of the Righteous Wali Mahmoud". They began to worship elephants, sacrificed sheep, camels and cows to them, and cooked food for alms. They beat tambourines and drums and supplicated aloud:

 “O Mahmoud, help us! O Mahmoud, help us!”

          On 28 February 2054, the elephant Mahmoud 1 left the park, heading to Washington, D.C. on a military cargo plane, accompanied by his cornac robot, by Bharat Wayman, and by the team that cloned him. When he set foot on American ground, he was received by a brass band, a high-rank Republican party delegation, and the director of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. The news of Mahmoud’s arrival, an exceptional event, was broadcast live on television channels. He roamed the famous Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol Building to the White House, in an open-top bus that made its way among hundreds of thousands of people who had gathered on the avenue hours before his arrival to welcome the symbol of the Republican party that had been brought back to life after all this time. Mahmoud received a hero’s welcome, along with his company, before they all headed to the White House. There, the President of the United States Abraham McLashram and his husband stood to welcome him. Then Mahmoud and his company headed to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, his residence, where a house was built for him near a multi-generational herd of elephants. The park issued a statement announcing that Mahmoud was in good health and that the public would be allowed to see him starting from the next day, Saturday.

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