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.