‘Ali Ahmad Bakathir’s novel, ‘Wa Islamah (Oh Islam)’ was published in 1945 at a time of conflicting views over Egypt’s political future as the country nears decolonization and approaches self-rule. The novel dwells on a specific event in Arab-Islamic history, namely, the war of Mamluks against the invading Mongols at ‘Ayn Jalut’ (1260), which saved Egypt and Islam and halted the westward expansion of the Mongol Empire. Through the novel Bakathir revisited the significant historical event and stages it as a narrative tool for transmitting Islamic ideology to the Egyptians in order to call upon them to unify under the banner of Islam against the challenging West rather than other nationalist ideology such as, Egyptian Arab nationalism and integralist Egyptian nationalism. This paper investigates both the textual and contextual significance of Bakathir’s work, with particular reference to the use of the novel genre as a vehicle for expressing political critique as well as propaganda for an altogether different ideology. Situating the novel in the sub-genre tradition of the Bildungsroman, which focuses on the growth of the main figure through a series of mistakes and disappointments, this paper explores the ideological development of Bakathir’s protagonist, Qutuz and his final discovery. Quṭuz initially appeared to have hesitated and did not automatically recognize and accept the fate that would force him to sacrifice himself for the sake of the Islamic world and Egypt. However, over time he realized that it was inevitable. At the end of the novel, Qutuz, even came to realize that he had to die for Baybars being the next Sultan. The paper will address the following questions: In what ways does Bakathir successfully reinvent the ‘Ayn Jalut war as a glorious Islamic victory and symbolize Qutuz as Islamic hero? To what extent does the novel succeed in promoting Islam as a triumphant imaginary and a more valid ideology for formulating a new Egyptian collective identity? Does the novel constitute a socially symbolic act in a larger meta-narrative of competing ideologies in Egypt in the age of decolonization or no