The novel "Jews of Alexandria" by Mustafa Nasr begins in 1862 during the era of Said Pasha, the governor of Egypt, and continues until the era of Sadat and his visit to Jerusalem. Throughout this period, the narrative unfolds, transitioning with the Jewish characters in Alexandria from the fish market to finally settling in the Tabiya, the Jewish headquarters. Throughout this time frame, we live with a group of characters with differing passions and fates, following a flow of events.

Said Pasha, governor of Egypt, was afflicted in his last days with a strange disease, causing his body to swell and emit offensive odors. This smell made everyone who approached him flee, including his personal doctor and his deputy in governance, the closest people to him. He couldn't stand his own smell, so what about others?!

When the doctors of Said Pasha requested John the Jew, it wasn't due to his distinguished proficiency, but because he had a congenital defect that deprived him of the sense of smell. This defect allowed him to get close to Said Pasha, apply ointments to him, and not be affected by his offensive odors.

Nobody could treat Said Pasha, except for John the Jew, whose nasal defect, preventing him from smelling, made him capable of treating Said Pasha. He managed to treat him through special ointments that he applied all over Said Pasha's body, which resulted in Said Pasha feeling relief, sleeping deeply, and eventually recovering. In gratitude, Said Pasha granted John a large piece of land next to Abu Qir.

John acted irresponsibly and inconsistently, in addition to being unable to consummate his marriage. He even accepts the presence of a son, Harun, who he knows isn't his biological child.

John discovered he couldn't consummate with women. He didn't know this before marrying Alhadiya. He loved her madly and still does. He now thanks God that he didn't discover this before her. Otherwise, he would have refrained from marrying altogether, been deprived of Alhadiya, and Harun, whom he loves dearly. When he felt that Alhadiya was pregnant, he felt anger boiling in his head. How could she betray him? He wanted to ask her if it happened before or after their marriage, but he didn't. Deep down, he accepted that he was incapable and that his wife had conceived from another man he didn't know. He found a way of thinking that soothed him and made him content: Why should he bother himself like this? He lived with the image of Anan Ben David on the wall, talking to it and receiving responses. Indeed, it did respond to him and discussed everything with him. It was the one that advised him not to ask about who had done what with his wife Alhadiya, and it was the one who told him to love Harun as if he were his son and more. (Harun's name is meaningful) And thus, John's character is revealed to us.

When the Jews learned about the large piece of land granted to John, their treatment of him changed from neglect to respect and veneration, and his wife Alhadiya gained significant importance.

A group of Jews gathered in this area, lived there until they multiplied and increased in number, and plots started to surround John to take over the land. His wife ended up poisoning him, and John died as the first to be buried in the Tabiya area, which was then named after him: John.

At the hour of the shrine establishment, Rabbi Habakkuk preached and began to announce an auction for who would inaugurate the shrine. The auction proceeds were to be used for constructing buildings for the poor Jews throughout Alexandria. The auction ended at three thousand Egyptian pounds, paid by a Jew from Cairo. Everyone stood reverently in front of John's grave, which was covered with a green silk cloth and surrounded by interlaced iron. John, the impotent, suddenly turns into a saint, simply because he owned the land that Governor Said had given him. The Jews knew John very well, and yet there was a psychological collusion that John, the murdered, should become a saint with a shrine visited by most of the Jews in the world. People would come to him for blessings and miracles. The celebration of Sidi John's birth is held from December 26 to January 2.

Then, a terrible explosion occurred in the area due to Munir, who had a workshop where he manufactured bombs and rockets as children's toys (referring to easy money – by selling bombs and rockets that only gave people a false joy).

It is evident from the events that President Sadat at some point had visited the fortress and hid there for a few days. He asked Munir, the owner of the bomb and rocket factory, to manufacture certain types of explosives to attack the English occupiers. Jewel, Munir's daughter, lived on John's farm. As a child, she saw Sadat give her father an old watch. When Jewel remembered this, she sent a letter to Sadat after seeing his picture when he had become the president of the republic. Sadat came to John's area and gave her a large sum of money which was a significant factor in changing the course of Jewel's life and even the path of the Jews in John's area. Jewel started to exploit Sadat's visit to her in the area of John. She said during Sadat's visit to Jerusalem that Sadat's visit to Israel is mentioned in the Torah. She substantiated this by saying that the Lord addresses the people of Israel in the book of Isaiah, saying to them: "Pharaoh of Egypt comes to you offering peace, accept it, for it will turn swords into sickles for the harvest, beware of turning the sickles back into swords, for that will be your end." She tries in every way to build a wall around John's grave and enclose all Jewish graves within the wall. Her principle was: "I want a contractor, who builds a wall around the graves to protect them from this attack." This introduces the idea of isolation and seclusion, and protection from the expected attack.

The events evolve to the point that Dov, one of the high-ranking Jewish characters, a wealthy man living in Cairo who always seeks the benefit of the Jewish community in Egypt, when Amir says to him: "I have invited many Jews from Europe, I met them on my last visit there, and they will arrive in a few days." Dov replies: "John's shrine must be a global destination for all Jews worldwide."

The novel is filled with successive events and situations rich with movement. The backbone of the novel is the area of John, the basis of the story, the center of the events. Despite that, the story of Holy John is fundamentally based on a great deception, when John, with his crumbling and weak personality, turns into a shrine owner to whom Jews turn, as if they were all generally clinging to an illusion they made for themselves and believed in it, even defended it as if it was a real sanctity, knowing that its truth disappeared with the explosion of John's area and the end of all those who knew John.