The dark-pupiled eyes opened wide. “Didn’t I get it right? Did I say something that wasn’t true?” His massive shoulders rose in a shrug. “Very well. No name-calling. We really do need to parley. Green light?” When Morgan nodded the Khalifa asked, “How much do you know about our Community of Allah Almighty… about Islam?”
“Enough.” Morgan stared flatly back. Neither he nor the Khalifa were impressing each other.
“I wonder. Are you aware that Islam does not distinguish between ‘church’ and ‘state?’ Allah tells us to establish a theocracy, a community both religious and secular: a Dar-ul-Islam, where Muslims can dwell together according to the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him!”
Morgan’s gaze flicked briefly over toward Jameela. “So?”
“We of the Community of Allah Almighty believe that this will come to pass, that such a divine nation is Allah’s command. Present-day ‘modem’ Muslim states are un-Islamic travesties of his message. For this reason he sent Pacov and Starak down as mighty swords to slay those who do not believe in him and in the last day. The holy Qur’an provides signs and portents of this.” Lessing fancied he could hear the capital letters in the Khalifa’s measured tones. He was reminded of Outram again.
One of the Khalifa’s followers said, “A-men!” Somebody else murmured, “Tell it!”
A Cadre trooper coughed, and another whispered to the man beside him. Lessing turned his head and saw that Morgan’s expression was one of pained patience. Jameela was watching the Khalifa raptly.
“The only salvation for Muslims, Mister Morgan, is to go apart, create a Dar-ul-lslam, and dwell therein as true believers according to Allah’s laws until he commands the final judgment.”
“I begin to see.”
“Yes, Mr. Morgan, oh yes! We of the Community of Allah Almighty desire a Dar-ul-lslam for ourselves, just as you want a Black-free homeland. And, to be blunt, we don’t love you any more than you love us.”
“We bear you no ill will…,” Morgan began.
“Really? You’re as tired of Black-White problems as we are: ghettoes and inner-city decay and drugs and crime and gangs and prostitution and illiteracy and welfare without hope and jobs without futures. Some of those evils are due to you, to your White oppression; some also arise from us… from the frustration of being in, but not a part of, your White world. Here we’re at the bottom of the heap, buried beneath the worst elements of both of us. We did not ask to be brought to America, and after four centuries of slavery and prejudice we are convinced that assimilation and equality will never happen. Almost any White-appearing European can vanish into your ‘melting pot, ‘ but in spite of eighty years of civil rights struggle it’s not working for us… nor for certain other ‘visible’ ethnic groups. Our faces… our skins… are the barrier. We cannot assimilate. We cannot intermarry with you and disappear. We cannot develop. We cannot grow. We are trapped in our historical role just as you are: the oppressed eternally struggling against the oppressor.”
“Let’s skip the sermon. What is it you want?”
“What do I want? What do we want? We want you… your Party of Humankind… to persuade Outram’s government to create a separate nation for our people: a Black Dar-ul-lslam, free of Whites.”
“We don’t have that power… nor does Outram.” “Oh, I think you do. And he certainly does. Or will.” ‘“Homelands’ have been tried: Liberia in Africa, for example, or Israel.”
“Yes, Liberia, a country where ex-slaves attempted to maintain a semblance of White culture and institutions! We all know what happened to Israeclass="underline" an oppressive military empire that would have broken the Prophet Moses’ heart! No, I am talking about a Black experience, a place where our culture… adapted to the Shari’ah law of Islam… can achieve the will of Allah.”
“Islam isn’t Black… it’s a Near Eastern religion.” Jameela spoke for the First time. “The Prophet Muhammad was not a Black but an Arab.”
“I see you’ve brought an expert.” The Khalifa leaned forward to inspect Jameela. “I am surprised. What are you doing on their side of the table?”
“She’s no Black!” Lessing began, then clamped his mouth shut.
The Khalifa slowly turned to face him. “Aha, do I detect a ‘race traitor’ here? Isn’t that what you folks call it? Aren’t you scared of a lynch party some night, young man?”
“Drop it!” Morgan snarled. “We don’t have to take this…!”
The Khalifa blinked at him amicably. “You’re right. Your hang-ups are your business.” He cleared his throat. “Where was I? Oh, yes. Islam is for all Creation, for all peoples and times and places. Allah sent a prophet to each nation. The Prophet Muhammad, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, was a human being, a prophet like Moses and David and Jesus before him. He was the last prophet, and he brought Allah’s complete and Final word, unchangeable and eternaclass="underline" the holy Qur’an! Islam suits the Black man best… as it would suit you Whites, too, if you gave it a chance.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. We’ve got enough religions as it is. Let’s get back to your ‘Black homeland’: I can tell you right now that it will never be in the United States!” Morgan made a slashing gesture in the air. “No way! Not ‘Bama ‘n’ Georgia ‘n’ 01’ Mississip’, as some over-generous freebie-givcrs have proposed before!”
The Khalifa threw out a pink -palmed hand “Hold on! Did you hear me ask for that? You want to develop what you call your ‘ethnos’ in a lily-white, one-race environment. We want the same for ourselves, only for religious as well as for racial reasons. The farther away from you the better! We don’t want you anywhere near us: always ‘the Man,’ ‘Whitey,’ ‘Hogbo,’ ‘Honky,’ ‘Boss,’… ‘01’ Massah’… the one who runs things, whatever the liberals and their Jewish lawyers say! You can keep this continent!”
“I thought we agreed on no insults.”
“Forgive me. I do get carried away. Four centuries of oppression tend to unsettle a person.”
Morgan brushed paint flakes from the graffiti-smeared table off his sleeves. “Where do you want your… uh… homeland, then? Central America? A couple of mostly-Black army divisions are already stationed in Honduras and Nicaragua. I think there’re others in Cuba and Bolivia.”
“Israel?” A Cadre trooper snickered. “The Central Park Zoo?” Two or three others laughed.
“Shut up.” Lessing didn’t look around.
The Khalifa smiled again. The mirrored wrap-around sunglasses of one of his aides reflected the light from the side window to give his bald head an angelic halo. “No. Neither Central America nor Israel. Africa. We want a chunk of Africa, the ancestral homeland of our ethnos group.”
“Black Pacov!” Lessing exploded, and Morgan echoed him: “Suicide!”
“Nice of you to be concerned. Let me tell you something about Pacov, if you don’t know it already. The two original Pacov piggyback viruses have active lives of less than two months… important for a weapon of war. The mutant strains are less stable: they last longer and they may flare up several times before quitting for good, but they do die out. Give Pacov four months… the time we’ll need to get ready… and there’ll be no major populations alive in the affected regions of Africa. Pacov doesn’t affect the hippopotamus; did you know that?”
“What? No….”
“Unless we act fast Africa’s going to be ass -deep in hippopotami! Today Africa, tomorrow the world!” The Khalifa’s emerald-draped belly jiggled with mirth “Seriously, Pacov dies once it has no food matrix… nothing to eat. Its inventors planned it that way: a dead landscape, ready for their troops to move in, loot, and set up housekeeping. Better than the neutron bomb, better than any weapon ever devised.”