“Like what?” Darazi asked.
“Really, I needn’t bother you. You both have so much on your minds.”
“Don’t be silly, Ali. Tell us plainly.”
“Well — and please take this in the spirit in which it is intended — merely a question, though a vexing one at that…”
“Of course, of course,” they said.
“I just find myself wondering, where is Jesus, peace be upon him?”
There was dead silence. It wasn’t a name that often got mentioned in the presence of the Grand Ayatollah and the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“What do you mean?” Hosseini finally asked, audibly sipping his chai.
“I just mean, wasn’t Jesus supposed to come back before the Mahdi? Isn’t that what the prophecies said? Wasn’t that supposed to be one of the signs?”
“I suppose.”
“Then where is he?”
Neither Hosseini nor Darazi had an answer.
“You have both given sermons that Jesus would come back as the lieutenant to Imam al-Mahdi, right?”
“True.”
“Then as I said, I find myself wondering, where is he?”
Darazi shifted uncomfortably in his seat and asked, “What exactly are you implying, Ali?”
“I am not implying anything,” Birjandi replied calmly. “I am simply asking where I went wrong. Please don’t misunderstand me. You preached that one of the signs preceding the Mahdi’s return would be the coming of Jesus to require all infidels to convert to Islam or die by the sword. You did that because I taught you that. I taught you that because of a lifetime of studying the ancient texts and so many commentaries on the same. Yet Jesus is nowhere to be found. The infidels have not been warned. It’s bothering me. Because that’s not all. There are other prophecies that I have not seen fulfilled, and I am wondering why.”
“Other prophecies?” Darazi pressed. “Which ones?”
“I hesitate to continue,” Birjandi said. “I don’t want to be misinterpreted. I’m just trying to be honest with the ancient texts.”
“No, go on,” Hosseini said. “Ahmed and I have always valued your insights. Now we value your questions as well.”
“You are certain, my friend?”
“Most certain,” Hosseini replied.
“Very well,” Birjandi said. “If you insist.” He paused a moment, then began again. “In my work done through the Bright Future Institute, I identified and outlined five distinct signs that would precede the arrival or the appearance of the Hidden Imam. The first sign was supposed to be the rise of a fighter from Yemen called the Yamani, who attacks the enemies of Islam. This actually does seem to have been fulfilled. There have been a whole series of violent attacks against Christians in Yemen in recent years and even in the weeks leading up to the appearance of the Mahdi.”
His listeners said nothing, but Birjandi sensed them nodding, silently encouraging him to continue.
“The second sign is the rise of an anti-Mahdi militant leader named Osman Ben Anbase, who will also be known as Sofiani. This figure is supposed to be joined by another anti-Mahdi militant called Dajal. Many Muslim clerics liken this figure to the Christian notion of the Antichrist. The uprising of Sofiani was supposed to precede the reappearance of the Mahdi in Mecca by exactly six months,” Birjandi observed. “These two forces were supposed to occupy Syria and Jordan and advance from there. Did this happen? When? Where? I never saw it. When were the forces of good led in battle by the man from Khorasan? When was the epic battle that was prophesied to happen near the city of Kufa, in the Shia heartland of southern Iraq? Did I miss it? Did you?”
Neither Hosseini nor Darazi replied.
“The third distinct sign,” Birjandi continued, “is to be voices from the sky, the most prominent of which is supposed to be that of the angel Gabriel, gathering the faithful around the Mahdi. That seems to have just happened in Beirut. It was only one angelic voice, to be sure, not multiple voices or a host of angels, but still, I think it’s fair to say that this prophecy was fulfilled, or at least partially so. But that should have led to the fourth sign, the destruction of Sofiani’s army. However, since Sofiani never seems to have come, never seems to have raised an army, and certainly hasn’t seized control of Syria or Jordan, I do not believe this prophecy has been — or can be — fulfilled. And the question I keep asking myself is why.”
Still no response. Birjandi continued anyway.
“The fifth sign is supposed to be the death of a holy man by the name of Muhammad bin Hassan, called Nafse Zakiye, or the pure soul. The Mahdi is supposed to appear in Mecca fifteen days after this figure is killed. I have been pondering this for days, but I can’t see how this prophecy was fulfilled. Granted, the Mahdi’s army is supposed to begin with 313 faithful Muslims and grow into ten thousand, fifty of whom will be women. This is in the process of happening, so that’s noteworthy. But some of the other minor details of the Mahdi’s coming haven’t come to pass either. He doesn’t appear to be wearing a ring that belonged to King Solomon. Nor is he holding the wooden stick that Moses held when he parted the Red Sea. Does it matter? Maybe not. But I feel a great sense of responsibility. I have been studying the Last Things most of my adult life. I have been preaching and teaching these things for as long as you have been gracious enough to give me the freedom to do so. But something isn’t adding up. Something’s wrong. And I keep asking: what?”
34
Najjar was awakened by the cell phone ringing.
He had slept in the Toyota in an underground parking garage all night because he had nowhere else to go and had been too embarrassed to ask the staff at the TV station for help. Now his neck and back ached and he scrambled to find the phone and check the caller ID. He was afraid it might be the neighbors or, worse, the police but was startled to see it was a call from London.
“Hello?” he asked cautiously.
“Is this Dr. Najjar Malik?”
“Who’s calling?”
“My name is Nigel Moore. I’m the senior producer for BBC Persian. Do you have a moment?”
Najjar sat up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and checked his watch. It was just after seven on Wednesday morning, Washington time, half past three back in Iran. He suddenly realized he was famished.
“Yes. How can I help you?”
“Honestly, my colleague whom you talked with yesterday was quite skeptical about your story. But we spent most of the night doing our homework and talking to sources, and we’re much more interested now.”
Najjar tensed. Was he being set up? “I’m not sure I’m interested any longer, but thank you for calling.”
He was about to hang up the phone, but the producer pleaded with him to stay on the line.
“You were absolutely right,” Moore said. “This would be a huge story, unlike anything we’ve done in quite some time. You’ve got a very compelling story to tell, and it should be heard. We’re grateful you considered us.”
“I’m not interested in being played, Mr. Moore,” Najjar responded. “I’ve got governments trying to arrest me and people trying to kill me, and I was hoping for more understanding from the BBC, of all places.”
“You have it now, Dr. Malik. I’m very sorry. I know you have to be careful. I understand that. I do. But please understand that we have to be careful too. We can’t just let anyone come on the air. People try to play us every day. I’m sure you can imagine.”
“I guess that would be true.”
“Listen, Dr. Malik, rumors are flying that a war is going to break out any moment between Iran and Israel or between the US and Iran. Have you heard the news this morning?”
“No. What?”
“President Jackson ordered a second aircraft carrier battle group into the Persian Gulf, but the Washington Post says the White House has been engaged in secret discussions with the Twelfth Imam and that the president has accepted the Mahdi’s invitation to talk by phone next Tuesday.”