Hassan stopped fidgeting. “What?”
Decker looked up. “The wells of seven,” he repeated. “It’s from the Bible. Beersheba is first mentioned as the place where Hagar went—”
“After Abraham sent her away,” concluded the professor. “Of course, what an idiot!” He smacked his own forehead with his palm. “I’ve been looking at it all day, and then you come along and… The wells of seven. I’ll be damned. It’s the same in the Qur’an. Hagar was Abraham’s Egyptian-born concubine, who had a son by Abraham — Ishmael, the father of Islam — when his wife Sarah believed she was barren. Then, when Sarah eventually gave birth to Isaac — the father of the Jewish and Christian faiths — she could no longer tolerate Hagar’s presence. So she demanded Abraham send the concubine away. This was the event that marked the split between the Muslim and Judeo-Christian worlds.”
“I didn’t know Ishmael was the father of Islam,” said Decker. “I thought he and Abraham were Jews.”
“The Qur’an and Bible feature many of the same characters. As does the Hebrew Torah. According to the Qur’an, Abraham wasn’t a Jew. He was a deist, pure and simple. He believed in one God — call him Allah, or Yahweh, or whatever. It was only later the religions diverged.”
To Muslims, Hassan continued, Jews and Christians and the followers of Islam were all “People of the Book.” Indeed, the Qur’an emphasized the purity and righteousness of every prophet in the Bible, including Jesus Christ.
“We simply don’t believe Christ was the Son of God,” he said. “And this notion of the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — is anathema to us. The Fatihah, with which the Qur’an begins, states clearly: Thee alone do we worship; Thee alone do we implore for help.”
“There is but one God,” said Decker, “and Mohammed is his messenger.”
“Exactly. Nor do we believe in Original Sin. In fact, the Qur’an stresses as fundamental the purity of ‘the nature designed by Allah.’ How could it be otherwise? Choice and free will are paramount. Faith is a matter of conscience, and conscience cannot be compelled. The Qur’an clearly states: There shall be no compulsion in religion. Allah calls us all.”
“But the radicals, the extremists who label the United States the ‘Great Satan,’” said Decker. He was confused. “This notion of Jihad. I thought… ”
“Jihad simply means exertion,” Hassan said. “Like the word Crusade, jihad can refer to anything. It doesn’t necessarily mean an act of violence. You could say President Johnson’s ‘War on Poverty’ was a Jihad. The real Jihad is the fight against everything that keeps you inward, against God, such as human passions.” He sighed.
“There’s also a difference between aggressive Jihad, which is frowned upon, and defensive Jihad, which is approved by the Qur’an. Even war-like examples of defensive Jihad are governed by rules. True followers, for example, are prohibited from hurting women and children, or old people, just as they’re forbidden from destroying nature, such as acts of deforestation. Fighting is permitted only to repel aggression. Should the enemy be inclined to make a truce, the Qur’an says we must take advantage of it: Whenever they kindle a fire to start a war, Allah puts it out. They strive to create disorder in the land and Allah loves not those who create disorder. He who would seek the pleasure of Allah must not merely be just, but benevolent as well. He must render good without thought of a return, forgiving wrongs and injuries until beneficence becomes an intrinsic part of who he is. There is another term in Arabic that means Holy War. It’s harbun muqaddasatun. But it’s not in the Qur’an.
“Look,” he added, “I’m a devout Muslim. You know that. You also know that I support the Palestinian cause, just like El Aqrab, with all my heart. I may be Egyptian, but the Palestinians are my brothers in the Ummah. I’m not an anti-Semite, but I do believe that what the conservatives have done in Israel is reprehensible, and — ironically — so do many Jews, even in Palestine. I think Garron is one of the most dangerous men on earth. Right up there with Osama Bin Laden and El Aqrab. If there is another Nine Eleven some day — Allah protect us — it will be because of Garron, because of his intransigence, his failure to resolve the tragedy of Palestine. And because of our failure to ensure he does so. One day — mark my words — if this quicksand isn’t filled, if we Americans don’t at least address the Palestinian problem even-handedly, the extremists throughout the Arab world will rise up like a great wave, and it will kill us all. This is what I believe, and yet I’m helping you. Why? Not because I’m American. It’s not my patriotism that drives me; I think you know that. It is my Muslim faith, my sense of moral values.”
Hassan smiled sadly. “There are extremists in every religion, Agent Decker. Look at those Christians who preach hatred against their fellow men, who use the Bible to justify acts of wanton cruelty. To them, to the boys who beat up Malik on that subway train, my son was simply a ‘towel head.’ What can you say to such people?”
Decker thought back to Ed McNally, the white supremacist from Iowa. All that he had wrought had been done in the name of Jesus Christ.
Hassan turned and spread his hands across the papers on the desk. “These drawings and illustrations,” he said. “You haven’t told me very much, but I’m not blind or stupid. I read the paper. I know what happened in Beersheba. In fact, I made a copy of the explosion, recorded it off the news.” He pointed at a DVR and TV in the corner. “This calligraphy and design predicted it, didn’t it? I don’t know where you got it, or why. Frankly, I don’t want to know. But it occurs to me,” he continued, “if the second wallpaper predicted what was going to happen in Beersheba, the third and fourth wallpapers may be harbingers of things to come. Another Nine Eleven, or worse. Some cataclysm. If I can help in any way to stop that, it’s my duty as a Muslim to try.”
Decker did not respond. Instead, he crossed the reading room and began to document their findings with a thick black felt tip marker on the whiteboard on the wall.
Masjid, the Individual Prayer; Daily Mosques and prayer rugs:
Text: Ten-month pregnant she-camels; and When hell is stoked up (Al-Takwir, Sura 81)
Number: 540,000
Originally Displayed: Tel Aviv (?)
Harbinger of: Baqrah’s hijacking of the train
Date/Time, forthcoming event: 9:00 AM; Friday, Jan. 28
Jami’ masjid, the Congregational Prayer; Congregational Mosques on Fridays:
Text: How many a deserted well (Al-Hajj, Sura 22.45), and then, perpendicular to the transversal axis, Hell is the rendezvous… it has seven gates (Hijr, 15.35)
Number: 205,200
Originally Displayed: Train hijacking of HEU
Harbinger of: Incident in Beersheba
Date/Time, forthcoming event: 6:00 AM; Tuesday, Feb. 1
Musalla or idgah, the Community Prayer; Community Mosques during the major festivals of ‘Id al-Fitr — The Feast of the Breaking of the Fast — and the ‘Id al-Adha — The Feast of the Sacrifice of Abraham
Text: Death will overtake you (?)