by D. E. Daum
“No, we haven’t, that’s surprising. I guess we’ll find out more when we get there.”
Chapter 10
The following day, Kelly went to Morning Prayer at Khan’s mosque. Afterwards, he met with Khan and Rulan to tell them what Allah had revealed to him. He further said Allah declared that Islam was facing perilous times, if Saleem couldn’t make his wishes known and satisfactorily adopted within Muslim society that Islam might falter and fade away. Allah would rather this happen than allow opportunists to continue promoting their convoluted version of the Word. Kelly asked what they thought might be the best way to proceed toward disseminating the wishes of the Almighty.
Rulan suggested, “I think a speech given to the Arabian networks like Al Jezeera and Al Arabiya would be a good way to start. Of course you will be making a lot of enemies. Change is not in the best interests of the fundamentalists and radicals. Even your sponsor Suhar may turn against you.”
Imam Khan said, “Rulan is right, that will be very dangerous. I think it may be advisable to write a booklet or preamble explaining Allah’s wishes before your speech is delivered.”
“That’d take months to write and print plus spreading these among a billion or so faithful in less than a decade is an impossibility, not to mention the cost of such an undertaking,” Kelly added, “It wouldn’t hurt to let the faithful buy the booklets on the internet. The only problem is that Allah continues to reveal things. If we print what I’ve told you, it may have to be modified.”
Imam Khan suggested, “I have the answer for that. Why not just post the booklet on the internet for anyone who wants to copy? We need to treat any additions as new chapters or books as the Qur’an and the Christian Bible do, but in this case since the Preamble would be evolving, those we print to sell should be in loose-leaf form. As new pronouncements come forth they could be printed and added to each booklet.”
“An excellent idea.” Kelly patted Iman Khan on the back. “Can you and Rulan make the arrangements with the networks?”
Rulan said, “I will handle it, but I am still very concerned for your safety.”
“Don’t worry, Rulan, Allah is on our side. Beside, you don’t believe I can be killed, do you?”
“I would rather not take that chance, Chosen One.”
* * * *
When Kelly got to the office, Jane, still made up as Rayya, told Kelly, “Mariam’s training is complete. She’ll be arriving at the train station at 1:40 p.m.” and asked, “You want me to pick her up?”
Kelly wanted to run his conversation with Rulan and the Imam by Mariam. “Don’t worry, I’ll get her.” He felt he had to let her know what had been transpiring while she was gone, including his tryst with Valerie.
* * * *
God, it’s good to see him again, Mariam thought as Kelly approached. He held a huge bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. As he gave them to her, he nearly squeezed the breath out of her. Then he gave her a kiss that made her remember what a good lover he was.
“Enough,” she said. “That can wait until we get home.”
During the ride to their apartment, Kelly told her what had been going on. He’d purposely left Haman at the office, so he wouldn’t hear their conversation. He told her about the invitation to Germany, the two additional atomic bombs, and his interlude with Valerie.
Mariam was quiet. I don’t know if I can handle this anymore. I know it’s part of the job and I suppose it would be part of mine, if necessary, but . . . “Saleem, I trust your judgment and believe you would never lightly have relations with a target unless it was necessary but—”
“No, Mare, it wasn’t like that. I must be truthful with you. With Valerie, it’s sex for information. I’m sorry, but I must admit two things to you. That I found her to be very attractive and that I enjoyed the sex with her. I went to bed with her because it was expedient.”
“Would you be upset if things were reversed and I slept with a target?”
“Absolutely. I would be devastated, but I would understand. Then I would kill him and I would do to you what he did, only better.”
Mare laughed and curled against the car door. “Then that’s what I’ll do. For starters, when we get home, I want to know everything you did, especially what you liked. I want to know everything, then we will replicate what you did, and I will be better, my stallion.”
He decided not to mention Jane. He changed the subject and told Mariam about the upcoming televised speech and that aroused her interest. She then proposed a few things she thought were important.
“You know, Mare, when I first thought up the issues that needed to be addressed, I believed they were my ideas, but as I repeated them to Imam Khan and Rulan, I had this feeling that maybe Allah was actually talking through me.”
“Maybe you underestimate your connection with God. You were after all dead, yet here you are.”
* * * *
Later that week, Valerie confirmed what Jane and Kelly suspected. The Nazis had discovered that the nuclear portion of the bomb was inoperable and were upset. Unfortunately, they were going to repair it. That was inconvenient, but Jane believed it was controllable. The bomb had been deactivated by inserting a corroded circuit in place of the existing one. The problem was that if they were able nullify the big fireworks again, it would be a dead giveaway. The Nazi convention was in four days. The nuke was scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles, in twelve days and activated a few days later. The chips were on the table—they were between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
Jane knew the neo-Nazis were too dangerous to world stability to leave intact. She couldn’t involve the German government, because she didn’t know if the Nazis had infiltrated the government. She was going to have to run this by the Colonel to see what he thought they should do.
* * * *
Fifteen minutes before they were to go on the air, Kelly was a nervous wreck. He had never given a speech in his life, neither had Saleem. He would now, and it might be the most important thing he did in his life. Either he would send Islam on the first step to a new righteous path, or the world would continue to see innocents maimed and murdered in the name of Allah. They had him in a makeup room in front of bright lights fixing his hair and applying makeup that was supposed to cut the glare from stage lighting. Mariam was giving him comfort and massaging his shoulders to try to relax him.
The speech would emanate from Imam Khan’s mosque. The members of the mosque would attend, but that wasn’t what made Kelly so nervous. The producer said that up to thirty million of the faithful would be watching. In addition, They expected another hundred million to see replays or excerpts.
When it was time to go before the cameras, Kelly walked out of the door of the temporary dressing room. He was surprised to see a score of identically dressed Arabs bowing before him, including a smiling Rulan and Jamal. When Kelly looked questioningly at Rulan, he spoke. “These are some of the members of Free Arabia. The rest are in the audience. They, Jamal, and I, are your devoted servants and will form your honor guard. They will see to it that nothing happens to The Right Hand of Allah.” The honor guard broke into a grand cheer and bowed even more deeply.
Kelly was touched. “You brought these men all the way from Arabia?”
Rulan’s smile seemed like it went from ear to ear. “Yes, I went home and spoke to all of them. I told them what you believe and of what you will speak. Almost all volunteered to come to England to become your honor guard. We will accompany you whenever you need protection.”
Jamal stepped up to Kelly and after thanking him in Arabic, embraced him.
It was time to go on. Before he could, the Imam went before the camera. The night seemed to be full of surprises. It was apparently Imam Khan’s intention to give the audience a little background on Saleem and then introduce him.
“My Muslim brothers. Tonight, you will meet a holy man. A man who has died, not once, but twice and sat beside Almigty Allah. Merciful Allah has revealed to this man, The Anointe
d One, his wishes and desires. I present our honored guest, The Chosen One, The Right Hand of Allah.”
The ovation was long and deafening. Kelly’s honor guard accompanied him onto the stage. Kelly wore a deep green satin shirt with billowing sleeves and matching pants along with a headband that said Allah Akbar—God is great.
Kelly waved his hands for quiet and when the commotion receded, Kelly spoke. “I want to thank the Imam Khan for his gracious introduction and our television friends for giving me the opportunity to give my wonderful Muslim brothers and sisters the Word of Allah as he has revealed it to me. We have something in common, you and I. We both believe in the God of Abraham and Mohammed, the one true God, Allah. What’s more, he believes in you, in your goodness and your purity of heart. Let me say that Allah is not a he. That is just a convenient term. He is neither a he nor she and he certainly is more than an it (laughter), so I will continue to refer to Allah by the masculine term.
I am here, on Earth, even though I died, because Allah wishes it. Allah is disturbed by the direction his children have taken, so he has sent me back as his emissary. Some call me The Right Hand of Allah and I suppose it is so, for I was sent here to set Islam back on the right path. The path of Allah, a path of goodness, righteousness, and tolerance, which will lead to peace and prosperity. As you know, Islam was once such a society. It was the flower of civilization in a dark age of violence. It was the center of progress, a refuge for thought and enlightenment, but no more.
Allah has revealed things. Old things, of which he wishes to remind believers and new things that were not, could not, be part of the original Qur’an. The Qur’an was written over seventy generations ago. Many of today’s problems and wonders could not have been anticipated in the seventh century. It seems Allah has made his children more clever than he foresaw. They have created a wonderful new civilization, which requires guidance from above. For that, Allah has disseminated new rules and fundamentals, continuing to do so at intervals of a fortnight.
The full text of Allah’s wishes, as revealed to me, will be posted on our website, www.thehand.org and updated periodically. In addition, a publication of this preamble is to be printed in loose-leaf form with updates sent to subscribers. These can be obtained through the website as well. For now, time permitting, I will touch upon the most important and immediate of Allah’s revelations.
As I said, Islam was once the flower of civilization. Today Islamic society has regressed. It has not kept up with the rest of the world socially, educationally, economically, or progressively. Islam has stagnated since its glory years. Some Islamic scholars say it’s because we have lost the values, which were imbued in early Islam and embraced Western technologies and Western values. These scholars would have us go back to times fourteen hundred years ago and forego all twentieth-century technology. Brothers and sisters, there is a dichotomy in this line of thinking. Why was early Islam the flower of civilization? It was because it was an oasis of progress and enlightenment in a desert of dark times. Today’s shortcomings are not because we have strayed too far from what we were, but rather have stayed too close to what we were. Brothers and sisters, while the rest of the world made giant technological strides, Islam stood still. Islam went from being the leading and most progressive society in the world to a primarily Third World status, and this is unacceptable to Allah. He realizes that many of the original teachings and laws of Islam are out of date. He kept waiting for our leaders to make adjustments but instead of making adjustments for the new reality they were seeking comfort from the old glory days.
Allah is still revealing procedures to me on the new role of Islam. This is what he has directed so far. Much of this will be contrary to your present beliefs but it is what the Creator wishes.”
1) Allah created our world and everything within. He created all the plants, animals, and humans. He considers all humans, believers or not, to be his children. Though he would prefer that non-believers were believers, it is not important to him. Good people of both believers and non-believers will attain Heaven when they die. Conversely, bad people, whether they believe or not will be sent to Purgatory. Now, here is the important part. Believers will occupy a higher plane in Heaven than non-believers will. Our Creator reserves the right of life and death only unto himself. Anyone who usurps his right will be damned forever. Let me repeat that. From this point forward, anyone who purposely takes the life of another human being, be it a believer or non-believer, will end up in Hell when he dies. The taking of your own life will be considered equal to taking another’s life. These are the most important rules to remember. There is an exception. If you kill an enemy and only an enemy in self-defense, defending your person or your family or as a soldier defending his land from attack, you will not be damned.
2) Allah abhors the treatment of women and girls in modern Islam. Under the premise of respect and protection, many women and girls are mistreated, being little more than slaves. This is against Islam. All Muslims should have equal standing before man as they have before Allah. Henceforth, all Muslim women shall be fully integrated into society and afforded equal rights, including education and economic opportunities. Neither Muslim women nor men shall be required to wear any specific clothing on religious grounds, except for covering their heads in prayer.
Once women are fully educated and integrated into the economies of various Islamic countries, those economies will prosper.
3) Allah believes that Muslims must shrug off the twin shackles of mistrust and blame. He does not play favorites and causes nothing to happen, either good or bad. If he did, he would not have needed to send me back to do this, he would just do it himself. If something good happens, do not thank Allah. Thank yourself or those who may have helped you. If something bad happens, do not automatically blame your enemies. You are in control of your lives. Be accountable for your mistakes. If everybody is accountable, soon you will have a more progressive society.
4) This leads me to the last thing I will talk about tonight. Progress. Being against progress is being against Islam. Think about it. Would Allah have put oil in so many Muslim countries if he didn’t expect progress to make the oil valuable? That was a gift from Allah. Now, it’s up to Muslims to throw off the shroud of backwardness and take a lead in research and technology. Do not long for Islamic glories of the past. Instead, direct your energies to the future when Islamic countries will be forward thinking and the envy of the world. When we have accomplished this, Islam will have credibility once again, around the world.
This concludes my remarks for tonight. May Allah be with you, my brothers and sisters. I will return.”
Kelly stepped away from the lectern and bowed to a standing ovation. He bowed again as the ovation continued. He bowed again every twenty seconds or so, five more times. Since the applause seemed like it would go on as long as he stood there, he walked off the stage with his honor guard. Haman greeted him. They hugged and went to his dressing room. Once there, Mariam handed Kelly his satellite phone. Kelly knew who it would be before he heard a word.
“Are you fucking crazy? You’ve just ruined everything we have tried to accomplish. You’ve just flipped a bird at all Islamic extremists and terrorists in the whole world. I hope to fuck, you’re up to it.”
“Look Jane, I didn’t declare war on anybody. I just relayed what Allah wanted me to. Maybe it will moderate their behavior. Maybe they’ll have second thoughts and put down their arms.”
“You know, Kelly, I knew you had some shortcomings, but I never thought naiveté was one of them. First, terrorists are angry extremists, too. They may not know exactly what they’re angry about, probably the cause du jour, but now you’ve given them a new target. You’re trying to put them out of business. Worse yet, you’re trying to make them go straight and go to work. You have just galvanized every Muslim terrorist in the world! Why the hell didn’t you let me see what you were going to say? Moreover, what about the Nazis? Their terrorist poster boy just flipped out and became a fuck
ing peacenik hippie! Yippee, I need a fuckin’ drink! Meet me at the field center and leave your fuckin’ honor guard behind. You’ll probably need them later, but we don’t need them to know all of your business!”
Chapter 11
When Kelly arrived with Haman and Mariam, Jane ignored him, went straight to Mariam, and put her arm around her shoulder. She guided her away from the two men and said to Mariam, “Did you know that he was going to do this?”
“I’m afraid I did. He’d been talking about it for awhile, about how new revelations from Allah would moderate Islam, create more tolerance, and make Islam utopian.”
“Yes, but we’re not up against rational people here. It seems that even the so-called rational Muslims are a little psychotic, or else why are some of them so easy to recruit for suicide or a life of terror? Saleem was in the perfect position to control these extremists. He was one of them, but now he’s on the outside looking in. We have to see if we can salvage something out of this.”