“I’m Sam Gelbman.”
“Gelbman, this is for you.” The tall man handed him an envelope.
“What is it?” Sam asked.
“Read it, and comply.” The two men left without a further word, and Sam pulled out the document to read. The first line he read caused him to get an empty sensation in the pit of his stomach, and he walked back over to his desk to sit down and read it more slowly.
Decree on the Registration of the Property of Jews
Effective immediately, all Jews are required to value their assets (foreign and domestic) and register them if their value is in excess of 500 Moqaddas. All real estate, to include houses, business buildings, and unimproved land holdings, will be confiscated without compensation. Effective this date, no Jew may enter into a sales contract for any property, as a means of avoiding the requirements of this document. The regulations adopted pursuant to this order shall prohibit all further economic activity of Jews except for such activity as is required to purchase food, those purchases to be made at Moqaddas Sirata–compliant stores only.
In addition, all Jewish businesses shall be put under government control with the goal of sale to Muslims with a substantial portion of the sale price going to the government.
Jews may be retained to work in their former businesses, but at a fixed salary, with no profit incentive.
If he were to be honest with himself, Sam would have to say that this decree didn’t come as a great surprise. The sign in his yard, the graffiti scratched into the side of his car, and the fact that longtime friends, though they didn’t join in with the harassment, were beginning to avoid him, told him all he needed to know about where things were going.
Sam’s grandfather had been a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, and Sam remembered, vividly, the ID number stenciled on his uncle’s arm. The Nazis had turned an unreasonable hatred of Jews into their core principle. But Americans, he knew, had never had an official policy of anti-Semitism, and though there was a history of animosity between Muslims and Jews, he couldn’t see that spreading into a national policy.
Neither one of Sam’s drivers was Jewish, but he knew that they liked and respected him, and would do anything for him. And as long as there were men and women like that, he wasn’t going to let this flare-up of anti-Jewish activity bother him. He was sure that goodness would prevail, and this would pass.
He looked again at the decree that had been given him.
But until it did pass, he knew that he, and all the other Jews in the country, were going to be in for a rough time.
Boston, Massachusetts
A sign in front of the building announced, proudly, that this was one of the oldest Christian churches in America. It was a Sunday morning, and several determined souls were walking to the morning worship service, walking instead of driving, for not one of them had made the conversion necessary to allow them the privilege of buying fuel. The reverend Al Stokes stood in front of the church, welcoming his parishioners as they arrived.
“Brother David, Sister Elizabeth, welcome,” Stokes said.
“Good morning, Pastor. Beautiful morning, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is a manifestation of the glory of God.”
“Have Elmer and Ann arrived yet?” David asked.
“Indeed they have, they are already inside.”
“Good. They promised to sing in the choir today and I just wanted to make certain that Elmer didn’t back out.”
Stokes chuckled. “You be sure and hang on to them. We need all the singers we can get.”
At that moment the friendly conversation between the pastor, David, and Elizabeth was interrupted as three vans drove up, screeching to a stop in front of the church. The other arriving parishioners were startled by the intrusion of the vans and they looked toward them in surprise and apprehension. The doors opened and a dozen armed men, wearing the uniforms of the State Protective Service, poured out.
“Here, what is this? What are you men . . .” one of the worshipers called out to the SPS but he was unable to finish the question because he was shot down.
There were screams after the first shot, and the screams and shouts grew louder as the men in uniform continued shooting indiscriminately, their weapons on full automatic, into the crowd of churchgoers. Several went down with bleeding wounds, including women and children.
“Here!” the pastor shouted, not running from the armed men, but toward them. “What are you doing? This is a house of God!”
“This is a house of heresy,” the leader of the attack squad shouted back.
“How dare you?” the pastor said, angrily.
“Grab him,” the chief of the SPS group shouted, and two men grabbed the minister.
Other SPS officers approached the church then, and, directing flame throwers toward the building, quickly had it enveloped in flames.
“No!” the pastor called. “There are people in there!”
A television crew had arrived with the SPS squad, and they were filming the church as it was consumed by flames. From inside the church people could be heard screaming in terror. As the people in the church ran outside to escape the flames, they were shot down by the SPS troopers. A crowd of citizens had also gathered to watch, and they were almost evenly divided between those who shouted for the destruction of the church, and those who were lamenting the deed.
As the flames leaped higher into the air, the leader of the SPS group signaled to have the pastor brought to him.
“Put him on his knees,” the leader ordered, and the two men who were holding him forced him down.
“Renounce your heretical religion and pay homage to Allah,” the leader demanded.
“Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior,” Stokes said.
The leader took a long bladed knife from his belt, then proceeded to cut off the preacher’s head. It wasn’t a clean, brisk stroke, but a series of sawing actions which spewed blood, and elicited shouts of horror from the onlookers. Finally the head was severed from the body and, smiling, the SPS leader held it up by the hair. Bone and gristle protruded down from the neck, dripping blood in an almost solid stream.
“Death to all who would violate the new order!” the SPS leader shouted.
Much later that same day, on TV receivers all across the country, the evening news started. The program began with a full-screen shot of the new national flag, White, with a wide red bar running from the top of the banner to the bottom. There was a white circle in the middle of the red bar, and in the middle of that white circle, a green letter “O” enclosing wavy blue lines which represented clean water, over which was imposed a stylized green plant.
The words AMERICAN ENLIGHTENED TRUTH TELEVISION were keyed onto the screen, replaced by the words OBEY OHMSHIDI, then a reverent voiceover intoned the opening lines.
“All praise be to Allah, the merciful. Whomsoever Allah guides there is none to misguide, and whomsoever Allah misguides there is none to guide. You must live your life in accordance with the Moqaddas Sirata, the Holy Path. Those who do will be blessed. Those who do not will be damned.
“You are watching the American Enlightened Truth Television network. And now, our National Anthem.”
As the music played, the national flag of the AIRE fluttered in the background, but superimposed over the letter “O” was Ohmshidi’s face. It remained prominent as the music began to play, the words sung by an all-male chorus.
American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment
Our people loyal and true
To Ohmshidi our leader
We give all honor to you.
Glory to our great leader
May he remain right and strong
The party of the faithful
Ohmshidi to lead us on!
In Moqaddas Sirata
We see the future of our dear land
And to the Ohmshidi banner,
In obedience shall we stand!
Glory to our great leader
May he remain right and st
rong
The party of the faithful
Ohmshidi to lead us on
When the anthem ended, the scene returned to the studio where a young woman was sitting behind a news desk. She was wearing a burqa and her face was covered so that only her eyes could be seen.
“Yesterday, in our nation’s capital of Muslimabad, a thief was captured, stealing a loaf of bread. The thief was only eight years old, so his life was spared, but as you can see from this video he did not escape punishment.
On screen a uniformed officer of the SPS was squatting down beside the front wheel of a car. Lying on the ground beside him, his arm wrapped in a towel, his eyes filled with terror and tears, was a small boy. The SPS officer was holding the boy’s arm in front of the car wheel with one hand, while with the other hand he was speaking into a microphone to all those who were gathered around to watch the show.
“What you are about to see is just punishment for the sins of this boy” [the SPS officer said]. “He violated Moqaddas Sirata by stealing from others. He took a loaf of bread from a store, and it wasn’t just any store. He took a loaf of bread from the shelf of a store that is Moqaddas Sirata–compliant. In doing so, he committed a sin against our new republic, and our great leader. For that, he must be punished.”
“No, please,” the boy begged, crying. “I won’t do it again. I promise, I won’t do it again.”
The boy jerked his arm back, but the SPS officer punched him hard in the temple with his fist, driving the boy’s face onto the pavement so hard that it knocked him out. With the boy unconscious, the SPS officer put the boy’s arm under the front of the car wheel again.
“All right driver, come ahead slowly.”
The car moved forward, the wheel passing over and crushing the boy’s arm. There were gasps of shock, horror, and even morbid excitement from the crowd.
“A blight in Boston was eliminated yesterday by the good work of the State Protective Service. A church which proudly, and profanely, advertised itself as one of the oldest Christian churches in America. This church continued, despite many warnings, to lead poor souls to hell by its heretical teachings. This sinful practice left a tolerant government with no choice but to act for the good of the people. As you will see here, the church was eliminated.”
On screen could be seen forest-green uniformed men gunning down the worshipers as they ran. Soon the church was in flames, those inside shot as they tried to escape the blaze.
“It is perhaps fitting that, for many of the infidels who were inside the building as it burned, their last memory on earth will be of fire. For surely they have been cast into the fiery furnaces of hell by their sinful denial of Moqaddas Sirata.”
The last picture was of the pastor’s head being sawed from his body, then held up for all to see. The camera moved in for a long, lingering view of the severed head, one eye half closed, the other wide open, still reflecting the terror of the moment.
“Behold the severed head of the sinner,” the newswoman said. “Allahu Akbar.”
The broadcast continued, intermixing scenes of burning churches and strict punishments, with scenes of smiling drivers filling their cars with fuel, and shoppers selecting food from filled shelves.
“Mr. Jones, what do you have to say about the new order?” a reporter asked, sticking his microphone in the face of a shopper.
“I say we live in exciting times. We are here at the birth of a new nation, led by the father of the new nation, the Great Leader, President for Life Ohmshidi. And it is good to know that, for the first time in my life, we are not threatening any other nation with aggression, as we have in all our sordid history.”
The broadcast closed with an earnest appeal from the news anchor.
“My fellow citizens, as you can see by the images we have shown you tonight, our country has recovered, stronger, and better than it ever was. But, as you have also seen, there are still examples of misguided people who are doing the work of Satan by not complying with the order of Moqaddas Sirata.
“This television station urges each of you to do your part in serving our beloved Great Leader, President for Life, Mehdi Ohmshidi, by reporting to the authorities anyone who would violate the laws of Moqaddas Sirata.”
The broadcast closed with a full-screen, stylized portrait of Ohmshidi in a pensive pose, looking slightly up and to his left. The rendering was in red, beige, and blue, with the words Obey Ohmshidi underneath. The letter “O” in “Obey” duplicated the new national symbol.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Geneva, Switzerland—United Nations Headquarters
The United Nations had moved from New York to Geneva in the “before time” within the first year of Ohmshidi’s presidency. They did so, declaring that conditions in the United States were no longer stable enough for the UN. For a while, the United States continued to be a member of the United Nations, and to hold on to their position as a permanent member of the Security Council. However, shortly after the three nuclear detonations in America, resulting in the total collapse of the country, the United States no longer had a seat on the Security Council, nor even a place in the General Assembly.
The American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment tried to reclaim the seat once held by the United States, but they were denied membership. The American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment was, however, granted a seat as a nonvoting observer in the General Assembly. And today, Barrack Azid Hussein, who was Ohmshidi’s observer to the United Nations (he did not merit the title “Ambassador”), had to listen as country after country condemned AIRE for its human rights violations.
“Christian worshipers slaughtered, a young boy’s arm crushed under the wheel of a car—and these are not isolated incidents, but are the policy of the government in Washington.”
“A point of order, Ambassador, the name of the city is Muslimabad,” Hussein said.
Hussein was gaveled by the Secretary General.
“The gentleman is not recognized, and will not interrupt again.”
The ambassador from England continued. “It is, indeed, a sad commentary on the times, when the country that was once looked up to by the rest of the world, the country of tolerance, the country of good will, the country who held up a light of liberty for the rest of the world, has now become a pariah among nations. I weep for the hundreds of thousands of young Americans who, throughout the history of that once, great nation, gave their lives for the peace of the world. Great Britain supports the resolution condemning the—so called—American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment.”
Hamid Karim Rahman, ambassador from Pakistan, defended the American Islamic Republic.
“For many years, the United States of America conducted war against Islam, and, with bribes, encouraged Muslim to fight Muslim. Now, they are no longer a threat to peace in the Middle East. Pakistan, and the fifty-five other Muslim nations who are members of the United Nations, protest this proposed resolution, and join with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in praising AIRE for its awakening. We are proud to say that the American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment is a valued member of the OIC.”
Despite the protest of all fifty-six Muslim members of the United Nations, the resolution of condemnation for violation of human rights passed, and a formal censure was issued.
Resolution 3817 is hereby issued by the United Nations in assembly in Geneva, Switzerland:
1. Expressing grave concern at the deteriorating situation, the escalation of violence, and the disregard of human life by the entity identifying itself as the American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment, formerly the United States of America.
2. Reiterating the responsibility of the AIRE authorities to protect their people and reaffirming that armed representatives of the government bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of its citizens.
3. Condemning the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including arbitrary detentions, torture, and summary executions.
4. Further c
ondemning acts of violence and intimidation committed by the authorities against independent journalists, media professionals, and associated personnel, and urging these authorities to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law as outlined in previous resolutions issued by this body.
5. Warning the authorities of the American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment (formerly the United States of America), that continued crimes against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity.
This resolution of condemnation was the first ever passed against the United States, though the resolution itself was quick to point out that the AIRE was no longer the U.S.A.
Nevertheless, news of the resolution appeared in newspapers and on radio and television around the world. The irony was that all the Western nations that used to be the allies of the U.S., such as Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Israel, and Japan, were in support of the resolution. So too were Russia and China.
Those nations that once condemned the United States were quick to issue statements of support for the American Islamic Republic of Enlightenment. In fact, the fifty-six member nations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued two strongly worded resolutions, one condemning the UN resolution, and one offering support for AIRE.
Muslimabad
When Mohammad Akbar Rahimi sent for Ohmshidi, the president, who owed his position to Rahimi, responded as if he were an obedient student called to the principal’s office. Without entourage or bodyguards, Ohmshidi went to Rahimi.
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