The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning

by Ira Tabankin

  When I read the report, I thought, what would happen if a radical Muslim was elected President? How would one get elected? Since the report made it’s projections in the year 2050, I choose that as the year to place this story. Rather than turn the story into a “SciFi” story focusing on the advances of technology in the next 35 years, I made very few technology projections used in the 2050s, I wanted the story to be about the ‘What if’ America elected a Muslim as President. Since technology plays a major role in our lives, I did project that our televisions and gaming will be replaced by 3D hologram technology which seems to be a logical step in entertainment devices. If anyone is interested, the full report is available on line at the Pew Research Center site.

  Prologue

  In the year 2050 the world’s population based on their religious beliefs, is almost equally split between Christianity and Islam. The high birth rate in the Islamic communities combined with the much lower birthrate in the world’s other religions laid the foundation for Islam to pass Christianity by the early 2050’s. By 2050 Islam controlled most of the European Union states. The shift started in the late 1990s when Europe’s open borders allowed large numbers of Muslims to relocate to Europe. Instead of assimilating into the existing population the Islamic immigrants separated themselves into Islamic ghettos where they followed their own religious practices and practiced Sharia law. Infidels were not welcome in these ghettos, the Muslim immigrants patrolled their ghettos which over time grew to encompass entire cities with their own government, police, and fire departments. In order to be competitive local banks were forced to follow Sharia law, which outlawed charging interest. The Islamic cities formed roaming religious police, who were called the Mutaween. Their job was to ensure the population followed Sharia law. The Mutaween ensured that no remnants of the ‘Western lifestyle’ remained to pollute the followers of Allah. With high birth rates and high immigration, the size of the Islamic cities and communities grew, as did their political power. The Muslim’s voted in an Islamic block. By 2020, they were running their own candidates for public offices. In 2022, Muslims held the offices of the mayor of London, Birmingham, Paris, Berlin, and over 200 smaller towns and cities. In 2050, the Islamic Caliphate covered all of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, (with the exception of South Africa which after numerous race wars was a devastated battle field of ruined cities) and a third of Eastern Russia. The Chinese Communist Party fought the expression of all religions. Australia and New Zealand outlawed radical Islam, they deported any who tried to overthrow their democratic lifestyle.

  In 2015 America and Iran signed the worst treaty in modern history. America agreed to release all economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Iran agreeing to not produce a nuclear weapon for ten years. Iran laughed at America’s stupidity in accepting their word without a backup plan. Iranians chanted “Death to America”, “Death to Israel.” While their government signed a worthless treaty.

  In 2020, Iran launched a surprise attack against Israel with fifty nuclear-armed missiles. Forty-six of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s expanded anti-missile shield. Israel struck back at Iran with 200 nuclear missiles and bombs. Tehran was struck by six 350KT Israeli weapons, the capital of Iran was vaporized, the city ceased to exist. Saudi Arabia also struck Iran using their secretly developed nuclear weapons. Israel had secretly traded nuclear assistance to Saudi Arabia in exchange for them attacking Iran if Iran struck Israel first. Israel also shared with Saudi Arabia various technologies. The two entered into an uneasy peace. Saudi Arabia knew Israel had enough weapons to destroy the Kingdom if Saudi Arabia moved against Israel. With the destruction of Iran, Saudi Arabia took its place as the leader of the Islamic world. The King of Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with Israel agreeing to recognize the right of Israel to exist in exchange for Israel agreeing not to attack Saudi Arabia. The treaty allowed Saudi to focus on converting the rest of the world to follow Allah. The Saudi Royals knew that when Islam was strong enough, they would return to the question of Israel.

  While In the United States, twenty Muslims were elected to Congress in the midterm elections of 2020. In the 2024 elections, Muslims won 55 seats in the House and 6 seats in the Senate. In 2026, there were 102 Muslim members of the House and 16 Senators. They formed a powerful congressional group, the Congressional Islamic Group, (CIG). The CIG pressured the liberal media to suppress any story which didn’t reflect Islam in the best light. Any Story about an Islamic attack on an infidel was suppressed. The CIG understood that most Americans got their news from fifteen second sound bites, they knew, who ever controlled the media, controlled how the average American thought. Their antagonists were the right wing talk radio hosts who had the largest share of the radio market. The CIG pushed the equal time rule through Congress. Any media that broadcast a right wing radio or television program also had to broadcast an opposing program for the same amount of time in a similar time slot that had a similar number of listeners or viewers. The new law doomed talk radio. If Rush was on for three hours in mid day, then the same station had to broadcast an opposing view program in a time slot that had the same number of listeners. Since Rush had the highest rated radio program, there wasn’t another time slot or available program that provided an opposing view. Talk radio’s success was its own downfall.

  The right wing talk radio and television hosts, Rush, Glen, Sean, and Mark were all kicked off the air. The four of them merged their networks into a new Tea Party/right-wing network they called the EIBLAZE network. They quickly learned, regardless of their number of viewers and listeners, due to the equal time rule, no commercial station could host them. They began broadcasting on the Internet. The CIG brought suit against the EIBLAZE network and Google saying Internet providers, under the FCC’s takeover of the internet in 2015 were covered by the equal time rule. The FCC sided with the CIG. The EIBLAZE found no provider would host them due to the fear of being sued by the FCC. The EIBLAZE’s only option was to move offshore so they could continue their broadcasting. The CIG and FCC pressured service providers in the EU and Asia to block the EIBLAZE network, which left the hosts having to fund their own Internet provider based in Israel. The CIG filed suit against the new network and all broadcasts originating in Israel. Israel refused to hear the lawsuit. The CIG pressured Congress to cut all aid to Israel until they followed the equal time rule. Israel had sufficient support in Congress to block the CIG from cutting aid. Israel continued to host the Tea Party/right wing broadcasts which became the only voice of logic and conservatism available to the American public.

  When the 2052 Presidential election process started, the CIG offered their own candidate for President. Their candidate, Senator Osama bin Mohmand won 274 Electoral College votes. Becoming America’s first openly Muslim President. President elect Mohmand promised America a new generation of peace, an end to the various wars which had gone on for fifty years. The American public was tired of and fed up with two generations of wars. They elected Mohmand thinking he would bring peace and since he ran as a Green Party candidate, the public expected him to protect the environment.

  Sitting President Jackson tried to take some of the glow off of President elect Mohmand by releasing President Obama’s sealed records. The unsealed records showed what many on the right had long suspected, President Obama was a Muslim. President Jackson hoped that by releasing President Obama’s records, he would defuse those who were worried about a Muslim President. He hoped that like most candidates who won elections, once in office, they realized if they wanted to get anything done, they had to move towards the center.

  President elect Mohmand promised he would sign an executive order marking President Obama’s birthday as a national holiday. Thus celebrating the birth of the person who started the transformation of America towards becoming an Islamic country. The new national news station, Al Jazeera, renamed the transformation of America as the jihad of America. Al Shihabi was granted a daily interview time every day with President Mohmand. Al Jazeera
was the only media to have total access to President Mohmand. AL Shihabi helped script a wide-ranging jihad of America, one which they hoped would fully transform America into a devoted Islamic country which will proudly take its place within the worldwide Caliphate.

  Chapter One

  Amid the loud cheering and chanting at the Mohmand election headquarter hotel, the CNN reporter looks into the camera saying, “Good evening America, tonight, November 17th, 2052 history has been made for the third time. We’re all witnesses of this historic event. In November 2008 we elected the first African-American, Barrack Obama as President. He started the transformation of America to make us a more peaceful, caring country. As everyone knows, President Obama served two terms, he left a legacy of accomplishing more than any other President prior to him. In 2016, the conservatives’ voter ID laws blocked many minorities from voting thus allowing the radical Tea Party candidate Ted Cruz to be elected as President. President Cruz defeated Mrs. Clinton who performed horribly in the debates. Many said that President Cruz pushed her buttons causing her to lose her temper in every debate. Some say the ‘real’ Hillary Clinton was seen during the debates. Everyone may remember when she lost it in the second debate when Ted Cruz held up recovered emails showing Mrs. Clinton sent Ambassador Stevens to Benghazi to ship illegal weapons to the Syrian rebels. As Secretary of State, she not only knew the attack was a terrorist attack, she turned down his request for additional security. She stood by, doing nothing allowed Ambassador Stevens to die a horrible death. Ted Cruz repeated during the debate, Clinton’s hands were covered in blood. At the end of their third and final debate, he showed emails proving she ordered the military to stand down dooming the Ambassador and his staff to death.

  The CNN reporter continued, “Fulfilling his campaign promise President Cruz started dismantling President Obama’s vision of America starting with his first day in office. We in the media didn’t agree with President Cruz, we made our thoughts very public. When the economy didn’t recover from the recession, which was caused by the Republican tax cuts and President Cruz throwing the country into confusion when he, by Executive order overturned President Obama’s signature bill, Obamacare. The country spent four years trying to figure out how to replace Obamacare with a health care system that covered everyone. The confusion cost President Cruz reelection. The presidential election of 2020 saw Elizabeth Warren beat Ted Cruz to become the country’s first woman President. She followed in President Obama’s footsteps. She was even more progressive than President Obama. She brought back Obamacare, further confusing the public. President Warren forced a restructuring of Wall Street, which pushed the economy into a deeper recession. In the 2024 election, President Warren ran against Rand Paul, who she beat claiming it was the conservative wing of the Republican Party which pushed the country into the recession. President Warren won reelection but the people handed both house of Congress to the Tea Party. The country suffered deeper divisions than under Presidents Obama and Cruz. President Warren and Congress couldn’t agree on any issue. The country suffered an additional four years of deep recession due to the Tea Party refusing to work with President Warren.

  The election of 2028 saw the emergence of a third and fourth party which further broke the country apart. A little-known Congressman from West Virginia won the election by promising the country a return to old time values. President Frankfort won both of his elections. The elections in 2036 and 2040 went back and forth between the right and left. While Washington D.C. argued with themselves, the country was changing. The birth rate of the Islamic population grew quickly while the birth rate of other religions dropped to a point where they didn’t cover the replacement of their existing numbers. The number of Catholics, Baptists, Mormons and Jews declined while the number of Muslims exploded.”

  The CNN reporter paused to look into the camera before continuing, “In 202, the Islamic community formed their own party and started running their own candidates. By the election of 2052, the majority of people who actually voted were Muslims. Tonight we celebrate our first openly Muslim president. Osama bin Mohmand easily defeated the other two candidates. The Tea Party candidate was so radical that we and the other networks didn’t carry his message. This was also the first election cycle in one hundred years when there weren’t any televised debates. President Mohmand refused to take the stage with a bacon eating infidel. We join with all Americans and the world in celebrating the election of President-elect Mohmand. We thank Allah for sending us such an intelligent guiding leader as President-elect Mohmand.”

  MSNBC’s reporter says, “Who is Osama bin Mohmand? He started his career as an investor in companies that supply Muslims with items they use in their everyday life. Mohmand made over $50 million when he sold his company to Amazon. After selling his company he turned his energy to politics. He moved to Michigan, which has a large Muslim population. He became the Mayor of Detroit, where he developed the bailout that saved the city from a second bankruptcy. He parlayed his fame into the Senate race where he became the junior Senator from Michigan. He served three terms in the Senate, his most notable accomplishment was authoring the law that made Muslims a protected class of people in America. He's also known for putting the deal together which enabled Muslims to pay fees on their credit cards in place of interest since interest is outlawed in the Holy Quran. Mohmand has been quoted as saying he’s the moderate Muslim who wants to make peace with the different people of the world. We warmly welcome Osama bin Mohmand as our new President.”

  @@@@@

  Monday, January 20th dawned bright and warm for January in Washington D.C. The sky was crystal clear without a visible cloud. At 7:30 AM President-elect Mohmand was led into the Oval Office to meet his predecessor. As the custom, both men met in private to discuss issues between the outgoing and incoming Presidents.

  President Jackson welcomed President-elect Mohmand to the Oval Office, “President-elect, welcome to the White House. My family and I will be moved out by the time your inauguration service concludes. Per tradition, I’m pleased to host you and answer any specific questions about the House and the position as I can. I thought we would have breakfast together while we chatted.”

  “Mr. President, I truly appreciate you taking the time this morning to host me. I’m sure my family will be happy to move in and start the cleaning and remodeling as soon as possible. I will be happy to have a cup of tea while you eat breakfast. I’ve already had mine. I can’t eat in the House until the kitchen is cleaned and restocked with Halal food. I’m not permitted to eat non-Halal foods or eat foods prepared in a nonconforming kitchen.”

  “I see. Are you planning on changing all of the House staff?”

  “Yes, I’m in the process of having the staff replaced as we meet. My temporary Chief of Staff is going to oversee the White House is cleaned, all traces of non-Halal food will be removed, the kitchens cleaned the bedrooms cleaned and all of the linens and towels changed. We’re bringing our own China to replace the existing White House china, silverware, and cooking equipment. We plan on disposing of all of the existing White House kitchen supplies. If we didn’t do this, Allah would frown on the Muslim State of America.”

  “President-elect, I’m sure you know that America isn’t a Muslim State. Our constitution forbids us having a state religion.”

  “Mr. President, I wouldn’t worry yourself about such things. In less than two hours, none of this will be your concern. You served for eight years. Eight years which saw increased discrimination against Allah’s faithful. You didn’t raise your voice in protest while Allah’s people suffered under your administration. I’m going to ensure my people don’t ever suffer the same discrimination again. As soon as I take the oath of office I’m going to start ensuring my people are protected.”

  “Mr. President elect, may I give you a word of advice?”

  “Of course, please, I’m all ears.”

  “If I were you, I would take it slow. You won the election by four Electoral College vote
s. A little over half of the popular vote was cast for your opponents. You won the election with a minority of the popular vote. You’re not entering office with a strong mandate. I’d advise you go slowly with any sweeping new programs. Build a strong working relationship with Congress. Get Congress on your side. No one believed a third party could win, let alone your party.”

  President-elect Mohmand smiled, he sipped his tea while he looked at President Jackson. “Mr. President, I do have a mandate, over 99% of the Muslim population in America voted for me. I have a duty to follow the wishes of those who elected me. I’m going to carry forward the bold promise made by President Obama, I’m going to complete the transformation of America into converting America into an Islamic country. In fact, my staff has designed a new flag I’m going to shortly unveil. Would you like to see it?”

  “President-elect Mohmand, do I understand you plan to change the American flag? You plan to transform America into an Islamic country? A country that follows Islamic law?”

  “President Jackson, its called Sharia law which is soon going to be the law of the land. Today is going to be a day remembered forever. The day the green flag of Islam finally flies over this great land. The day when America takes its place among the followers of Allah and Mohmand his the messenger. Today America is going to be the next country in the formation of a worldwide Caliphate. Under my administration, a worldwide Caliphate will finally become a reality. You should be proud that you’re able to watch the formation of the worldwide Caliphate. Today we will begin the process of having a common law across the entire world. For the first time, Allah’s word will become the common law of the world.” President Mohmand smiled an evil grin as he paused to sip his tea.