Chapter 4
Five minutes later they were settled. Rashid sat to Quatre's left while Abdule took a seat in a chair across from him. Quatre felt crowded, boxed in by the back of the couch, its arm, and Rashid's immense presence so close to him. He was firmly pressed into the couch arm and he wasn't sure where he'd go if Rashid tried to touch him again.
He'd noticed that these two men touched each other often. Watching them as they'd put the breakfast things away, he'd noticed they touched when passing the dishes or a hand settled onto a shoulder in the middle of something one of them was saying. It was unlike anything he'd witnessed before and Quatre was fearful of the implications.
Touching was supposed to be good. People did it all the time on the vid. But what if these men tried to touch him, tried to touch the devil's evil child? Would they be contaminated like he was? Would they be abandoned by Allah just like he'd been? And when they were, what would they do to him in anger?
"Quatre?"
He looked up, stared into deep hazel eyes before looking away. There was such power in those eyes and he quickly found that he could not stand up to them. They seemed to reach into his soul and Quatre didn't want that, didn't want this man polluted like he was.
"Quatre, how much have you studied of the Qur'an?"
Surprised by the question Quatre again looked up. With all of his might he fought the urge to back down from those eyes and that knowing look. In the end, he had to look away once again and he held his tongue, keeping silent just in case.
"Quatre?" The man paused before attempting another tactic. "Have you read it from cover to cover?"
This Quatre could answer. He nodded.
"More than once?"
He nodded again.
"More than five times?"
Again he nodded.
"More than ten?"
How much further was this going to go? He didn't know what the man wanted. Looking up, Quatre spoke softly, hoping to take the attention away from himself by letting his voice escape.
"I-I read it everyday."
Rashid seemed surprised. "Everyday?"
Quatre nodded.
"If you had to guess the number of times you'd read it completely, how many would it be?"
Silently he tried to figure it out. He didn't like the questions but the man seemed unwilling to leave him alone.
He shrugged. "Five…six hundred times."
"What?!" Abdule looked stunned and disbelieving. "You can't be serious!"
"Of course he is serious!" Rashid's voice was stern and Quatre watched as Abdule looked startled at the older man's outburst before ducking his head and nodding.
"I'm sorry, Quatre. That's just a lot of times to read it. Why so many?"
What should he say? That's he'd read it hoping against hope that Allah would be merciful, that his God would grant him a miracle? Perhaps that he'd read it for nearly a year, analyzing the passages in the hopes of finding something someone had missed throughout the centuries; something that would show that Allah had not forsaken him and that he could go home. What should he say?
He didn't answer.
After a moment, Rashid began a new set of questions.
"Were you given a teacher in the ways of Islam and the proper way to be a Muslim?"
Quatre shook his head.
"Yet you know the rituals and movements of the daily prayers. How did you learn these?"
"I-there was a vid-a program…it showed the movements…the Qur'an describes them as well."
Rashid nodded. "A vid program showed Islamic worship?"
He nodded again.
"Who told you that you were an evil child?"
Startled yet again, Quatre jerked his head up from his examination of his throbbing feet. But Rashid's demeanor was still what he thought was calm. He concentrated as hard as he could and felt no hatred or malice from the man. But it was so hard, so hard to think clearly with so many feelings racing around him, with two men he did not know crowding him in an unfamiliar place. He was scared, he admitted that, and he was alone. The aloneness he could handle, the fear he could handle as well, but this was different, foreign in a way he couldn't comprehend.
He didn't want to answer, but again some strange part of his mind told him to speak. Mohammed taught to follow one's instincts. Who was he to refrain?
"The re-reprogrammer."
"Reprogrammer?"
He nodded.
"Quatre, who was this 'reprogrammer'?"
He shrugged, he didn't know.
"What did he say to you?"
No! He couldn't be asking what he was! Wasn't he worthless enough? Wasn't he abandoned already? Didn't Allah already mean to send him to Hell when he made the final judgment? Now this man wanted Quatre to speak the words that condemned him. No! No, he wouldn't!
He shook his head.
"Do you remember?"
He nodded hesitantly.
"Then what did he say?"
Again he simply shook his head.
"Quatre—"
The younger man stepped in suddenly. "You know, Quatre. Anything that man said to you was untrue. See, he didn't know the whole story, not for people like us, special people Allah has granted passage for. Rashid want's to know what that man said to you so he knows what you know and can correct the errors you've been taught. But I think I understand. It was probably very hard for you, the things that man must have said. I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to repeat them. Words have a way of becoming true if you say them out loud, don't they?"
Wide eyed, he looked at Abdule before slowly nodding his head. How had this man known?
Abdule smiled. "The year I came in as Recruit, there was another boy with me whose father had put him through "reprogramming." He said it was awful, and actually, now that I think about it, he hardly ever talks about it. I can guess how awful it must have been for the both of you."
It had been. Long hours of listening to that old man telling him he was going to Hell because his soul was tainted, that he'd displeased Allah and that Allah had forsaken him, wanted no part in him. Then the abuse, the beatings and beatings that left him bloody and pain ridden for days. But the man would always return, hate and damnation on his lips. He'd tried to teach Quatre the way Allah wanted him to act, but Quatre could never get it right, could never please the man and so he was beaten. Over the years since his father had given up on him, Quatre had tried to forget those dark times, but 'evil child' was a constant scream upon his lips when awakened from nightmares. He didn't think he'd ever truly be able to forget.
He nodded to answer Abdule's statement.
The smaller man spoke again and with his words, Quatre's world split apart around him. "He was wrong, Quatre. Allah would never abandon his people, he loves them, all of them, even those that sin against him. But you're not a sinner Quatre. Think hard, didn't Allah tell Mohammed that those born into the world without means of performing worship to Him were not any less his people than those that devoted every moment to him? Following just the Qur'an you recognize, that automatically absolves you from your genetic… "defect" if you must. Allah would never condemn you, he gives you free choices to love Him or not. You've obviously chosen to love Him. Little Quatre, listen well, Allah is merciful and great, He has not forsaken you."
By Allah, could that be true?! He searched his memory, searched through the entire text of the Qur'an--of which he'd already memorized the entire thing--searched for the passages that Abdule was speaking about and thought about it in this very context. But it couldn't be right! It couldn't be that simple! Families had been killing tube children for nearly two hundred years because of this hated gene he carried in his body, how could so many for so long have been wrong?
He shook his head to deny it.
"No Quatre, he is right."
Quatre knew his eyes were pleading as he looked to the older man. It couldn't be right, it just wasn't possible. He'd spent his entire life paying for the crimes of his birth, no one could tell him it'd been for nothing.
But Rashid moved forward, resting his hand on the back of the couch close to Quatre without touching him; it didn't matter, Quatre still flinched.
"Quatre, I am going to tell you things now that you cannot find in the Qur'an that you read before coming here. The Holy Book in the other room has this information though and you are welcome to read it when we are done speaking.
"The things I am going to tell you may anger you, you would not be the first to feel betrayed by Allah, but remember that everything we go through is a lesson, a test of our faith, and your test is now over. Little Quatre, you have passed into something much better."
Rashid paused, and Quatre drew in a shielding breath against what he feared this man was about to tell him. What did he mean? How could one Qur'an be different from another? They were all intimately equal, not one word was different no matter what the outside or the pages looked like. Of all the ancient religions, Islam was the only one with true words from The Prophet. Two books of the Qur'an had to be the same, otherwise one was incorrect. Wasn't it?
Rashid noticed his dilemma and smiled. "It is true that your version of the Qur'an is correct. But the Maguanacs—Allah's Jihad army—have another chapter that takes precedence over the teachings of the Qur'an that you know.
"Aisha, Mohammed's wife, saw the struggles that were created by The Prophet's death among Allah's people and wished to end their fighting. One night, as she was praying in the gardens, the messenger angel came to her and bid her to memorize the words he wrote in the sand at her feet. Aisha had never been visited by an angel and the Qur'an you've read does not discuss her accounts of Allah's words. This is because the Great One bid her to recite His teachings only to a selection of one hundred men, men chosen by Allah in His infinite wisdom. To these men she recited the tale of the angel and Allah's words in the sand at her feet. Knowing in their hearts that Aisha's words were truth, they secretly wrote them down and kept the final chapter of the Qur'an hidden from the eyes of the people.
"You may wonder why it was a secret, since Islam rejects secrecy almost all of the time. But the one hundred men chosen by Allah were men that were different from the rest, they possessed three important qualities that set them apart from His other people.
"First of all, they were all slaves. Perhaps not slaves in body, but slaves by mind. Some were ruled by money, while others were ruled by lust for power. Some indeed were slaves with human masters, but the majority were all men beaten down by their so called 'masters.' They were ostracized, cast out from society, and rejected for various reasons. They were not like Allah's other people.
"Second, they were all under the age of twenty-one. These men were men back then, but would now seem like boys. Not all were even above the age of puberty, which is a strict way of judgment to most Muslims and Islamic Law.
"Finally, what set them apart from the rest were that they had all decided to leave the faith of Allah because of Mohammed's words about relations among members of the same sex, homosexuality. As you know, this is a great sin in the world of Islam, anything from floggings to death are the punishments for such sins and parents even disobey Allah's words by killing their own children simply because they possess the gene of homosexuality.
"But Allah's new and final chapter to the Qur'an halted the men from leaving and instead compelled them to stay as it spoke the truth to them and their new place in Allah's realm."
Rashid paused and Quatre's mind continued to swim at the knowledge. Aisha had never seen the angels of Allah, she'd never gathered a hundred men to her, she'd barely ever left her home! This just couldn't be true!
But Rashid was continuing, his voice at a softer and slower pace, allowing Quatre's mind to firmly grasp everything he was saying.
"Allah's greatest desire was for mankind to find Him and to be happy. He believed in family, the sanctity of marriage, and the protection of basic human rights. He knew that to achieve this there would need to be some kind of defense to protect the people of Islam from those that would destroy them out of fear or jealousy.
"But how to do this? The Great One knew that He could not just take men from their families, for they were needed to protect wives and children. He could not destroy the very foundation on which Islam rose, the family. So in His wisdom, He instructed Aisha to form an army, an army of one hundred men of Allah's choosing, who would be the core defenders of the faith so that families could be protected.
"So into this army went men that were of age to understand the delicately reworded instructions of Allah; those that were slaves of the spirit who's only hope was a unity of strength; and finally those that would never have children or take wives with which to leave helpless. An army of one hundred men, who's sole purpose was to defend the people of Islam and find a sense of family between themselves.
"At first these men were separated into small groups, knowing of each other but keeping their divine instructions hidden. It was told by Allah, that His people were not to be ruled by His secret laws to these select one hundred men. Allah specially chose these men and their ranks would always be filled by Allah's will. And they were, for nearly two thousand years, while these men worked in secret, protecting Islam from the shadows.
"In the year 1 BC, it was finally decided that that the Qur'an would be reinterpreted, as it was obvious man was making a move to space and things were simply too different from the first and only interpretation of Islamic Law. When this was done, the one hundred men of the Maguanacs came forward. They told their story to the judges and were found to be truthful and hence the culmination of hundreds of years of suffering was created into the legendary Jihad Army of Allah, the Maguanacs.
"The Islamic Law was reordered, but the Maguanacs kept from them the final book Allah had granted them. For in Aisha's final vision of the angel messenger, he had told her Allah would make it known to the Jihad Army when to reveal His last words to all, at which time they would become His first. So it came to pass that the Maguanacs were given the title of "Defenders of Islam" and sent to space first among the Muslims so that they could defend Islam from the heavens. On this very colony they created a home, a place were one hundred men became family in a common obsession to protect Allah's people and His religion known as Islam."
Quatre couldn't see himself of course, but he was certain his eyes must have been huge with surprise and doubt. The second interpretation of the Laws of Islam was nearly two hundred years ago, but those teachings had only brought about the laws that defined his terror. The gene identified as the 'Homo' gene was a sin against Allah, because to be homosexual was a sin against Allah's decree of marriage and children, of family.
Rashid interrupted his thoughts. "I can tell that you are confused, Quatre. Do not be ashamed of it. There are many new things you must learn and most of them will make me sound as if I am a heretic against Allah. But I swear to you that everything I say is Allah's truth, and you will be able to see the words themselves when you go to read the Qur'an in the prayer room. You may doubt even then, most do, and at that point Abdule and I will take you to the Mosque. But I get ahead of myself, let me tell you first the differences in Allah's separate laws for His Jihad Army.
"First, the original one hundred men would take in what are known are Recruits, boys under twenty-one years of age that met the defined requirements. They would teach these boys the secret words of Allah so that they too could fight to defend Islam and her people when required. The men would teach the Recruits the ways of warfare so that Muslim men would not have to learn it, they would teach them about the darker side of the world so that Muslims would not have to dirty their souls to learn it. And these men would teach the Recruits that their souls were not in danger because of the acts they committed, as they were protect by Allah's covenant to His Army, 'All your deeds do I forgive when done to protect My people.'
"Secondly, no man that enters into the Maguanacs is ever allowed to marry a woman, or to produce children. This may seem hard to understand, since Allah wished all people to experience marriage and the happiness of children--the gifts of the family. But Allah is wise, He knew that His army would require time away from wives and children and that the men in the ranks could not be good fathers and husbands. So He forbade them from doing these things to protect His love for the family, so that the men would feel no guilt leaving behind their wives and children would not be left to learn alone the words of Allah. But this does not mean that Allah forbade them family.
"In perhaps the most important revelation given to Aisha in the gardens were these words:
'My mighty defenders of Islam and Her people, do not despair for I know your fears and understand them. I know all that is, and all that will ever be. I grant you this, so that you may know family and love, for you are the chosen defenders of My will, and I will not forsake you. So learn from each other and take pleasure from each other, because I have willed it that you may. You who are not responsible for strengthening the numbers of My people; you who are separate in your needs and duties; I give you leave to know paradise with each other, and in that you may know Me. For I am the desire within you that leads you to your place as defenders of My people.'
"It is with this passage, and others that follow it, that the Maguanacs are given permission and indeed told to, engage in relations with each other. We are all like you Quatre, men born with the so called 'Homo' gene. But Allah refers to us as 'One' and so we have begun to call it the gene of One.
"You are a Maguanac, Quatre, by Allah's placement of this gene in your body you are destined to be one of us. You are neither evil nor forsaken, for Allah loves you, has always loved you, and will never abandon you. You have been chosen by Allah for a great service and your time of testing is now to be rewarded, for you have been faithful to Allah and He has delivered you here to be with your own kind.
"I can tell you do not believe me, that or you are too afraid to do so. Go back to the prayer room, take the Qur'an from the pedestal and read. Because Allah willed it, the secret chapter of the Qur'an is the first in our Holy Book, as it take precedence over the later chapters known outside this sanctuary. Read it now Quatre, and when you have had time to understand it, return and I will try to answer your many questions. Do not be afraid, no question is wrong and the only sin is ignorance out of fear or pride. Go now, Abdule and I will await your return."
It seemed strange to him but he rose without protest or knowing his legs moved beneath him. His round eyes turned away from his Teacher and locked onto the door to the prayer room. As he approached it, his mind whirled at the implications of Rashid's words and he hesitated at the door.
Could he walk through? Could he really take that last step and perhaps learn that he'd been living a lie for his entire life? Could he move beyond this metal door and open a book that would shatter the foundation he'd stood on for so long? Could he read the words that would set him free and not go mad with the implications?
He didn't know.
A feeling told him to step forward.
He followed the pull of Allah and stepped inside.