Download the Book - Islam and Science Fiction
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Hussein laughed. “Closer than you think. Contrary to what you<br />
might have heard, Muslims don’t dislike Jesus. Fine fellow. No more<br />
related to God than any of us, <strong>and</strong> we don’t call him Christ, but we<br />
like him just fine. And he’s supposed to reappear at around <strong>the</strong> same<br />
time <strong>and</strong> help <strong>the</strong> Mahdi re-establish peace, love, bro<strong>the</strong>rhood, <strong>and</strong> all<br />
that. But here’s <strong>the</strong> kicker. There is no way, none whatsoever, that<br />
<strong>the</strong> man who has been calling himself Mahdi is <strong>the</strong> actual Twelfth<br />
Imam, because <strong>the</strong>re’s no peace, love, bro<strong>the</strong>rhood, justice, or<br />
anything good happening when he’s around. The stuff he preaches is<br />
positively at odds with <strong>Islam</strong>. Basically he’s just a defrocked <strong>and</strong><br />
demented old Ayatolla who likes proclaiming that people should be<br />
killed for any number of made-up reasons.”<br />
“Well, well, Mr. Daryadel,” Raj chided, “I don’t think I’ve ever<br />
heard you say a demeaning word about anyone. You’re usually polite<br />
to a fault. Evidently this conversation has touched a nerve,” Raj<br />
noted. “He had a pretty big following once?”<br />
Hussein nodded. “When he first proclaimed himself to be Mahdi,<br />
a lot of people got excited, hoping it was so. But I underst<strong>and</strong> his<br />
following is now down to a few thous<strong>and</strong>. And if <strong>the</strong> recent<br />
speculation is right <strong>and</strong> he’s behind <strong>the</strong> desecration of <strong>the</strong> Ka’ba, I’d<br />
guess his following will soon be zero. You simply cannot imagine<br />
just how angry <strong>the</strong> whole Muslim world is over that.”<br />
Jan thought for a minute. “Is he nuts enough to try to hijack a<br />
starship <strong>and</strong> destroy Earth?”<br />
Hussein hesitated only a heartbeat. “Probably.”<br />
“That terrorist organization of his, <strong>the</strong> Shia Ali, are <strong>the</strong>y<br />
competent enough to pull it off?”<br />
Hussein’s face darkened to a scowl. “Those loathsome bastards<br />
… <strong>the</strong>y have no right to use that name!” He sighed. “There I go<br />
again. I guess I’ve picked up bad habits from <strong>the</strong> crew, saying what I<br />
really feel. There probably are not that many of <strong>the</strong>m, but those few<br />
are really bad news. They think <strong>the</strong>y’re pretty clever. They’ve<br />
managed to sneak into a number of countries <strong>and</strong> kill Iranian exiles<br />
who were speaking out against <strong>the</strong>m. They probably do have sleeper<br />
cells. I’m told some of <strong>the</strong>m are pretty skilled. But my experience<br />
with <strong>the</strong>m is limited to when I was a kid in Iran. What I remember is<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir hatred. I wonder if <strong>the</strong>y could ever learn to mask it?”<br />
“Profiling is illegal,” Jan stated. “But I would sure like someone<br />
on my team that has met <strong>the</strong>se guys before. I hope I’m just being<br />
paranoid. I hope this new team of visitors is just ordinary decent<br />
folks. Maybe you can ease my mind on that?”<br />
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