Pathspace

by Matthew Kennedy

Kareef: Troubling Doubts

  لذلك، إذا انت في شك حول ما أنزلنا اليك، نسأل أولئك الذين تتلون الكتاب من قبلك. لقد حان الحقيقة اليك من ربك. فلا تكن من الممترين

  “So, if thou art in doubt regarding what We have sent down to thee, ask those who recite the Book before thee. The truth has come to thee from thy Lord; so be not of the doubters”

  – Quran 10:94

  The other students had filed out of the madresah, but Kareef did not follow them from the school. Nizar, his teacher, had asked him to stay, and so he stayed.

  Even now, as he sat on a cushion trying to quiet his mind, he could hear the approaching footsteps of the Mullah. He opened his eyes and waited for the elder to speak.

  “Kareef, I sensed today that you are having more disquieting thoughts. Is this true?”

  “Na-am.” Yes. “I feel like a boat adrift on unfamiliar waters. I wonder what certainties I can cling to.”

  Nizar seated himself across from him. “Kareef, what are the five pillars of Islam?”

  Kareef almost laughed. He knew that would have been disrespectful, but did Nizar really think that reciting the trained responses would bring him any nearer to certainty?

  But he had been asked, so he would answer. “The five pillars are the Shahadah, the Salat, the Zakat, the Sawm, and the Hajj. The Declaration of one God, the five-times-daily prayers, the giving to the poor, the fasting in Ramadan, and the Pilgrimage.”

  “And do you have doubts, questions, or disquieting thoughts about these?”

  “Yes I do. To begin with, how can any of us undertake the Hajj? Ever since the Fall, we have lost contact with other continents. We cannot walk to Mecca, so what meaning does the Hajj still have for us, if any?”

  Nizar regarded him from under graying bushy eyebrows for a moment, stroking his beard. “Do you think that is the only possible meaning of the Hajj?

  Kareef shifted on his cushion, suddenly uncomfortable. He didn't feel turning his doubts into an excuse for another lecture. “What do you think?”

  Nizar raised an eyebrow. “You could think of it as a spiritual quest. Forgive me for saying so, but I am sure Allah knows what we can and cannot do. He knows of the storms that raged when the weather satellites failed, and how the failure of the old technologies ended sea voyages.”

  “Then why should He expect the Hajj? Or do we maintain the thought of it out of mere tradition?

  “Has it occurred to you,” Nizar said, upon reflection, “that perhaps you could go on Hajj without crossing the ocean?

  Kareef tried not to frown. “Is this a riddle?”

  Nizar smiled. “No. From our book we know something of other societies, and in many other cultures there is the tradition of a spiritual quest. On the far continent of Australia, for example, the indigents call it 'going on Walkabout'.

  Kareef absorbed this. “And you think this it is some kind of universal coming-of-age thing? Is that why we still include the Hajj in the Five Pillars? To imitate other societies?”

  Nizar grew serious. “No, of course not. I was merely pointing out a parallel.”

  “And what about the Zakat, the giving of savings to the poor and needy? Am I, a poor student, supposed to give money I do not have? Or merely to feel guilty that I cannot?”

  “Allah knows who can give and who cannot.”

  And the Sawm, the fasting and self-control during Ramadan. The rest of the year it doesn't really apply, does it? To me, it appears that my own Islam rests on only two pillars, the Declaration and the Prayers. Is that enough? Even a chair or table needs at least three legs.”

  “These doubts you are having,” said Nizar, “do you think you are the first to think of them? They are a natural part of growing up in the world. Time and experience will answer them.”

  “But there's more,” Kareef said. “In my younger years when I learned of our country, it appeared that it had always existed. But that's not true, is it? From the books in the Library I have learned that the first settlers of this land from outside were not Muslim. Yet here we are. How did we come to be here, and why was the subject glossed over in our younger classes?”

  Now it was Nizar who shifted on his cushion. “It is true, what you say. The founding of the Emirates was not so long ago. But the details of it would disturb the young, and so we do not cover that until students are older. It is covered in the final year before graduation.”

  “But why? What details?” An uncomfortable thought occurred to him. “Is it because of bloodshed? Our history studies covered wars in the past. What's one more?”

  Nizar sighed. “I would rather wait until it was time to cover these things in class,” he said. “But since you are asking, I shall not hold back. The time of the Founding was a bloody one. The Faithful were not the first group to come to this continent, but come we did. When the Gifts of the Tourists failed and civilization fell, we were already here.”

  “But surely we were few among many.”

  “Yes,” said Nizar. “but in the unrest after nations fell, there were many such groups in America. Some were absorbed, but some were not. The great Melting Pot of America did not always melt us all together, once national unity was lost.”

  “That much is obvious from geography,” said Kareef. “But it does not explain how we hold so much territory, yet not all. Why have we not conquered the entire land from sea to sea? Does Allah no longer favor our warriors? Or have we grown complacent?”

  Nizar leaned back on his cushion. “There have been times, in our past,” he admitted, when Islam was an Empire that covered much of the known world.”

  “You mean, back before the spread of Christianity.”

  “Yes. I think you will find, if you look further into the books of the Library, that many religions go through a period of missionary zeal, a period in which it seems that followers are obligated to spread their faith by any means. Islam was no exception.”

  “Are you saying that we have decided the lessons of the past were wrong, and have settled down to become comfortable neighbors?”

  Nizar eyed him. “I am saying,” he said, finally, “that a mind is like a bag – it can only be filled when it is open. As we grow in wisdom, we see that Allah does not need us to be barbarian conquerors. There is evil to resist in the world, it cannot be denied. But the greater struggle is always within us. What is the point of seeking to convert strangers if we do not rule our own thoughts? And then there is the matter of tolerance. Before the coming of the extremists, Islam was known as a religion of tolerance.”

  Kareef frowned at this. “But aren't we too tolerant? We have Christians within our borders. If they came to outnumber the Faithful, would they not seek to change our government and way of life? Should they not be required to be as we are?”

  “That is not tolerance,” said the Mullah. “It would set a bad example, and make trade with other countries difficult. How can we be less accepting than those of the North? Have we smaller hearts than them?”

  “The people of New Israel?” Kareef was taken aback. “Are you saying we should imitate them?”

  Nizar nodded. “I am. Their government has elements of religion in it, and yet those descendants of Jacob have many Christians and even Muslims among them. They do not feel their faith is weakened by tolerance, or by the presence of differing faiths and opinions. And yet they are a people who have suffered many persecutions. In ages past, many Jews were killed by Christians and by Muslims. If they can see past ancient conflicts and open their country to all, can we do any less?”

  Here Kareef pursed his lips. “Perhaps they are not so much open-minded as more geographically fortunate. The area of the Desolation between them and the Emirates has the effect of limiting their visitors more than it does ours.”

  Nizar shook his head. “Do you truly think they are fortunate to have less farmland than us? “

  “They have more mines,” Kareef muttered.

 
“Yes but you cannot eat ore, can you? Our population has expanded more rapidly than theirs, and the Desolation is only one reason fir it. We simply can support more people than they can.” He paused. “It was different, back in the times of the Ancients. Back then the cities of the North had millions of citizens.”

  Kareef's face spoke plainly of his doubt of this. “Millions? How would one feed a million people in a small place?”

  “You are forgetting the conveyances of the Ancients, their cars and trucks. Every day the equivalent of many caravans would come into a city such as new York. Their trucks and trains brought food, clothing, all the necessities of life, grown and manufactured elsewhere. Cities breathed them in as your body breathes in the air.”

  “But that's all gone now.”

  “Yes. Now they are much as we are, with much smaller cities and more farmers than city-dwellers.”

  “Still, said Kareef, unwilling to concede the point, “they have more mines.”

  “Why does that bother you? The Emirates have survived quite well without a lot of metal. Our winters are milder, so we don't need coal, either. The land gives us what we need.”

  “But what if we needed more weapons? The northerners are not the only people we might still have to fight.”

  Nizar was silent for a moment. “Unfortunately, you are right,” he said. “The news from the West is not good. The Lone Star Empire is apparently preparing for another period of expansion.”

  “Why?”

  Probably because much of the Honcho's Empire is desert. Without the irrigation systems of the Ancients, most of West Texas has reverted to dry sand again. Which means they have two options, go North or East. The country of Rado to their north has resisted their invasion attempts in the past. They might decide to try conquering to the East this time.”

  “Which puts us squarely in their path. But don't you see? That means we do need more weapons, top fight them off.”

  “Swords do not prevail against arrows,” the Mullah reminded him. “And there are reports that the Texans have uncovered a cache of ancient weapons, things like cannons on carts that can travel swiftly to battles. Against those, our finest horsemen and archers would be useless.”

  “I had not heard this,” said Kareef.

  “It is not common knowledge,” said Nizar. “And according to our operatives...”

  “Our spies, you mean.”

  “All right. According to our spies, the only reason he hasn't used his armored vehicles against us is he doesn't have the fuel for them. But the Honcho is resourceful. He may find a way to recreate the fuel he needs.”

  “Then we should seek alliances with his enemies.”

  “Now, finally, we reach my destination,” the Mullah said. “It is time to talk about your own Hajj, your own Quest..”