Angels in the Architecture

by Sue Fitzmaurice

  News facts recorded in Pete’s diary were all real occurrences, with the notable exception that Anwar Sadat did not survive the assassination on 6 October 1981, as is described in this novel; instead, he was definitively shot and killed. As such, of course, he did not receive a second Nobel Peace Prize in September 2001. In addition, persecution of the Baha’is in Iran remains, as does the ban on election of their Spiritual Assemblies; as such there was no election of a new national assembly in Teheran in 1981.

  Khalid Ahmed Showky Al-Islambouli arranged and carried out the assassination of the Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, during the annual 6 October 1973 victory parade on 6 October 1981. Lieutenant Islambouli was not supposed to participate in the October parade but was chosen by chance to replace another officer. When his section of the parade neared the President’s platform, Islambouli and three others leapt from their truck and ran towards the President, lobbing grenades. Islambouli entered the stands and emptied his assault rifle into Sadat, shouting ‘I have killed the Pharaoh!’ Seven others were killed and twenty-eight were wounded. Islambouli was immediately captured. Over 300 Islamic radicals were indicted in the trial of Islambouli and twenty-three co-conspirators. Islambouli stated that his primary motivation for the assassination was Sadat’s signing of the Camp David Accords with Israel. He was found guilty and executed with five others on 15 April 1982.

  The Iranian government named a street in Tehran after Islambouli in 1981, renaming it to Intifada Street in 2001 in an effort to improve relations with Egypt. (Bobby Sands Street also appeared in Teheran in 1981, following his death in The Maze; it had been Winston Churchill Street and is the location of the British embassy.)

  Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as The Blind Sheikh, is an Egyptian Muslim leader now serving a life sentence at a US federal prison. Abdel-Rahman and nine others were convicted of seditious conspiracy, following the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. Abdel-Rahman had issued a fatwa – a scholarly religious opinion (and a term understood more commonly in the West to refer to a death sentence) – against Anwar Sadat, following the signing the Camp David peace accords with Israel.

  The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two framework agreements were signed at the White House and were witnessed by US President Jimmy Carter. The second of these frameworks, A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, led directly to the 1979 Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty and resulted in Sadat and Begin sharing the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

  Danny Morrison is an Irish author and Republican activist. He variously had roles in writing and publishing on behalf of the IRA and was famously quoted in 1981: Who here really believes we can win the war through the ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in one hand and an Armalite in this hand, we take power in Ireland? from which came the term ‘Armalite and ballot box strategy’ to describe the dual strategy of the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin in the cause of republicanism. Morrison acted as spokesman for Maze hunger striker Bobby Sands, and he is quoted here from Richard English’s book Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA published in 2004 by Oxford University Press.

  The story that weeping can be heard from Hugh’s tomb is fictitious.

  Simon Wilton Phipps was Bishop of Lincoln from 1974 to 1987. He had a successful military career in the Coldstream Guards and fought in World War II, during which he was wounded twice and was subsequently awarded the Military Cross. Following the war, he studied for the priesthood, was appointed Chaplain at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was later an industrial chaplain in Coventry, before being appointed Suffragan Bishop of Horsham in 1968. Phipps was known for his close friendship with Princess Margaret, whom he counselled during her separation from Lord Snowdon. He died in 2001; The Times recorded that Phipps had combined gentleness, tranquility, and sweetness of character with deep psychological insight and considerable strength of purpose.

  The character Loraine refers to in Chapter 12 to Kim Peek, the inspiration for the movie Rain Man, which was not in fact released until 1988. Kim was generally considered an autistic savant until a study in 2008 concluded he had FG Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. It was also discovered Kim had no corpus callosum, the bundle of nerves connecting the two hemispheres of the brain.

  The Kingdom of Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin on 2 October 1187; not 1185 as the story indirectly implies. Salāh ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (1138–1193), better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He led the Muslim opposition to European Crusaders in the Eastern Mediterranean, eventually recapturing Palestine from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem after his victory in the Battle of Hattin at Tiberius against Richard, son of Henry II. Saladin was a Sunni Muslim and a Sufi. His chivalrous behaviour was noted by many..

  Ismat ad-Dīn Khātūn, Saladin’s wife, died in January 1186 and thus did not in fact live to see her husband retake Jerusalem in 1187. Her precise age is not known. She was married to Nur ad-Din in 1147; if she was the same age as Saladin, this would have made her nine years old. The nature of her death is also unknown.

  Richard I (1157–1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death. He also ruled over much of France. He was known as Cœur de Lion, or Richard the Lionheart, long before his accession, because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. Richard led the Third Crusade (1189–1192) as King, following the loss of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187, in which he fought prior to his accession. He remained unable to recapture Jerusalem. Richard only spoke French and spent very little time in England.

  Richard’s relationship with Saladin was one of mutual respect as well as military rivalry. Saladin had indeed offered his own physician to Richard when he was ill. Saladin also sent him fresh fruit with snow to chill his drink.. The two men never met face to face.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine (1121–1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe. There is no evidence of any communication with Saladin’s wife, Asimat, although both women must have known of each other’s existence. Eleanor literally took part in the Second Crusade, leading her own soldiers, alongside her husband Louis VII, Conrad III of Germany, and Baldwin III of Jerusalem.

  The Kingdom of Jerusalem equated more or less to the area presently occupied by Israel, along with a western part of what is now Jordan. Aligned Crusader states (the Byzantine Empire, Armenia, Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, and the Fatimid Caliphate) occupied most of the eastern sea border of the Mediterranean, today forming parts of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, as well as Cyprus.

  There were nine Crusades into the Middle East, over 200 years, from 1095 to 1291. They were religiously sanctioned military campaigns with the aim of securing Christian rule of the Holy Land. (Other Crusades into other parts continued into the fifteenth century.) The Third Crusade began following the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and lasted until 1192 without the taking of Jerusalem.

  Henry II died in 1189. He never carried out his promise to go on Crusade to the Holy Land.

  Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (Ps. 146: 3–4)

  There is no known record of a letter from Bishop Hugh to King Henry.

  Autism

  Autism is classified by the World Health Organization and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability that results from a disorder of the human central nervous system. It is diagnosed using specific criteria for impairments to social interaction, communication, interests, imagination, and activities.

  The causes, symptoms, aetiology, treatment, and other issues are controversial. Autism generally manifests itself before the age of three years. From a physiological standpoint, autism is often less than obvious in that outward appearance may no
t indicate a disorder.

  The incidence of diagnosed autism has increased since the 1990s. Reasons offered for this phenomenon include better diagnosis, wider public awareness of the condition, regional variations in diagnostic criteria, or simply an increase in the occurrence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD, including ‘high-functioning’ autism, also known as Asperger’s Syndrome, named after Hans Asperger who first used the term in 1981).

  In 2005, the (US) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) stated the best conservative estimate as 1 in 1000; in 2007, the NIMH amended their estimate to 2–6 in every 1000.

  There are numerous theories as to the specific causes of autism, but they have yet to be fully supported by evidence. Proposed factors include genetic influence, anatomical variations, abnormal blood vessel function, oxidative stress, former drug abuse in parents, and vaccinations. Their significance, as well as implications for treatment, remains speculative..

  Some autistic children and adults are opposed to attempts to cure autism. These people see autism as part of who they are, and in some cases, they perceive treatments and attempts of a cure to be unethical..

  There is a broad array of autism therapies with various goals; for example, improving health and well-being, emotional problems, difficulties with communication and learning, and sensory problems for people with autism. The efficacy of each approach varies greatly from person to person. To date, Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is the sole approach that has been scientifically verified as effective in the treatment of autism.

  An autistic savant (historically described as idiot savant) is a person with both autism and Savant Syndrome. Savant Syndrome describes a person having both a severe developmental or mental handicap and extraordinary mental abilities not found in most people.

  The Savant Syndrome skills involve striking feats of memory and often include arithmetic calculation and sometimes unusual abilities in art or music. There is some research that suggests that it can be induced, which might support the view that savant abilities are latent within all people but are obscured by the normal functioning intellect.

  There are about 50–100 recognised prodigious savants in the world.

  End Note

  While this book may appear to ascribe some judgement to the actions of some of the more aggressive of protagonists of Islamism, or even to judge the great Faith of Islam itself, no such views are held by the author. The intention of this novel has been to consider the potential that may, if only fictionally, exist within the minds of the autistic person to make such spiritual connection as to alter the course of history, towards peace, and even to avert such significant tragedies as those of 11 September 2001.

  The author has the highest regard for all the great Faiths of the world, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and the Baha’i Faith..

  The Surih of the Temple is taken from The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, a collection of tablets from Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. The Baha’i Faith ascribes the principle of progressive revelation, which supports the notion that the great prophets – Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed and Bahá’u’lláh – are all manifestations of God.

  *

  [1] (the Angel) Gabriel.

  [2] Martyr.

  [3] Psalm 146:3