45 – Framingham, Massachusetts
The American Mujahidin web site became the center around which Sam Abdullah and Alfred Farouk managed their lives. They absorbed its preachings and the concept that they could be “good” Muslims and “good” Americans at the same time. The key, they came to believe, was to save America from the Jews who had taken over the country’s business and social centers.
Sam’s favorite area on the web site was the life stories of young Palestinians who had sacrificed themselves as suicide bombers attacking Israel. He read about these young men, and a few women, most of them his own age. Many were still in high school, just as he was. He created a password-protected database on his computer containing their downloaded life stories and photographs.
They watched farewell videos made by these Palestinian teenagers with the same fascination their friends at school watched music videos on MTV. Sam and Al each had their favorite videos and they traded quotes from them.
The two young men talked about whether they would have, as they called it, the balls to blow themselves up for Allah, as their peers in Palestine had done for two decades. They discussed what they’d say in their farewell videos and what their school friends would think of them afterwards. They agreed it would be “the coolest thing in the world,” in Sam’s words, to be the first Americans to sacrifice themselves that way.
Al pointed out that as American citizens, they would be able to fly directly to Israel and gain access to areas that would be closed to Palestinians. They went so far as to check the cost of tickets to Israel, one-way of course, to see how much money they would have to save. They assumed they would be able to connect with a Palestinian organization there that could supply them with explosive belts. Attempting to fly to Israel with explosives would be too risky, they agreed.
“It’s too bad,” Al said. “My father’s construction company uses TNT all the time to blast rock ledge to dig foundations for new houses. I even got to set off a blast when I worked for him last summer. What a rush when that stuff goes off, even if when we did it to blast a foundation hole it was covered with a mat made from old tires chained together. We never used more than two sticks at a time, but, man, he’s got boxes of the stuff. It’s all kept in a little steel building at his business, way out back.”
“Yeah, but isn’t that stuff all locked up,” Sam asked. “Nobody’s going to leave TNT lying around.”
“It sure is. There’s a big combination lock on the door and no windows,” Al replied. “I’ve never opened the lock myself. The foreman always did that and he was pretty uptight about the combination, always turning his back on me when he did the lock. But my Dad uses the same password all over the place, on his ATM card, on his computer and everywhere. I’ll bet he set the combination on the padlock to the same code.”
“Do you know it?” Sam asked excitedly.
“Sure, it’s the birthday of his oldest son, me, 5-28-02. I’ll bet anything that’s the combination. You know, just for fun, we ought to go there some night and try it, just to see.”
“I’ll do it if you’ll do it,” Sam said.
“Yeah, well I’ll do it if you’ll do it,” Al replied.
Despite the solemn nature of their mutual dare, they never actually tried the padlock on the explosive shed and their fantasies about suicide bombers remained just that, fantasies.
All that changed with the bombing of Tel Aviv, followed by the destruction of Damascus. Those two events first energized, then enraged the two teenagers. They were not alone in their rage. The tone of the American Mujahidin web site altered, too. The site carried triumphant messages from the State of Palestine, urging their American brethren to act in solidarity with them. The messages contained not-so-subtle hints of concern that the United States would send troops to Palestine to oust the conquerors and reinstate the Jews. They asked American Muslims to fight to prevent their country from helping the Jews.
The web site also contained horribly graphic photographs from Damascus showing bodies literally burnt to cinders and entire blocks of buildings leveled to rubble.
A new video appeared on the website, on the password-protected section of the website not available to casual browsers. This video was a sermon by a man who was identified as Mullah Abu Hamzah. He spoke in a rapid, sing-song Arabic that was translated in captions flowing across the bottom of the screen. He swayed from side to side as he spoke. The combination of the sing-song, high-pitched voice speaking words they could not understand and the continuous swaying was almost hypnotic for the two boys. They watched the Mullah Abu Hamzah QuickTime download time after time.
“The battlefield has moved to America itself,” the Mullah said. “Allah has given us victory over the Infidel in the Holy Land. Only the Great Satan America can snatch that victory from us. But the Great Satan is also the Great Coward. There are those in America who fear to confront us now, who know they will be driven back into the sea if they come here, just as they were driven from Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We must encourage these fears in the American cowards. We must encourage these fears because the remnant of the Jew infidels left in America is encouraging the government of the Great Satan to attack us here, to restore them to what Allah rightfully took from them. We pass the sword to our Muslim brothers in America to fight against the Jew infidels in their country, to take action to turn the cold heart of the Great Satan against the Jews in its midst.
“It is time for action, because as we learned in Palestine and Lebanon, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the only message the infidels hear is the message of action and blood. For this reason I issue a fatwa for our American brothers. Listen to me, brothers. I teach to you that it is allowed to jeopardize your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed, if this act of jeopardy affects the enemy, even if it only generates fear in their hearts, shaking their morale, making them fear Muslims. Only if it does not affect the enemy then it is not allowed.”
The two teenagers debated the meaning of Mullah Abu Hamzah’s sermon, especially the meaning of his fatwa. Finally, Sam put an end to the discussion.
“I can tell you what it means,” he said. “It means we can stop saving for the airfare to Israel. The battle is here, in this country. We need to save America from the Jews. That is our battle.”
Alfred Farouk looked at his best friend with a startled expression as he realized that what he had viewed as a fantasy, as role playing, his friend was deadly serious about. He felt a cold sweat on his forehead as the image of the two of them wearing the belts they’d viewed on the web site came into his mind, belts covered with what looked exactly like the sticks of TNT he knew were stored in wooden crates at his father’s business.
“Hey, hold on man. Are you really serious about all this stuff, I mean, is this for really for real for you?” Al asked, a tone of incredulity in his voice.
Sam turned to look at his friend. His eyes were cold, hard, mature, different. Sam spoke to his friend in a voice that matched his eyes.
“I have come to understand that Allah placed us here as Muslims in America for a holy purpose,” he said. “With one action we can do the work of Allah as good Muslims and do the work of America, as good Americans. We can steer our homeland from the course of evil and snatch it from the grip of the Jews.”
“Man, you sound like Mullah Abu Hamzah,” Farouk said, looking at his friend oddly, not knowing whether to be impressed or frightened by the change he observed in his childhood friend. Sam continued as if he had not heard Al.
“I don’t know what our action will be, but I know that our path will be shown to us. We will each have to decide whether to follow that path or whether to turn away in fear. I know I have the courage and faith. Do you, brother?”
Farouk hesitated before answering. His best friend was serious, deadly serious, and he sensed this was no moment for him to respond in a manner that was anything but serious.
“I, I’m not sure,” he said softly. “I think so, but I’m not sure. I need more time to think about all this.”
“We have some time,” Sam said. “Some, but not much. The time for action is near. We only have to wait for that action to become clear. But while we are waiting, now is a good time to test the combination on that padlock at your father’s business. OK? Will you take that first step with me or should I go alone?”
“OK, I’ll do that,” Al replied cautiously. His friend seemed frighteningly serious. He knew that if he backed off now, he stood a good chance of losing his best, and at that time, only friend. “When do you want to go there?”
“Tonight.”
“OK, tonight, but just to test it, not to take anything. Is that a deal, we don’t take anything even if we can open the door.”
“Deal. We don’t take anything. Not tonight.”