CHAPTER 17
And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true in faith; to establish regular prayer, and to practice regular charity, and that is the Religion Right and Straight. Qur’an 098.005
After a long and frustrating day in which Sullivan and Rawlings were called to 10 different locations to interview witnesses about allegedly suspicious people they had seen before and after the St. Patrick’s Day bombing, Sullivan stretched out on the comfortable bed at the Mulberry and placed a call to Tad.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“At my sister’s, why?” she answered.
“Just wondered,” he said. “How would you like to stay at my place for awhile?”
“Without you there?” she responded.
“J. Edgar would be there,” he said.
“Oh, now there’s an incentive if I ever heard of one,” she said with a chuckle. “Did he call you up to say that he was short on staff and ask when you were going to rectify that problem?”
“Actually, I have one of those pet robots that sees to his majesty’s basic needs for food, water and clean litter, but Jeddy misses the human touch,” Toby explained.
“You mean his heated half and half and a warm body to sleep next to, don’t you?” Tad asked rhetorically.
“Okay, you got me. That’s exactly what I mean,” Toby confessed. “But there is also a slight possibility that I might be able to come home briefly this weekend.”
“I tell you what, Sullivan. “Your place is a lot bigger than my sister’s and you have better views, so what the heck, I’ll take care of that spoiled feline of yours, and if you come home, that will be a bonus.”
“Great,” Toby answered, clearly excited at the possibility of spending time with Tad. “Do you still have the key card I gave you, or do I need to call the resident manager to put you into the fingerprint recognition system?”
“Believe it or not, I still have the card you gave me.”
“Good, I really hope I can make it home tomorrow night,” he said.
“Why wouldn’t you?” Tad asked.
“Because I’m doing such important work here; you wouldn’t believe what Trey and I did today.”
“I’m listening,” Tad said.
“We interviewed people with some of the strangest stories about alleged terrorist sightings that you can imagine. For example, there was the manager of a restaurant in Metter, Georgia - you know, ‘Things are better in Metter.’ Well, this guy says that a woman who claimed to be the youngest sister of Osama bin Laden was in his restaurant on the day before the bombings, and she became very indignant when she wasn’t served promptly and then walked out without paying the bill.”
“You don’t mean it?” Tad said.
“Oh there’s more,” said Toby. “Shortly after that woman left, another group of mid-eastern men and women arrived and the manager told them that he didn’t serve bin Ladens in his restaurant. I think I see a lawsuit coming”.
“I think you’re right,” Tad said. “Any more interesting stories?”
“Oh yea,” Toby responded. “We also talked to a woman in Hahira, Georgia near the Florida border who was convinced that she had seen a car with three Muslim men dressed in white gowns heading toward Tallahassee.
“By gowns, I assume she meant thobes?” Tad asked
“Is that what they are called?” Toby responded. “I’m sure that was what she thought she saw. It turned out, however, that what she really saw was a car with three interns from a local hospital who were on their way to a local seafood restaurant. They were all from India, so I imagine they looked like Islamic terrorists to her.”
“People are amazing,” Tad said. “Do you think there will ever be true understanding- or at least peaceful coexistence- among people of different faiths?”
“Not much chance of that, I’m afraid,” Toby answered, “particularly, when every major religion seems to be becoming more and more parochial. When someone believes that his religion is the only path to heaven, how can he compromise on anything?”
Tad screamed. “Ahh! It is so frustrating. I can’t stand it. The more that people describe their gods, the less I believe in any of them. How can any rational person believe some of the garbage they espouse?”
“I don’t know,” Toby answered. “I’m not quite ready to give up on the existence of God, because I can’t rationally explain how people, the earth, the solar system, the universe and whatever else is out there just happened. I don’t understand how all of it came out of nothing.”
“Sometimes I have those thoughts, too,” Tad said, “but it makes more sense to me that somehow it all did just happen over billions and billions of years, rather than at the snap of the fingers of some guy man created in his image.”
“Getting back to your question about people of different religions getting along,” Toby said, “it reminds me that I was supposed to call you after talking to Drake about questioning people in the Islamic community.”
“That’s right. You were,” Tad replied. “What did he say?”
“You won’t believe this, but he basically said that it would be a huge waste of time talking to people in the Muslim community, because their God is an idol and their religion is anti-Christian.”
“I don’t believe it,” Tad sounded shocked. “Talk about culturally insensitive.”
“Just a little,” Toby agreed. “And what’s worse, it means that Trey and I are stuck with listening to more of these inane- although admittedly, sometimes amusing- stories about terrorist sightings. That’s why I may not make it home tomorrow or Sunday. As long as there is even a slight chance that one of these people did see our bomber or bombers, we can’t justify taking a day off.”
“Well, I’m afraid that I have no problem justifying taking Sunday off, because there isn’t anything I’m doing in this investigation that is going to lead to the terrorists, whoever they are,” Tad said. “I can do a whole lot more good by helping Sister Mary Frances at the homeless shelter.”
“That’s probably true,” said Toby, “but there is something you can do that could be helpful.”
“And what’s that?” Tad asked, hopefully.
“You still have contacts in the Muslim community in D.C., don’t you?” he asked,
“Some,” she replied.
“Well why don’t you see what you can discover from them about the alleged New Mexico al-Qaida cell or the one that is supposedly responsible for the bombings?” Toby suggested. “It certainly can’t hurt if handled properly, which I know you’ll do, and it could help a lot.”
“But when and how am I supposed to do this? Tad asked. “Drake has me looking up all kinds of useless stuff and rarely lets me out of the office.”
“Make up some excuse about having to run some personal errands, such as moving into a new apartment on Saturday,” Toby said. “Heck, that’s even partially true, and for someone who has been out of the country as long as you have, it is certainly a reasonable request.”
“That should work,” she said. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
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On Saturday morning, Tad called the office and told Peabody to let Drake know that she might not make it in that day, because she had to move into a new apartment. Then she headed for the Islamic Mosque and Cultural Center on Massachusetts Avenue where she had arranged to meet an old friend.
Forty-year-old Hakim bin Muhammad bin Abdul Al-Mansur looked only slightly older than the last time Tad saw him. Clearly, he wouldn’t remind anyone of a member of Hizbullah, the sort of Muslims who make headlines, she thought, and anyone who knew him knew that he had never built a biological weapon, issued a fatwa or burned Uncle Sam in effigy.
“How are you, Hakim?” Tad asked. “You don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you.”
“Tad, how are you my friend?” he responded. “You look even younger than before.”
“Still full of it, I see,” she answered with a broad smile.
“Is this visit business or pleasure?” Hakim asked.
“I won’t kid you,” she answered. “It is mostly business. I need your help with something.”
“I imagine it’s about the bombings,” her friend responded.
“How did you guess?” she answered.
“I know you’re joking, of course,” the Muslim cleric said. “Whenever there is a terrorist act, the first suspects are Muslims. Within hours of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, we were prime suspects. “You’ll die,” was one of the few printable messages left on mosque answering machines around the country.
“Later in 1995, arson destroyed an Islamic center in Springfield, Illinois. In 1996, there was an arson attack on a Greenville, S.C., mosque, and in 1999 an attack on a Minneapolis mosque. And, as you well know, since 9/11/01 anti-Muslim incidents have spiraled out of control. And don’t forget the statement recently by a congressman from out west who suggested that if Muslim extremists attacked the United States, we ought to respond by ‘taking out their holy sites,’ meaning to bomb Mecca.”
Tad shook her head in sympathy. “I admit. It’s awful that America’s Christians know so little about America’s Muslims. What are there- something like 1,500 mosques spread from Alaska to Florida? Most Americans have no idea that Muslims pray daily in State Department hallways, in corporate law firms and in empty boardrooms at Silicon Valley companies. And they certainly don’t know that Islam passed Judaism as the country’s second largest religion a few years ago.”
“No they don’t,” said Hakim. “And they don’t understand that Islam is a very peaceful and simple religion. The essence can be boiled down to this verse from the Qur’an: “And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true in faith; to establish regular prayer, and to practice regular charity, and that is the Religion Right and Straight.”
Then Hakim continued. “Unfortunately, we know from the crank phone messages, letters to the editor and even the statements of public officials that Muslims are the prime suspects in the recent bombings. Americans think that every Muslim is a relative or former best friend of Osama bin Laden.”
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Tad said. “I serve on the taskforce investigating the bombings, and the investigation is clearly focusing on Islamic extremists, probably al-Qaida. That’s why I’m here. I think we may be looking in the wrong direction, but the only evidence we have points us toward an al-Qaida cell that was supposedly hiding for a month or more in Leesburg, Virginia. I can’t tell you where the information came from, but I hope you can help me determine whether it is valid or not.”
“How can I do that, my friend?” Hakim asked. “I don’t know any terrorists.”
“I know that,” Tad responded, “but I also know that, like all religious denominations, the Muslim community in America has a network of sorts. I was hoping that you could talk to some of your friends at mosques and Islamic centers around the country, particularly in the D.C., Virginia and Maryland area, and see if anyone has heard anything about a terrorist cell- or if anyone has any information of any kind that they might have been afraid to come forward to share.”
“I really don’t think it will do much good, Tad, but I will make some calls and see what I can turn up,” the deeply religious man said.
“That’s all I can ask,” Tad said. “You are a good friend.”
And you, too,” said Hakim. “I wish you shelter from all your storms, roses without the thorns, and may your dreams be always within reach.”
“An old Muslim saying?” Tad asked.
“No, an old American folksinger- Mary Chapin Carpenter,” Hakim responded with a wry smile.