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When Ryan came out of the movie theater from seeing I Am Legend, one of the things he remembered most was the rumor that its starring actor, Will Smith, had become Muslim years before while filming the movie Ali. The need some Muslims had to use celebrities and personalities to validate their religion amused Ryan. He had accepted it on its own merits and teachings.
In the movie, a Dr. Neville had been stranded on Manhattan Island with his German Shepherd named Samantha, not sure if he was the only survivor on the island or on earth at all. He was aware that any other human being on the island he was likely to see was infected with the virus that had cured cancer three years before. It had mutated into something like rabies when doctors applied it as a cure to some patients and it turned human beings into bald-headed, colorless monsters who attacked the unaffected human beings for food and spread the disease to its victims that didn’t die. They were almost like vampires, very strong even when they were starving but defenseless against sunlight or UV lights. Their pupils could not dilate at all and their bodies could not grow hair. They were like zombies that didn’t recognize anyone from their former lives or have any revulsion to eating them. Had it not been for their weakness against sunlight, nothing would stop them. Dr. Neville would hear them screaming as they passed his fortified house at night when they could come out, unaware that he was inside, but he and Samantha aware that they were outside, starving and hunting for anything uninfected they could eat.
It was unscientific to believe that a retro-virus could become a disease and then make its host stronger while it ravaged the brain and body for its own survival. It didn’t work like that. Diseases didn’t turn sweet and harmless grandparents into bald-headed superhuman cannibals fatally allergic to daylight. They’d just ravage the host and look to spread, weakening them in the process and not strengthening them. Only Allah could create such a pathogen, Ryan knew, but there was no need for that in His plans for the future of human beings. It was only a movie, but it as in fact symbolic of the division of human beings that could result from ideological differences or from too few resources. He was aware that his Islam would divide him from his people and his country of birth whether he wanted it to or not. He wasn’t a Muslim for the sake of harming anyone but he was aware that many would be against him as time went on and they knew more about the differences between Islam and the liberal thinking becoming more uniform for everyone else in the world. While everyone else was thinking along the lines of "I’m okay, you’re okay. God loves everyone," Ryan had learned about a year into Islam that a Muslim is not allowed to think this way even while showing kindness to disbelievers. With the stance of Islam that it was the truth by itself and other religions were mistakes or lies, everyone else was finding that stance to be just intolerable and too old-fashioned. Add to that the discipline required to be a Muslim to have just a chance at Paradise, and the reaction everyone else would have did not even require a fictitious super-virus to divide people into mutually exclusive camps.
"That movie was re-made," Ryan’s dad told him when he went to visit his parents’ house. "The first one was Omega Man and Charlton Heston was the doctor, and it was actually a religious cult he was fighting because he held out and didn’t join them. They believed that they were the only ones who were right." Dad was trying to hint to Ryan that he was part of what the cult symbolized because Ryan had answered his dad honestly when he was asked if he thought only Islam was salvation for people.
"Yes, only Islam. I have to believe that to be a Muslim. We can’t believe that another religion will get anyone to heaven and still be Muslim," Ryan had said.
"See, son, I have a problem with that. It’s arrogant to think like that, like God called you on his cell phone to tell you Islam was His religion and everything else was wrong."
"And that is why you’re not Muslim, Dad. I don’t believe this stuff because I’m Muslim. It’s the reverse; I’m Muslim because I believe it. If someone doesn’t ever know about Islam then Allah’s not gonna judge them unjustly, but it’s part of the religion to believe that if someone knew about Muhammad and didn’t follow him then it’s an eternal rotisserie awaiting that behind."
"So… you believe that Allah will throw me into hell forever and ever if I don’t become a Muslim before I die, since you told me about Islam?"
"Yeah, unless you become Muslim before you die. As much as I don’t want Him to, I believe He will still do it even though you’re my dad."
"That’s horrible!"
"Then take it up with God, if I were the one judging then you’d be off the hook."
"But you all believe in hellfire forever, even though we only live 80 years of we’re lucky! How can you justify that?"
"If someone lives their whole life in disbelief when they had a choice, then the intention was to disbelieve forever! Besides, God owns us and can throw us in hell as long as He likes. He can even throw a Muslim in hell and no one can stop Him. We’re His property, living off of His food and water and air, so we don’t make any rules, He does. If He says worship Him a certain way or roast forever, the fact is we’re lucky He gave us an option in the first place! That’s Submission! That’s realizing Allah owns us, Dad! That’s not extremism, that’s Allah’s ultimatum and whoever hears about it gets judged by it."
"So if you had never told me about Islam, then I might have gone to heaven as I am now?" Dad had asked challengingly.
"Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know what your judgment would have been like, but I’d have been punished for not saying anything."
"Why don’t you know what it would be like for me?"
"Because if we hear about it and learn it, we’re supposed to relay it. So the ones who don’t know about Islam should only be the ones we never met or knew existed, or maybe we just couldn’t reach. People we come across aren’t supposed to not know about Islam for long after that."
"I see, but you all don’t have any more proof than the Christians do. In the end it all comes down to ‘I believe’, not ‘I know’. What good is that if Allah’s gonna question even your faith?"
"No, Dad. Not quite. There is some actual proof in the Qur’an that it wasn’t composed by human beings. Facts about embryology are mentioned that no one could have known until now with scientific instruments. Same for geology; the Qur’an tells us why the earth’s crust doesn’t shake with us on it all the time. Even oceanography is covered in it. So there are proofs and there is still a measure of faith in Islam to prevent imbalance. Faith, but not blind faith, is–"
"Well the ancient Egyptians knew about geography, too. They even came to America before Columbus, so why should I think the Arabs didn’t get this from them?"
"That’s geography. I’m talking about geology; what goes on underneath the earth’s crust. That’s what’s told to us a little bit in the Qur’an. Arabs in a desert wouldn’t know that mountains stabilize the crust enough for us to live on it without being shaken to death! At that time, no one knew except the One who made earth! That’s part of why we shouldn’t be ashamed to believe this is true and other religions are either mistakes or outright lies! If you don’t believe it after you learn about it, that’s you!"
"You’ve gone from the back of the bus to the back of the camel, son."
"What camel? Last time I saw one is at a zoo! Black people love to use that expression because they don’t want the discipline that Islam requires. Even as composed and morally upright as you are, you don’t want to get up for early morning prayers. But you’ve been getting up before sunrise all your adult life to go to work! Why not do it to pray to your Owner? Look, Dad, I love you, but I fear Allah. I can take name-calling, but I can’t take torture. I chose this because I’m convinced it’s true and I don’t want to be tormented for rejecting the truth. You choose to stick with Christianity either because you’re not convinced of Islam or because you’re convinced and don’t want to be that disciplined. I understand how you feel, if you accept Islam, then maybe Allah will test you with all kinds of hardships and you can’t react to them they way you would want to anymore. Maybe everyone has that fear subconsciously. Still, it doesn’t mean Islam isn’t true because it’s harder than the cross. Matter of fact, the balance between hardship and ease is evidence of its truth. If it’s all hardship then it’s torture, so might as well go to hell to get that, right? If it’s all ease, then someone else is going through the hardships for you and that’s not fair. If it’s a combination between them, it’s realistic and it’s how we make comparisons. And that’s way beyond camels and deserts, Dad."
Ryan couldn’t convince his father, so he was left to just defend Islam when he was questioned. Like today, after that movie. It wasn’t until something like in that movie really happened later on. By December of 2012, people were awaiting the coming of whatever catastrophe was predicted that caused the Mayan calendar to just abruptly stop on the twelfth of that month. People went to work as usual most of the time, but sick days were called in more often and there were more crimes committed. What was truly unique about this tense anticipation was that many rational adults were even saying that if nothing happened on its own, then they would make something happen.
December 13th came and "the boo-boo hit the fan" as his father said when he turned on the TV that morning. Rioting had broken out in some cities but that was the minor half of it. In other cities, militiamen had moved on federal buildings and taken hostages early in the morning. The proof of this being coordinated was that in the eastern and the central time zones, minutes after eight o’clock local time were when the buildings were taken. Then, numbers of hostages were released until each situation consisted of hostages numbering in the twenties with about three exceptions. Federal courthouses were taken more often than any federal office buildings, but some of both were under the militiamen. The released hostages were composed of citizens that were not government employees, any pregnant women, and children that happened to be in there. Absolutely no federal judges except one who was pregnant were released.
In the other two time zones of the mainland, militiamen didn’t take the buildings, but there were policemen there surrounding them before they would have opened, anticipating attacks. They were being officially closed, anyway, but then the policemen came under attack from neighboring rooftops. As people fled the scenes in each case, more attackers came about on the streets. Pretty soon, all major cities were in turmoil as their federal properties began to close down. The states were on their own until National Guard troops were federalized and sent in to back up local police forces and SWAT teams. The problem was that the National Guard by that time was in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Somalia. They would take weeks and some days to get back in large enough numbers. From the resulting chaos, rioting broke out immediately in some other smaller cities.
Because of this no one noticed that the sun was no longer in the southern half of the sky during the day, it was almost directly overhead. People did notice that the days had instantly become an average of two hours longer than they would be in the dead of winter. Because winters were becoming less predictable it was seen as no surprise that the entire country thawed out and snow melted, though it melted slowly. But then the floods came down the Mississippi River, first in Missouri and Illinois. Then the spring floods arose in New Orleans again, this time causing streets to be submerged again like they had been in 2005. There was no real Christmas that year. Instead, there as only revolution and stand-offs. The hostage situations eventually ended only because the militia actually succeeded in taking control of many cities, in effect running the federal buildings they took because they encountered no lasting resistance. When no federal forces were mobilized against them to back up the local and state police who were standing off with them, the US in effect gave up its authority. America’s first woman president had kept her attention on winning her war against Islamic movements at the expense of clearly losing central control of much of the country at home. In effect, much of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado were no longer run from Washington DC. Parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota, and Idaho were no longer run from DC. Idaho and Montana were completely run by a militia. Only in January of 2013 did people began to talk about the fact that the sun was now as high as it would be during the spring or fall. That meant the earth had been re-tilted to another angle, more directly perpendicular to the sun for the first time in 65 million years. This was thought to be due to the sun’s magnetic field reversing like it does every eleven years. But that would have changed the earth’s tilt every time if it were the only cause. Apparently this time the magnetic field of the sun had increased in strength at the end of its reversal. This unnerved many and they began to take this as a sign that God was on the side of the militia.
The militia in the western states began to transfer white prisoners to regular county jails to serve their terms as the state authorities had no will to resist their orders anymore. Then they began to lock up Mexicans as illegal immigrants, including the legal immigrants and US citizens, putting them in some make-shift concentration camps or state prisons along with hardened criminals. They locked up men, women, and children without separating the children from adult inmates a lot of times. They began the same on Blacks who were known to be politically active. They began to target Muslims as well, and they ordered all federal judges in their controlled areas to dismiss any cases of hate crimes or civil rights violations against Muslims. They began to even lock up Native Americans they caught off of reservations, claiming they couldn’t tell them apart from illegal Mexican immigrants. The problem was that Ryan lived in Texas, close to New Mexico, and his parents had active in racial politics in the 90s. He had become Muslim and everyone who knew him knew his beliefs. He wanted to leave and go elsewhere, even to leave the US. His dad had refused to go, saying he couldn’t just resettle somewhere else like he could. "I’m too old for all this moving, son. I’ve moved eleven times in my life to provide for my family. This time, I’m not moving, especially to run from some damn hillbillies."
"Then I’ll stay with you to make sure you’re all right for a while. But I think they’re gonna come and throw you in prison, Dad. And they haven’t started to hold trials yet, so you’ll be in there for good. I’ll make sure that only happens with a fight if that’s what you want."
"No, son, you go on and leave for your safety. I’ve lived my life already. You don’t need to sacrifice yourself for me."
"I’m staying. And not just here in the city. I’m staying at the house or you stay in mine. They’ll come for one of us and find two of us. Then if we repel the first ones, we’ll leave before the back-up can show up."
"I’m not leaving at all. I worked hard to have a home for you and your sister and mother. They can’t have it and they can’t have me either. Now you pack up your stuff and get out of here before they show up here and find both if us!"
When someone knocked on the door in February and Ryan saw they had blocked the peephole, he told his dad to hide. He went and retrieved his own pistol, then his it behind the door and opened it. It was two white men holding assault rifles, and they pushed their way into the house until Ryan pushed them both back right there in the doorway and started a struggle. When they stubbornly continued to try to get in with their numbers, Ryan pulled his pistol from behind the door and shot the first one in his eyeball. Instantly he pointed his pistol at the other guy and told him to put his gun down. They had come thinking they would meet no resistance, and therefore one was dead before he knew it and the other was looking down the barrel of a nine millimeter before he could get his assault rifle aimed at Ryan. Then Ryan’s dad was on his side, pointing a hunting rifle at the militiaman and telling him to give his rifle to Ryan and get in the house quietly.
"I wasn’t told what you did or what you said. We got orders to come and arrest you," said the intruder when he was sat on the couch and relieved of his side arm as well. "Can I just go back and tell them you weren’t here?"
"Without your guns."
"Then I’ll be questioned about it. What should I tell them?"
"Then you can’t go back
and tell them anything, I guess," said Ryan’s dad. And while he began to make
his speech again about how he had worked hard to provide a home, when the
intruder suddenly reached for his ankle holster to get another concealed pistol.
He must have practiced the move, because he was so quick that even though Ryan
and his dad knew what was going on, they just weren’t that fast. Ryan shot him,
but the intruder also shot back and hit Ryan in the gut. Ryan’s dad fired and
hit the intruder’s gut, for which the intruder then re-aimed at him.
But
Ryan, despite his injuries, jumped in the way and took the next shot in the
place of his father, this time in the shoulder. He stood and shot it out with
the sitting intruder at point-blank range, taking and giving, knowing he was at
least going to die from his stomach wound which was already beginning to burn.
He managed to say "Allahu Akbar!" only two times before he couldn’t speak
anymore. It only ended when Ryan’s dad got back on his feet, re-aimed, and blew
a hole in the intruder’s head. Then and only then did Ryan fall to his knees and
then lay himself down. He could only whisper, so he looked at his grieving dad
and whispered with one finger pointed up "Ashadu an la ilaha il-Allah!" He
couldn’t talk anymore after that at all, he was coughing up blood then on his
father’s carpet. So he mouthed the words "One God," to his father, trying to
inspire him before he died. He mouthed it once more, before he felt so sleepy
that he closed his eyes and laid his head down. He was too tired to even
breathe, and so he didn’t anymore. But he felt so comfortable that his slight
smile showed on his face before he was even completely out of his
body.
Ryan’s dad was kneeling beside him, frantically trying to stop the bleeding with his hands, shaking his head at Ryan to not die. But it was too late then. He knew why his son had said the phrase in Arabic and was trying to emphasize monotheism. He knew he was dying. Now he was clearly dead, looking somewhat relieved as if in a deep sleep after exhaustion. Ryan’s life flashed before his eyes in a few seconds; diaper changes, putting him to sleep, teaching him to throw a ball and to ride a bike, making him go and fight a bully in kindergarten, arguing with teachers in school who wanted to hold him back a grade, talking to him about the birds and the bees, sending him off to college, his graduation, his conversion to Islam, his refusal to compromise, his loyalty even as a grown son, and his self-sacrifice to protect his dad despite being told not to do that. He realized that his son had only disobeyed him two times as a Muslim. The first time was when he had told Ryan to go to church even after his Islam, to "stay balanced". The other time was just now, when he had told him not to sacrifice himself like this. He had done it anyway, thrown himself in front of him to take bullets meant for him. Neither one had shot anyone before that day, but Ryan hadn’t frozen up and he didn’t hesitate to die in his dad’s place.
Ryan, Sr was distracted from his reflection by the sound of footfalls outside of his open door. He looked up just in time to see two more militia men come into his house, unaware of him just behind a large TV set with his son’s blood pooling on the carpet. But the scent of a cologne or incense better than anything he had ever smelled before filled his nostrils, coming from the blood itself. Lying still for a second as they inched down the hallway, he thought for a moment about what to do. "Why do you have to think about it?" his conscience chided him. "Your son is lying here, dead and bleeding from saving your life! You gonna turn and let them get away with that! He didn’t deserve to die, they do! You want to see him again, be a man of God and stop being afraid!"
"God," he whispered
aloud as he thought these things. "One God. One God. That’s where my boy is.
With God. I should be there with them both if it’s my time, not hiding behind my
boy’s body!" He silently took his son’s pistol out of his limp hand and the dead
intruder’s pistol, then proceeded to sneak up behind the other two down the
hallway. They were still in the hallway, peeking into two opposite
rooms.
"Allahu Akbar!" he said for the first time in his life as he shot both
pistols simultaneously. Both dropped, but only one was hit in the neck. The
other dropped reflexively and began to fire back, and as Ryan Jr had done with
the second intruder, Ryan Sr traded close-range gunfire with the fourth
intruder. He felt some hot itches in quick succession in different places, but
he knew he was shooting and being shot. He was finally shot in his jaw, the
bullet ricocheting around his brain and killing him, but he didn’t feel much
pain. The last thing he heard as he felt incredibly tired and sleepy was the
sound of terrible screaming for mercy coming from the intruder he just shot. He
closed his eyes and as soon as he did, he saw Ryan Jr again, standing in front
of him and rejoicing. He opened them and then closed them again before he fell
down. When he closed them again, he saw Ryan Jr there again in front of him,
rejoicing and shouting for joy.
This time he didn’t re-open his eyes anymore, and he kept seeing Ryan Jr, who now was shouting praises to Allah. He had no bullet holes in him, no blood, and no signs of pain. Neither of them did.
He never lost sight of
his son again, forever, and one day in the very distant future they both looked
at their Lord’s face together, after which they were never the same. Ryan Sr had
never accepted Islam until he saw his son sacrifice himself to save his life.
Only after seeing that did he accept it, just before his own life ended, and
less than a minute after he had been separated from his son, he was reunited
with him and informed that his Lord had saved him at the last part of his life.
So in addition to being reunited with his son, he was reconciled to Allah.
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