American Muslims Pt. 08

Note to Reader: Mary Stuart is 30-year old married high school teacher and seems to be going nowhere in life until she meets the exotic Maryam. Mary's father, James Falkner is an evangelical Christian, preacher, Calvinist theologian, Eschatologist, televangelist and prominent advisor to the Republican Party.

Pastor Falkner appears, "Welcome dear viewers, when will it end, how will it end and what are the signs of the end? These are just some of the questions with the help of the good lord, we will attempt to answer. "

Mary knew it's wrong, she should be praying for her soul and the end times are around the corner, but there's something about Maryam, this exotic Tunisian woman with her olive skin and sexy foreign accent. Mary tried to pray, even to invite Maryam into the folk. Maryam is not religious, but would attend Bible studies classes and discuss religious issues. But it soon became clear she had an ulterior motive. Maryam wrapped her arms around Mary, held her tightly and their two bosoms became one within the embrace.

"Mary how long are you going to deny your body what it yearns for? It's crying out for you to do it, every fibber of your being waits for it. There's nothing unnatural about your carnal desires, your body is a gift, it gives you so much pleasure for a reason. It's meant to be enjoyed, let us embrace one another in sexual union, while we are still too young to realize certain things are impossible. If two people are happy together, how can it be wrong?"

The television blaring in the background with Pastor Falkner's voice, "As good Christians you'll know the book of revelations and the four horsemen of the apocalypse. You'll know the white horse will appear first. A lamb will appear and break the seven seals and with a thundering voice one animal will tell you to look at the white horse of conquest. This horseman foretells of the rise of pestilence and terrible disease that shall plague the earth. But my fellow Christians, what grater pestilence is there but man's rebellion against God? Today's man thinks he know best, why else do we have the pestilence of gay marriage and homosexuality?"

Mary pauses for a minute and stares at the television, but Maryam places her hand onto Mary's cheek and turns it towards her face. "Do not listen for he is the breeder of intolerance, he is the real pestilence who poisons the air with his vicious lies. His lips drip with the words of interposition and nullification of the higher laws, which govern civilisation and humanity. Do not pay him any heed for such a man can only infect the mind with modern blasphemy, come into the light and leave the darkness living under his shadow entails. It time for a new faith, a faith in me, a faith in us and a faith in love."

Pastor Falkner grows in loudness, "Today's Christian soul is weighed down by the burden of sin, we offer the cure, but not all the patients want the medicine. If you do not take the medicine you'll never be saved when the finial judgment comes to pass. Do not be taken in by the antichrist, who will whisper sweet nothings into your ear, all the promises he shall make will be false. The Red Horse will appear when the second seal is broken and he'll take the peace away and the faithful will be subjected to the sword. Today's Christian is subjected to the sword like never before. Only the martyrs of our belief, who are righteous shall inherent eternal life. Oh believing men and women reject sin."

Maryam places her finger on Mary's lips and sways it around, "Kiss the apple for it's the sweetest apple on the tree. Forbidden fruit is neither here nor there, for all is permissible in the sacred garden of humanism. We humble mortals cannot survive without sustenance provided by fruit and neither can we deny ourselves the simple pleasure life affords us in the otherwise difficult world. To be a Christian or a sheep in your father's flock you have to be saved, to be the lover of a woman you only have to be yourself. Kiss my finger and signal your intent." Mary kisses Maryam's finger and a wide smile overcomes both their faces.

Pastor Falkner, "Then the third seal is broken and it ushers in the black horse, who shall bring famine to our world, and then lastly, a pale horse shall emerge and he shall bring finial death. My fellow Christians all the signs are there, we are on the verge of the apocalypse and it's time to repent for your sins."

Mary takes Maryam's finger in her hand and says, "I confess and repent for me feelings for you," she kisses Maryam's finger. "I repent for not admiring your beauty earlier," she kisses Maryam's finger again. "I repent for not expressing my feelings for you earlier and I repent for not knowing the truth of you earlier."

Maryam places her finger into Mary's mouth and says, "Oh sinner, who made the mistake of drowning in the heterosexual sea, let me tell you of a sacred river of feminity. Her waters are the freshest and the cleanest you will ever consume into your body, she will clean your veins, strengthen your heart and feed your brain. Her waters flow from the two mountains and produce a mighty river, which you shall take a dip in to be purified. Trust me when I say, you shall be so knee deep in water and yet so thirsty, when you enter her waters."

Mary starts licking and sucking on Maryam's finger and smiles as she does so, for she had always known that Maryam is succulent and anyone that feasts upon her shall be consumed by quite an appetite.

In this moment of eros passion, Mary had little time to reflect on where it all came from. How did she get here? All she knew is that she was glad to be here. But we must turn the clock back 3-months and learn about how Mary and Maryam came to be lovers. Our story takes place in a large suburb town in the South. Mary's life before Maryam, was typical of a bored wife and teacher.

Mary's dealt with her boredom through religious fervour, belief in the end times gave her a sense of purpose, a sense of meaning. For her, the absolute belief in end times was not a result of personal crisis, rather the absents of personal crisis. It was normality, the mundane, the everyday that caused her to become an end timer. She would discuss prophecies with her colleagues and friends. She was discussing it on the day her world would change forever, the day of reckoning, the day she met Maryam.

Mary, "Yeah Emily, there's some really interesting stuff out there that confirm we are in the end times. Have you heard of Saint Malachy's Prophecy of the Popes? He lived in the middle-ages and predicted every pope that would come after him and what would occur in their life time. According to his chart, we are on the last Pope and we he goes the day of days will come."

Emily rolls her eyes, "Listen you know I believe in all of this, but come on, who cares about Popes? What about Mother Shipton? Or Merlin? Or Nostradamus?"

Mary snaps back, "Look it doesn't matter what you look at, all sources indicate that we are in the end of days. It's time we prepare our souls for the finial journey. We must understand the message of render onto Caesar, that of which is Caesar's and onto God, that of which is God's. We must be active and push this filth out of society. Anyways, I gotta go, I am supervising a new teacher today and can't be late."

Mary heads of the staff room and waits for the new teacher. Principle Michaels enters and he is accompanied by a very attractive and exotic looking woman. Mary stares at her and guess that the woman must be Latina, talk about diversifying the faculty, the Latino community is a growing minority in the town. However, they are recent arrivals and they are set to off-set the small but vibrant African-American community. The Town is predominantly White. About 55% of the Town's population are descendents of 17-18th century English settlers, indeed many can trace their direct ancestry back to towns, villages and cities in England, that's how unmixed their ancestry is.

When the English settlers arrived they adopted religion ferociously to create a sense of community and to find familiarity in a strange and hostile place. This was frontier Town, much of the areas the Town expanded into use to be Native American territory, which meant the early settlers adopted a siege mentality towards foreignness and this informed their muscular brand of Christianity. Eventually, the Native Americans were driven from this land, many died of Small Pox and lost battles to the settlers and left. Rumour has it that the High School Mary teaches at was built on an ancient Indian burial ground.

But this is not the history of the Town that Mary and her fellow Town contemporaries wanted to remember. Instead they liked to remember that the Town was at the forefront of defining what liberty is in America. The English that settled and founded the Town were religious puritans, who opposed Catholicism and the tyranny of the English kings, Town residence played a huge role in the revolutionary wars. This heroic past is one the Town promotes and does not look to kindly to alternative narratives. Once, local Historian James Pennell, wrote a critical history of the Town, which included allegations of genocide, ethnic cleansing and cannibalism. He shortly left the Town after publishing his book.

Something any visitor to the Town will notice is that despite the Town's population mostly being of English descent, many streets, places and building have Germanic and old Germanic names. The school that Mary teaches at is located on Richard Strauss Street, which ends at Otto von Bismarck junction. Curious enough the local economy was traditionally made-up of small and medium size business enterprises, which the locals refer to as mittelstands, Mary herself uses this term when describing her father's Christian business he owns on the side. In should come as no surprise that 30% of the Town's residence is of German descent. But about 10% of them arrived after the Second World War and asking what they did during those years is still a sensitive question.

Besides this, foreigners are few and far between, thus Maryam stands out quite a bit and she hasn't said anything yet. Principle Michaels starts to speak, "Everyone, this is Maryam. I expect all of you to make her feel welcome and help her fit in. Mary will help you settle in and will be supervising some of your lessons."

Maryam looks at everyone, "Hi, I am Maryam, and I am super excited to be working with you all." Mary stares blankly at Maryam as she speaks, she looks Latina, but her accent is difficult to decode. It sounds like it has very strong French influence, but mixed in with something else, making it a hybrid between French and something else. Maryam continues, "I have been in America for 4 years now, I only recently qualified as a teacher and this is my first posting."

Principle Michaels interjects, "Maryam is from Tunisia, in Africa or North Africa to be precise." Mary stares with growing confusion on her face, what the heck or where the heck is Tunisia? Does this mean she not Latina? What kind of people are Tunisians? What's their culture, ethnicity and religion? Africa was mentioned, but she's not black, she's a light olive color and speaks in this odd accent. Mary has only just met Maryam, but already she knows that Maryam is different. Is she good or evil, time shall tell.

Mary extends her hand to Maryam, "How do you do? I'm Mary."

"Hi Mary, I guess you're the one who is shadowing me. I hope I make quite a first impression." Maryam says in almost a flirtatious and playful way. Mary can't stop looking at Maryam with amazement, she's the most beautiful creature, she's ever seen. Mary's curiosity sense are going into overdrive.

"Well, let's get moving, we've got religious edu to get to." Marys says.

Mary takes a seat in the classroom and watches the exotic Maryam set-up, Maryam appears to be unaware of Mary's constant gaze. Mary cannot place her finger on it, there is something about Maryam. Students enter the classroom and seem blissfully unaware of the easterly wind that has brought over exotic beings onto this shore.

Maryam begins, "Hello class my name is Miss Sadiq, and I'll be teaching you today. I do not aim to change or convert anyone from their religious beliefs, the curriculum stipulates that comparative religion must be taught. My aim is not to change your beliefs, but to better inform them. I am going to run this class, a little differently, from what you are use too. I am going to take a theme and show you how different religious have approached it. Today, we are going to look at Eschatology or End Times in different religions."

The class is unusually quiet and seem very attentive, have they also been captivity by the exotic Maryam? "Most of the world's major religions have some kind of end time belief. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Bahaism and others. The idea of the apocalypse or end of days, is not uniquely religious, take a look at scientific discourse. The very real effects of global warming are often described by climate scientists in apocalyptical terms. It's widely accepted in Astronomy, that our world and universe will come to an end, if you read Astronomy, you'll read about the possibility of the Sun absorbing the Earth, or a black hole eating our universe or a comet or asteroid striking the earth and ending all life as we know it."

Maryam's way with words and silver tongue send Mary into a trans like state, she cannot see or hear anyone else around her. It's like no one else is in the room. Maryam continues, "When we are not worrying about over-population and reduction in food resources, we are worrying about world wars and weapons of mass destruction, thus, even in the secular realm, the apocalypse is an everyday reality. We are obsessed by the end. In Christianity, end time belief, has its roots in 18th century European biblical literalism. There are two reasons, why this movement emerged."

Maryam pauses and Mary believes that Maryam is staring at her intensely, Mary looks around herself to see if Maryam could be looking at anyone else. But as she does so, Maryam resumes, "Firstly, Europe was undergoing the enlightenment, which saw the rise of rationalist philosophies and modern scientific thought. Religion had to compete with these two new movements and thus people began turning back to the Bible and re-read the stories as literal, the Bible was not only a spiritual or religion guide, to cut it in the modern world it had to be historically accurate and literally and empirically true in order to answer the questions of the enlightenment. Secondly, European empires were expanding throughout the world and they were encountering new cultures and religions. They needed a new kind of Christianity to cope with these challenges."

Mary feels uneasy, she doesn't like where Maryam is going with this. "It was around this time that we saw the rise of end time belief. The Book of Revelations, which is the part of the Bible that describes the end times, was traditionally never part of the Bible. It was a separate book with little direct connection to the Bible, but when Biblical Literalism took off, it was added to the Bible as another book. Its author is John or St John as he is called by Christians. End timers believe that John was describing a future event in our times or after our time. But Historians disagree."

Another brief pause, "Historians believe that St John was not talking about future times. He was passing commentary on his time. Most of the references were referring to Roman rule, for example the numerology of 666, being the mark of the beast. It's a clear reference to the Roman Emperor Nero, whose name in Hebrew carries the number value of 666. Christianity was a persecuted faith under the Roman Empire until Constantine converted to Christianity. Thus St John was trying to encourage the Christians by telling them that someday soon, the persecution will be over."

The class continues and Maryam involves the class in the discussion, her opening remarks have stimulated a debate and things get heated. But the students seem fascinated and are eager to engage. Maryam talks them through the notions of cycles in Buddhist thought and Buddhist end time thought. The class also finds remarkable parallels between Christian end time thought and Hindu end time thought. All seem captivated by Maryam, but Mary begins to worry about Maryam's subversive influence on the class.

When the class press Maryam, they discover her Muslim Arab background and her borderline socialist and fervent feminism. The class ends, Mary gives a few complementary remarks to Maryam and the two agree to meet for coffee outside of school. However, Mary is troubled by Maryam and wonders what to do about her. She is clearly spreading false and diabolical ideas, but is she really an active agent of Lucifer or just an ill-informed stooge? She doesn't know what faith is about and was probably not raised in one. Conflicted, Mary went to visit her father for advice on what to do about Maryam.

Pastor Falkner listens attentively to Mary's dilemma and then interjects after Mary finishes talking. "Mary my dear, this is a blessed opportunity for you. This Maryam girl, despite her religious and political beliefs, is a child of the lord, just like you and me. It's not her fault, it is how she was raised and it's the fault of Islam. Islam is a false religion and satanic in nature, but Mary my dear, she is still alive and breathing and I think she was sent here to test you. Your faith is strong and you are a good Christian solider. You must rise to the challenge and you have been given the blessed task to save her from these satanic forces. You must befriend her and love her, she must be brought into our flock."

Suddenly, it all made sense to Mary. Maryam was a poor lost soul and Mary was the lighthouse who would guide her to Christian shores. It was divine providence, she has been honored by the task of saving Maryam's soul. She must become a Christian. Meanwhile, Mary arrives home and her husband is waiting for her, they settle down together for their evening meal. There is little conversation and what little is said, seems disinterested, in truth they did not have a real marriage. Little affection and they did not feature much in each other's day, what little sex there was, felt functional and mechanical, there was no spark or passion. They were simply going through the motions of a normal married couple.

The marriage had been lifeless for a few years now, it use to bother Mary, but now she see it as normal and does not know any different. Most of her married friends have similar marriages, romance was the stuff of Hollywood legend, real marriage was a partnership and nothing more. Marriage was meant to be endured, not romanticized, it was about your commitment to God and to produce good Christian children.

A few days had passed, the Principles office had been swamped by concerned parents. Many were uneasy with what Maryam was teaching their children, some raise concerns about her 'foreignness' and implored the school to do something. One parent compared Maryam to the Pied Pieper of Hamelin, who would lead their children astray from the straight path. But the school managed to calm their fears and made promises about what Maryam would teach. Maryam was shocked by what was happening, but Mary consoled her. Mary suggested to Maryam, that in order to better understand the local community, she should attend her bible studies circle. Maryam thought this was an excellent idea and began attending.

But this would not prove to be an easy ride for Mary, on their first meeting, the group started discussing women and the bible. Maryam the antireligious feminist came alive during the discussion, critiquing and challenging everyone in the room, an intense debate followed. There was near-hysteria, Maryam couldn't tolerant the groups apparent narrow-mindedness and the group could not tolerant Maryam's radical feminism. Shouting ensued and Mary's was lucky no one was hurt. But it was clear that Maryam had alienated everyone.