The Reformers: A Matt Blake Novel (The Matt Blake legal thriller series Book 2) by Russell Moran Page A
Authors: Russell Moran
pistol, a popular weapon known for its accuracy. He pointed it at the Imam’s torso and fired two shots. He then fired a third at the man’s head after he fell to the floor. The gunman was immediately surrounded by four large men, who formed a phalanx around him as the five of them left the stunned auditorium and walked to a waiting car.
The scene inside the auditorium was chaos. Most students ran for exits while a few ran to the stage toward the lifeless body of Professor Islama. A campus security officer ran to the stage where three other guards had already arrived. He told them that he saw the gunman, along with four other men, run toward the East exit (the opposite door from the one they had actually used to escape). All of the security guards ran toward the East exit.
***
Aadhil Ahsan stood before a group of 45 boys, ages 14 to 18. Ahsan was the Director of the Center for Islamic Youth in Sana’a, Yemen.
“Bring me young minds and I shall deliver soldiers to the armies of Allah,” read the inscription hanging at the front of the classroom.
The class began, as always, with a one-hour session of quiet reading of the Quran. Ahsan was a strict teacher, and his most emphatic dictum was that students should never read any book except the Quran. Once a week, three students were selected at random to recite a passage of the Quran from memory. If a kid flubbed a word or two, he would stand in the corner of the classroom for the rest of the day, holding the sacred book above his head.
Ahsan himself had come up through the ranks. As a youth he was a student in the very institution that he now headed. Ahsan had never read from any book but the Quran.
“Why seek knowledge anywhere but from the words of Allah as given to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him. You are here to learn from the only true source of learning. You are not to seek knowledge from anywhere but from the divine source. The infidel will try to entice you with his worldly ways. You are to reject the infidel, and of course the Zionists. You are on the true path, the one true path.”
Shortly after noon it was time for the Dhuhr, the second of the day’s five prayer sessions. The Dhuhr was proceeded by the wudu , or ablution, where each of the prayerful washed himself in the prescribed way, including his feet. Ahsan demanded that each step of the prayer service be performed “according to the book.”
After the day’s lessons concluded, Ahsan walked the quarter-mile to his small house, which he shared with his wife and four children. When he entered the house his senses were on full alert. It was custom, in the Ahsan household, for his wife, Ehan, along with his children to greet him at the door. But the house was silent. He walked from room to room, calling his wife’s name. His anger began to rise. He had strictly forbidden Ehan to ever leave the house without him or at least without his knowledge.
He walked into the room at the back of the house that overlooked a small garden where they grew dates. A man stood with his back to the door holding a sound-suppressed pistol pointed toward him. In the final moment of his life, he realized that he knew the gunman personally.
***
Imam Abdul Ishak stood before the crowded mosque in Evanston, Illinois. His audience, consisting of only male worshippers, was over 300. Imam Ishak was popular with the people of his mosque because his sermons were never dull. For years he had been on law enforcement and government watch lists, including the Chicago Police Department, the FBI, and the CIA. But of course he was free to speak, and there was nothing the authorities would or could do to prevent him from spreading his message.
“The laws of the idiot infidels give us the power to eventually defeat them,” he would often tell friends, referring to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
His sermon for the day was about Ali Yamani, the suspect in
The scene inside the auditorium was chaos. Most students ran for exits while a few ran to the stage toward the lifeless body of Professor Islama. A campus security officer ran to the stage where three other guards had already arrived. He told them that he saw the gunman, along with four other men, run toward the East exit (the opposite door from the one they had actually used to escape). All of the security guards ran toward the East exit.
***
Aadhil Ahsan stood before a group of 45 boys, ages 14 to 18. Ahsan was the Director of the Center for Islamic Youth in Sana’a, Yemen.
“Bring me young minds and I shall deliver soldiers to the armies of Allah,” read the inscription hanging at the front of the classroom.
The class began, as always, with a one-hour session of quiet reading of the Quran. Ahsan was a strict teacher, and his most emphatic dictum was that students should never read any book except the Quran. Once a week, three students were selected at random to recite a passage of the Quran from memory. If a kid flubbed a word or two, he would stand in the corner of the classroom for the rest of the day, holding the sacred book above his head.
Ahsan himself had come up through the ranks. As a youth he was a student in the very institution that he now headed. Ahsan had never read from any book but the Quran.
“Why seek knowledge anywhere but from the words of Allah as given to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him. You are here to learn from the only true source of learning. You are not to seek knowledge from anywhere but from the divine source. The infidel will try to entice you with his worldly ways. You are to reject the infidel, and of course the Zionists. You are on the true path, the one true path.”
Shortly after noon it was time for the Dhuhr, the second of the day’s five prayer sessions. The Dhuhr was proceeded by the wudu , or ablution, where each of the prayerful washed himself in the prescribed way, including his feet. Ahsan demanded that each step of the prayer service be performed “according to the book.”
After the day’s lessons concluded, Ahsan walked the quarter-mile to his small house, which he shared with his wife and four children. When he entered the house his senses were on full alert. It was custom, in the Ahsan household, for his wife, Ehan, along with his children to greet him at the door. But the house was silent. He walked from room to room, calling his wife’s name. His anger began to rise. He had strictly forbidden Ehan to ever leave the house without him or at least without his knowledge.
He walked into the room at the back of the house that overlooked a small garden where they grew dates. A man stood with his back to the door holding a sound-suppressed pistol pointed toward him. In the final moment of his life, he realized that he knew the gunman personally.
***
Imam Abdul Ishak stood before the crowded mosque in Evanston, Illinois. His audience, consisting of only male worshippers, was over 300. Imam Ishak was popular with the people of his mosque because his sermons were never dull. For years he had been on law enforcement and government watch lists, including the Chicago Police Department, the FBI, and the CIA. But of course he was free to speak, and there was nothing the authorities would or could do to prevent him from spreading his message.
“The laws of the idiot infidels give us the power to eventually defeat them,” he would often tell friends, referring to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
His sermon for the day was about Ali Yamani, the suspect in
Similar Books
Burning Man
Alan Russell
i 51ddca29df3edad1
Unknown
Betrayal
Lee Nichols
(LB2) Shakespeare's Landlord
Charlaine Harris
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
John le Carré
The Wrathful Mountains
Lana Axe
The Busy Girls Guide to Cake Decorating
Ruth Clemens
Sellevision
Augusten Burroughs
The Lightning Bolt
Kate Forsyth
Strands of Starlight
Gael Baudino