MOHAMMED WAS NOT ANOTHER JESUS
The purpose of Patrick Grady's novel “Royal Canadian Jihad” is to teach Canadians about Islam. It is also to warn them about the potential dangers of some Muslims who have settled in Canada.
It is definitely not another version of the harmless Muslims portrayed in CBC Television's “Little Mosque On The Prairie”.
From the time when the novel form originated in the early 1700's, realism has been one of its major characteristics. Mr. Grady's novel, which at times resembles a documentary, follows that tradition. His narrative begins with a factual reference to the destruction of New York's World Trade Center. It includes many other real-life incidents and characters. The story is set in 2001- 2003 Canada, particularly Ottawa. The protagonist, Mike Murphy, is part of the RCMP's counter-terrorism section. The novel's antagonist is Khalil Mohammed, an unemployed Egyptian engineer who, after committing himself to Islam on a pilgrimage to Mecca, is indoctrinated at an al-Qaeda camp, trained in the use of explosives, and ordered to work as an al-Qaeda agent in Canada.
Mike Murphy knows nothing about Islam, so, very early in the novel, Mr. Grady has a character called Professor Ibrahim Adeeb of Carleton University instruct him. Adeeb is from an Egyptian Coptic Christian background. He had immigrated to Canada and is Canada's foremost expert on al-Qaeda. Adeeb's family, particularly his father and sister, had experienced second-class citizen status which Egyptian Muslims had imposed on the Copt minority.
Through the professor's voice, here are some of many major points made about Islam, a subject which the author appears to have researched thoroughly :
1. Almost all Muslims believe the Koran is literally true and must be followed exactly. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but terrorists might be the only ones who are practicing what the sacred texts say. A real problem with Islam is that it has been strongly influenced by Wahabbism, the official sect of Islam in Saudi Arabia. Wahabbists want to return Islam to the practices of Islam at the time of Mohammed. They compare modern society to the state of pagan ignorance and rebellion against God that existed before Islam started around 600 AD. Extreme Muslims want to impose Islam on the whole world and have it ruled by a global caliphate. However, many other Muslims think they can do this slowly through the new Trojan horse : immigration and high reproduction.
2. Most Liberal Christians think Islam, like Christianity, is just another religion of love and peace. It is not. Mohammed was a religious zealot who believed in spreading Islam by jihad or holy war. The tactics he used were barbaric ones (robbery, murder, torture and rape) practiced by desert tribes in Arabia.
3. Mohammed was not another Jesus. Several examples illustrate this point. For instance, after defeating the Jews of Banu Quraydhah through trickery, Mohammed had 600 to 700 men beheaded, including many he supposedly executed personally. At other times, he asked his companions to murder people who criticized him. In contrast, Jesus did not advocate or practice killing and revenge. In a second example, both Jesus and Mohammed were presented with a case of a woman caught in adultery. When the Pharisees asked Jesus if she should be stoned, he famously said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. In contrast, when Mohammed was asked to judge her, he waited to see if the adulterous woman was pregnant. When he found out she was, he sent her away to have her baby and to nurse it. When the baby was weaned, Mohammed brought the woman back and ordered that she be stoned. Finally, although Muslims consider Mohammed as the perfect man, he approved of forced sex with slave girls and he himself became engaged to a 6-year old. That marriage was consummated when the girl was 9.
4. Some Muslims tell gullible westerners that the term 'jihad' means an internal, personal struggle against Satan, but this is an example of the deceit that the Koran approves of in order to promote its ends. The Koran mentions nothing about this personal struggle. There is mention of this struggle in one “contested” hadith (The hadiths are the collected sayings of Mohammed). But there are literally thousands of other hadiths where Mohammed talks about war with the infidels. The Koran uses the term 'jihad” meaning “war against the infidels” 26 times. It mentions the word 'qital” meaning “fighting for Allah” 79 times.
Through Khalil Mohammed, the author provides a picture of the devout Muslim and the ardent al-Qaeda member. Khalil is unable to find a job in Egypt, but luckily, his father who is an Islamic scholar at Al-Hazar University, supports him. With his father's financial help, Khalil makes a pilgrimage to Mecca. He is to be one of 2 million pilgrims who visit the Grand Mosque in the Muslim month of Zullhijjah that year. As with Professor Adeeb earlier, the author has Khalil tell the reader many things about Islam.
Khalil is awed by the history and architecture of Mecca's Grand Mosque (3.8 million square feet) which houses the “Ka'abah” (Arabic for “square building”). Muslims believe the Ka'abah was built by Adam and then re-built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. Since 638 AD, the Grand Mosque has been in an almost perpetual state of expansion and construction. By the time of Mohammed (around 600 AD), the Ka'abah had come to be surrounded by 360 idols, which were worshipped as gods by the local desert tribes. The 360 included the idol for the chief God who was called Allah. One pillar of the Grand Mosques is made of red marble and indicates the place where Mohammed tied his winged steed named Buraq. Another one made of red cement marked the start of his meraj or night journey to Al-Aqsa and the skies.
The sermon—“Menace of the Jews”—that the fictional Khalil hears on his first Friday at Mecca's Grand Mosque is a shortened version of a real sermon given by Wahhabist Imam Abdul Al-Qaari. As the title implies, the sermon's theme is clearly not “Love Your Neighbour”. Mr. Grady provides that background in his “NOTES” which are a rich source of information about real events in Canada, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Not long after Khalil decides to devote his life to Islam, he gets his father's financial assistance and reluctant blessing to become a mujahideen in Afghanistan. He and other recruits even receive a visit from Osama Bin Laden who compliments Khalil on the expertise Khalil has demonstrated with explosives. Later, he asks Khalil to go to Canada for a special assignment. With the help of a Canadian immigration lawyer who has prospered from the immigration business and who concocts a fake refugee story that Khalil can tell immigration officers, Khalil enters Canada. Within a very short time, a gullible judge grants him refugee status. On receiving his notification, Khalil comments, “These Canadian infidels must be the world's dumbest.” Not long after, he establishes a sleeper cell and waits for orders.
The rest of the novel alternates its focus between Khalil and Mike Murphy. Murphy's special assignment is to track down and stop people like Khalil. Murphy and his team have many obstacles to deal with, many of which have been erected by lawyers and well-intentioned advocates. As a result, they are always a few steps behind.
The climax of the novel sees Khalil in a van speeding towards the American embassy in Ottawa on Canada Day. His vehicle is loaded with explosives and just before it hits its target and detonates, Khalil shouts, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet ! Allahu Akhbar ! Allahu Akhbar ! Alhamdulillah !”
The novel ends with a tense cabinet meeting hastily called to deal with the fall-out of Khalil's suicide bombing. A western Cabinet minister recommends that the gov't repeat the action taken by the Trudeau gov't in 1970 : Proclaim the Emergencies Act (a watered-down War Measures Act). In damage control because of years of their own neglect of the immigration and refugee issues, the Cabinet accepts the recommendation. Shortly after, hundreds of young Muslims, who had come to the attention of CSIS, are rounded up and detained. Soon, a moratorium is “imposed on Muslim immigration, pending a review of security screening procedures”.
In this clever twist, the author creates a bit of poetic justice for Canada which has suffered from years of immigration and refugee abuse. Canada rejects its years of gullibility and naivete. It finally recognizes that some of the people it has allowed in are its enemies. It proclaims its own jihad and a new era in immigration policy.
Appropriately, Canada's jihad against these people is to be called a “Royal Canadian Jihad”.
