The Omega scroll

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Mar’Oth

‘ Y ou must give me the recipe for that, Ahmed, I have never tasted anything quite like it.’ Giovanni leaned back against the cushions that littered the floor of Ahmed Sartawi’s modest mudbrick house.

‘Welcome to Middle Eastern cuisine, although you will have to ask the women of the village for the recipe. It’s a very famous Palestinian dish, Msaqa’a, eggplants baked with onions, tomatoes and spices. Simple, but the secret is in the cooking.

‘And the pancakes?’

‘ Qateyef. Filled with crushed walnuts, coconut, cinnamon and a touch of lemon juice, another famous recipe they will also give you. It is the least we can do after all your kindness.’

‘I’m sure you would have done the same for me.’

‘Perhaps. Although unfortunately there are many who might not. It was not always so but the fighting between the Israelis and the Palestinians has poisoned our people. It has not helped that the West has been so one-sided in its support for the Jews.’

Giovanni studied his host. Ahmed was just in his thirties but his brown face was etched with lines. He had thick black hair, a prominent nose and his dark brown eyes were gentle.

‘Are there problems in this village?’

‘Between the Muslims and the Christians, you mean?’

Giovanni nodded.

‘There were. You had a predecessor. Quite a few years ago but we all still remember him. Father Lonergan was, how do you say it, somewhat rigid. For him Christianity was the only path. That sort of teaching creates a lot of difficulty, especially in a small village like Mar’Oth. You will forgive me for saying so, but if we are to live in harmony together we should be honest with one another. Your predecessor seemed preoccupied. Troubled by something personal, I think, and fond of a drink.’

That explained the empty whisky bottles, Giovanni thought. ‘Your English is exceptional, Ahmed. I hope to pick up some Arabic.’

‘I would be more than happy to help you with that. The villagers are very receptive to anyone who makes the attempt, the mistakes don’t matter to them.’

‘Well, there will be plenty of those!’ Giovanni said. ‘What is your view of Christians, Ahmed?’

‘As a Muslim or as Ahmed Sartawi?’

‘Both, I guess.’

‘The Qur’an recognises Jesus as a prophet, but for me the answer lies not in a discussion on the Christian Christ versus the Muslim Christ, nor does it lie in an argument over Christ’s ascension from the Mount of Olives versus Muhammad’s ascension from the Dome of the Rock. For me the answer goes much further back.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning that whether we like it or not, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have a common ancestor, one we all claim as our own.’

‘Abraham,’ Giovanni said quietly. He too had reflected on the undisputed patriarch of the three great monotheistic faiths that all had their genesis in the Middle East. Perhaps there was an unseen hand that had posted him to this little village far away from the corridors of power at the Vatican. The ruins of a tiny church with its foul-smelling room was but a symbol of man’s decay, a decay and corruption that had infiltrated the very top layers of the Holy Catholic Church.

‘Abraham,’ Ahmed agreed reverently. ‘The Qur’an explains that Abraham is one of the four great prophets and the one to whom Allah said, “I have appointed thee to be a leader for mankind.” In the Torah, to the Jew, he is the one to whom God said, “Lech Lecha… Go forth from thy father’s house and I will make of you a great nation.” In the New Testament, for the Christian, Paul mentions Abraham more than any other figure, bar Christ.’

‘Yet we fight over ownership of Abraham,’ Giovanni observed.

Ahmed smiled, recognising that he was in the presence of a fellow thinker. ‘Many believers, especially the young, have no idea of our common ancestry through Abraham, but it is the fighting over religion that will eventually bring us all undone, Giovanni. I have a feeling that the countdown for civilisation has begun.’

Giovanni instantly thought of the warning in the Omega Scroll. Again he decided against bringing it up, but he had the same feeling about Ahmed as he had about Patrick O’Hara. Here was a man who was to be trusted.

The Spirit smiled.

‘Does the Qur’an warn of that?’

‘The signs are there if you want to heed them. Surah 20 tells us that the hour is surely coming. Some of the signs are already with us. The 54th Surah of the Qur’an refers to man digging and furrowing the moon, which happened in 1969. Many Islamic scholars point to signs of increasing warfare, the destruction of cities like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and increased earthquakes and poverty.’

‘Those same warnings are in the Bible, Ahmed,’ Giovanni replied, not for the first time wondering if there had been revelation through the Prophet Muhammad as well as Christ. ‘The increase in earthquakes is predicted in Matthew and I saw some figures before I left Italy that confirmed that the number of earthquakes around the world is rising dramatically. The prophet Daniel made four predictions. Three of them have already passed.’

‘It was the empires, wasn’t it? With one still to go?’

‘You have studied the Bible?’

‘You sound surprised, Giovanni. To the Muslim, Jesus is to be revered as a prophet, peace be upon him. Am I right about Daniel’s prophecy?’

‘I wish I had as good a grasp of the Qur’an, but yes, you’re right. So far Daniel has been chillingly accurate. As I recall his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream he said, “You were looking, O King and there before you stood a large statue. The head of the statue was made of pure gold. Its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron.” Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was a prophecy for the four empires, each of which would fall. Gold for the mighty Babylonians, silver for Medo-Persia which began with Cyrus the Great when he conquered Babylon in 539 BC, bronze for the Greek Empire and Alexander the Great, and the Iron Empire still to go.’

Ahmed nodded. ‘Iron being the extension of the Roman Empire which is now embodied in the European Union.’

‘Where do you see the United States in that?’

‘I don’t think the United States has the finesse in foreign policy to ever become an empire. If people like my brother Yusef have their way, many cities in America and those of her allies will be totally destroyed before the fanatical elements of Islam finally turn their attention to greater Europe.’

‘Yusef is intolerant of other religions?’

‘Our family was killed by the Israelis and we are the only ones left. A story I will tell you another time, but Yusef has sworn to take his revenge and he can’t understand why I won’t do the same. I understand his hatred but I can’t condone it because hatred breeds more hatred. On our side, Arafat has had many chances for peace but he is incapable of delivering.’

‘Have you ever thought of running for politics, Ahmed?’

‘Not while Arafat is around. He is totally corrupt and it would be a waste of effort even running, always assuming that we get to have elections, but if he ever moved on, I would think about it very seriously. Someone has to do something about this ever-increasing cycle of violence, Giovanni. There is a whole generation of kids who are being brought up to hate the West, something that the US politicians seem to ignore. Once this hatred starts to spiral out of control, the warning on the countdown to the destruction of humanity becomes very clear.’