He had made much headway with Yusuf. This represented a year of work as opposed to the time it took to develop a martyr from kindergarten. Five-year olds are the Holy Martyrs of tomorrow. There the work was easy. You took a young child’s mind, filled it with hatred for the enemy, nurtured this mindset and soon you had grown men ready to be Holy Martyrs. It was like growing a plant from the planting of the seed to careful fertilization and watering. When the plants grow up, they flower into a Holy Martyr. In Yusuf’s case, he had watched the power of Allah transition Yusuf from an irritable, confused youngster to a dedicated Islamist and Holy Warrior. “Our enemies have nuclear bombs, Yusuf. We counter with a more powerful method, human bombs.”
The Imam sighed. Yusuf was the ideal candidate: he had learned to manifest an intense love for Islam, and he had no criminal record. He was an unknown. The perfect innocent. He was beyond suspicion. “It is time, Yusuf. It is not heroic. It is holy. God is Great.”
“God is Great,” answered Yusuf.
“We are at a time in our history when the pagans are attacking Muslims all over the world. It is time to unite under Allah’s banner. We must fight and kill the infidels wherever we find them. The Prophet Muhammad said, “I was ordered to fight all men until they say, there is no God but Allah. We must never forget the tragedy of al-Andalus. Our obligation is to convert everybody to Islam. That is our Islamic mission, Yusuf.
“You will be a true Holy Warrior. The United States leads the pagans in a crusade to use Allah’s holy lands as a beachhead to reach out and enslave other Muslim lands. The crusaders and the Zionists together have united to conquer Jerusalem. The Americans and the Israelis are a single two-headed coin. The Americans use Israel in a plot against Islam. To assure that the world only worships Allah, we go with the sword in our hands. The crimes of the United States and their allies demand a religious ruling. It is the duty of all Muslims to kill Americans and their allies, wherever we find them. Do you understand, Yusuf?”
“Yes, Imam.”
“Good, Yusuf. You are perfect for us. You are very intelligent and you are an excellent learner. As you adopt our philosophy, you will see that your understanding of everything becomes clearer. Have you noticed the ease by which your advanced mathematics sticks in your brain, Yusuf?”
“Yes, I do, Imam.”
“The more that you accept our philosophy, the easier it will be to comprehend mathematics. That is a guarantee, Yusuf. It would be an honor to have you join us. We are The Assimilated, The Trojan Horses, the Takfirs. We are the only true sect. Our way is the only possible way to a world of Allah.”
“Do you understand what The Assimilated means, Yusuf?”
“I think so, Imam.”
“It means we infiltrate and assimilate in the land of our enemies. We blend in. We are beyond suspicion. We are each a Trojan Horse; a Trojan Horse in a foreign land, but our Trojan horses make the Trojan Horse in the Aenid look like an ant next to an elephant. Our Trojan Horses will not conquer a city they will change a world. And you, Yusuf, will lead the way. Our enemies welcome us; we are to them as one, and as we are welcomed, we will conquer for they have no idea as to our ultimate goal. We will restore the Islamic Empire. We will go back to the days of glory when our Islamic political empire controlled the entire Middle East. Fifty years after that, Yusuf, we will have the entire world. Think on that, Yusuf.”
Yusuf nodded too and fro and smiled—a closed mouth closed eyed smile.
“Do you accept The Assimilated philosophy, Yusuf?”
“I do, Imam,” he said with eyes still closed.
“Then you are exempt from Islamic law. Do you understand why?”
“Yes, I must appear entirely secular so as to blend in.”
“Yes, that is correct. It will be easy for you, Yusuf. You are already an American. You are a Trojan Horse already born in a foreign land that we will change. Oh, if we had a thousand just like you we could conquer the world in short order. That goal is only possible through violent struggle, and we will be successful. Allah has directed us. We can not fail.”
“I understand, Imam.”
“We infiltrate enemy societies, and we take any measure necessary to accomplish this goal. You are perfect for us now, as you have embraced the philosophy. Your outward appearance will be complete secular assimilation, but on the inside, the idea of religious war will never leave your mind and will be foremost in your thoughts. Anyone, including Muslims, who offer the slightest opposition to our mission can and must be done away with. Do you understand, Yusuf?”
“Yes, Imam.”
“Remember what I say here today. Once you are in, there is no turning back You are a member forever.”
“Yes, Imam.”
“Good, Yusuf. Are you ready?”
“Yes, I am ready.”
“When you go to school in Chicago, you will be clean shaven. You’ll wear your American clothes, get rid of your ponytail, resume your American name, Ben Marzan, start school and take a part time job where you can mix with hundreds of people. Then you will go to meet Steve. You will only know his first name, and he will only know you as Ben. He will be your contact. He too is a Trojan horse, only he was not born there like you. Assigned there, he has gone to school and works and lives among the people. And there are more. Steve will have your picture from your high school yearbook. He lives in Chicago at 2789 Addison Avenue on the third floor. If you go there any weekday at six o’clock in the evening, he will be there. You will never call him by wire phone or cell phone. You will never write him notes or send letters or emails. We have a cell in Chicago. They do not congregate in their homes. They have ways of communicating with each other that you will learn when you get there. They have been in place for a long time. They have great weapons for the struggle. We are counting on them. Now you will be a part of what we consider the greatest operation in the history of Islam. Go with Allah, Yusuf.”
CHAPTER 9
Back home
Ben went back to his temporary residence. He calmly shaved, cut off his ponytail and got a short haircut. His life had a purpose. Everything he did now would be with that purpose in mind. How great it was that his father had sent him to this holy man with whom he had spent an entire year. He had learned what life meant. He had, by the grace of the Imam, learned that true happiness comes from serving humanity, and humanity was best served by making the world Islamic. True it would be a long struggle, but the result would be a paradise here on earth—an earth no longer held back by the infidels. This was now the purpose of his existence. Everything else he would do would be to prepare for the struggle.
He could do this now because he had learned to handle the darkness that sometimes took over his brain and clouded his consciousness. Now when he felt it obscuring his vision he knew how to change direction and force the darkness to dissipate, thus keeping his mind focused on the purpose.
When he felt the fire in his stomach that caused the hyperactivity and nervousness, he had learned how to extinguish it with the power of his mind alone.
When he saw and heard things that, he realized were not there, he knew how to return to reality.
Of great help to him in these tasks was mathematics. He had finished all of high school mathematics through calculus by the end of his sophomore year. He could have taken more through a local college, but he had chosen not to do so. Rather, he self learned from his father’s math texts