Chapter 18
Saudi Arabia is officially listed as the fourteenth largest country geographically. It controls an incredible amount of oil, but after the invention of the Fusion Cell by John Carter that meant little in terms of the international market. Prior to the invention of the Fusion Cell, oil accounted for nearly sixty percent of its gross national product. Afterwards, oil accounted for only ten percent of the gross national product. It was not that other sectors stepped up to the economic plate, but that the gross national product took a fifty six percent dive nearly destroying the economy of Saudi Arabia.
The economic crash was blamed on the west. There was no one else to blame that would allow the government to survive the crash. For over fifty years, billions of dollars of oil money had flowed into the Middle East. Unfortunately, very little of it had been re-invested into economic development. When the flow of oil money stopped, the royal government nearly fell. The west was blamed for consuming the oil and, when it stopped buying oil, it was blamed for not consuming oil.
Before the economic crash, Saudi Arabia was a very conservative country with strong isolationist tendencies. There is only a single religion practiced there — Islam — and the laws are based on the strict interpretation of Islamic law known as Salafi. Christians and Hindus were allowed in the country as temporary workers, but they are not allowed to practice their faith. After the economic crash, it became even more conservative. Only Hindu workers were allowed to enter the country with the worker usually becoming little more than slave labor.
With the changed economic situation, the country used religion as a means to control the population. It was a very conservative brand of Islam; pursued in a manner reminiscent of the social practices of the Taliban. Religious rhetoric grew and the country became the largest source of religiously motivated terrorists. While countries like Iran, Iraq, and Somalia might be dangerous for visitors, at least visitors were allowed. Uninvited visitors to Saudi Arabia could expect to be treated very harshly.
Oscar stepped out of the Land Roamer and looked around at the decaying petroleum infrastructure that surrounded him. Chemical factories with huge pipes that slowly rusted in the dry climate were surrounded by apartments that had not been maintained. The entire area was another sign of the general economic decay of a country rotting from the inside.
Shading their eyes from the bright sunlight, Georgia and Debbie stepped out of the Land Roamer. Moving around the vehicle, they went to where they stood beside Oscar. Taking in the ugly scenery, Georgia said, "What an ugly country."
"You should not be out here without your Burka," Oscar said looking over at the two women. The appearance of two women wearing western style clothes had captured the attention of a large number of people. It was not the kind of attention that most women would embrace.
"We'll be safe," Georgia said giving him a dark look. She had sworn that she wasn't going to wear the Burka ever again. She glared at the gathering crowd as if daring them to make a big deal out of her clothes.
Oscar stared off into the distance and then nodded his head. Rather than fight with them over the matter, he said, "I guess it will work out all right in the end. Debbie, do not be surprised by what happens."
Debbie stared at Oscar blankly and asked, "Surprised by what?"
Frowning at what his vision had shown him, Oscar answered, "Don't worry about it. Everything will work out for the best."
Puzzled by the mixed messages he had given them, Debbie and Georgia watched Oscar head over to the Mosque. Only after Oscar had entered the Mosque did Debbie look around at the people staring at her. Seeing the expressions on the faces of the people in the crowd around them, Debbie nudged Georgia and said, "Uh, this doesn't look good."
"Fuck them. I'm not wearing a sack over my face ever again," Georgia said turning to look at the crowd. Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wondered if it was too late to get the Burkas that were in the car. The crowd looked very hostile.
Ignoring the activities at the Mosque, an old man approached Debbie and Georgia with anger on his face. The idea that two women would violate the law in such a flagrant manner was an insult to everything in which the man believed. Two women walking around in public without a male escort was wrong. Wearing western style clothes in public like that was wrong. Either offense was punishable by death. Pointing a finger at them, he shouted, "You defy the law!"
"I do not defy law. I am not chattel to be controlled by the likes of you," Georgia said at the limits of her self control.
Debbie, beginning to fear what was going to happen, said, "Get away from us."
The man reached out and grabbed Debbie's blouse. With a yank, he pulled the cloth. Her blouse tore open; baring her breasts to view. Before either woman had a chance to react, the tattoo on Debbie's chest shimmered for a second before the ghostly figure of a knight on horseback appeared between her and the old man.
The knight pointed his lance at the old man and frowned. The horse upon which he was mounted danced in place, but the lance point remained steady; aimed at the old man's chest. The old man stepped back and stared at the mounted knight. In a strangled voice, he shouted, "Mar Girgis!"
The knight nodded his head in acknowledgement of his name. The crowd stepped back staring at the figure. Saint George, called Mar Girgis or Jirjis, was well known in Islamic tradition. Saint al- Khidar, a companion of the Prophet Muwsa Moses, was associated with Saint George. Mar Girgis was a protector in times of trouble. Everyone in the street fell quiet and stared at the scene in front of them.
The voice from the Mosque echoed through the quiet crowd, "The senseless killing must stop. Allah will not tolerate any man declaring Jihad by the Sword in his name."
The knight smiled at hearing the words despite the fact that his attention had never wavered from being focused on the old man. Debbie was tempted to cover her chest, but she was afraid that if she did so that the knight would disappear. Another man in the crowd shouted, "Allah has spoken!"
The old man who had attacked Debbie asked, "What manner of evil is this when Saints protect a woman who flaunts our laws?"
Another man, staring at the Mosque, answered, "Allah has spoken. The senseless killing must stop. Abide the words of Allah."
"The woman must die for violating the law," the old man shouted with righteous anger. Spittle flew from his mouth as he shouted. He had ripped her blouse and bared her breasts. If she had any decency she would have covered herself. Her lack of action made her a harlot and a woman to be despised.
If no one else would act, the old man decided that it was up to him to make sure that the law was upheld. He knelt down and picked up a rock about the size of a small tangerine. The law allowed harlots to be stoned to death. Holding up the rock, he shouted, "The harlot must die!"
An elderly man with a long gray beard stepped forward and said, "Stop. If you do this, you will set events in motion that will forever change Islam!"
The old man ignored the other and threw the rock. The ghostly figure was surprisingly solid. The rock bounced off of the shield of Saint George and fell to the ground. The knight's lance reached out and passed through the body of the old man. The man fell to the ground; his lifeless body making a dull thump. Everyone stood staring at the scene in stunned silence.
Georgia stared down at the body of the dead man in shock. There wasn't a drop of blood, but the man was obviously dead. In an angry voice, she said, "The Burka is custom, not law!"
The elderly man with the beard stared down at the body. A saint had interfered with the enforcement of the laws concerning the proper deportment of a woman in public. It could only mean that the laws were flawed. In a flat voice that did not give any clue to the trepidation that he felt, he made a cutting motion with his hand as he said, "Islam is forever changed."
Upon hearing that pronouncement, the knight flickered and then disappeared. The tattoo returned to Debbie's chest. She covered her breasts with the torn pieces of her blouse. The crowd stared at her trying to make sense of what happened. No one moved to raise a hand against the two women.
Word of events there would spread across the Islamic world. The interpretation of what had just occurred would be debated by Imams for years. It would be argued that the laws had been overturned by the actions of Saint George. It was unclear if the changes applied to clothes, the need for an escort, or with both clothes and escorts.
Oscar stepped over to Georgia and looked down at the body of the old man. The crowd stared at Oscar and then at the Mosque before turning their attention back to Oscar. Many found it difficult to believe that while Allah had spoken, their attention had been on the women.
Shaking his head, Oscar asked, "Why is it that change must always come at such a great cost?"
The oasis, not marked on any map, was a small body of water surrounded by date palms. It was less than two hundred miles from the oasis to Mecca, the spiritual center of Islam. Avoiding the sandy desert, roads had bypassed the oasis. The result was that the oasis was unoccupied for most of the year. Only the handful of individuals who traveled the old trade route on camel came there.
Oscar stopped the Land Roamer and turned to the pair of women in the backseat. He said, "We'll spend two days here."
"Why two days?"
"Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I thought it would be nice if we spent the day giving thanks for all we have," Oscar said.
"Really? I guess I lost track of the dates," Georgia said with a sigh. It seemed to her that time was flying past. She looked at Oscar and asked, "Have we been doing this for more than a year?"
"Yes. We've been on the road for fourteen months; almost fifteen months now," Oscar answered. They'd been to twenty eight countries in that time. They had another three to go before the end of their journey. He climbed out of the Land Roamer and looked around.
Georgia and Debbie stepped into the hot air and looked around at the sand, palms, and pond. While the city they had visited had looked decrepit and old; the oasis looked timeless. It was an amazing contrast. Debbie said, "This is like some place out of the Arabian Nights."
"Yes, it is," Oscar agreed. Images of an old silent film showing a Sheik of Arabia camped out at an oasis came to mind. All that was missing was the silk tent.
"I almost expect some Arabian Prince to come rushing along on a horse to carry me away," Georgia said with a grin.
"You two already had your run in with an Arabian Prince."
"Who?" Debbie asked.
"The man who died was Prince Omar. He was a lesser prince of the Saudi royal family," Oscar answered. He didn't bother to wonder how he knew the man's name. That was just another mystery that would drive him crazy if he let it.
"Oh." The pair of women exchanged looks. The old man had not fit their image of an Arabian Prince. An Arabian Prince was supposed to be young, handsome, and daring; not old and frothing at the mouth upon seeing a pair of women in western clothes. Debbie said, "I'm not sure that I understand what happened there."
Oscar sighed while trying to decide how to explain it to the women. Finally, he said, "The two of you created a dilemma. Your attire and behavior broke Islamic Law as practiced here. Your crimes demanded your death. The problem is that you are protected by the Powers That Be. When Prince Omar went to kill you it became a matter of choosing between your life and the law as currently practiced. The Powers That Be choose to sacrifice the law as currently practiced."
"And that means?" Debbie asked feeling the beginnings of a headache. She wondered how she had become embroiled in the highly charged politics of religion. It also dawned on her that the man would have killed her in the street.
"It means that the Burka has become relegated to custom rather than law," Oscar said. In a way, he felt responsible for how the matter had been decided. He was positive that Allah would have let Prince Omar carry out the death sentence except it would have meant losing Oscar. He looked over at Georgia and added, "You were hoping to change life for women in Islam. The two of you successfully did that."
"That's a good thing, right?" Debbie said with more than a trace of doubt in her voice. She kept flashing on the idea that she could have been stoned to death in the middle of crowd for wearing pants and a blouse.
"You bet your ass," Georgia said with a sharp nod of her head.
"I don't know," Oscar answered with a shrug of his shoulders. He suspected that it would mean changes, but what the changes would mean in the long term was a mystery to him. He looked at the pair and said, "Change in this part of the world is often a violent thing. I imagine that thousands of women will die as a result of what you did. Of course, it may also save the lives of thousands of women. My ability to see into the future does not extend that far."
"I'm sure that the women will appreciate not having to wear sacks," Georgia said in a tone of voice that would not admit argument. She hated the Burka with a passion.
"Most of them will appreciate it. There will be some who view it as a negative thing. The idea that women are to be covered completely runs deep in this culture," Oscar said. Tradition was not something to be removed from a culture lightly.
"What do you mean?"
Oscar said, "You have to understand that women are viewed as temptresses. The Burka is part of the practice of protecting women from the desires of men. Remove the Burka and the desires of men are unleashed. That makes the world a much more dangerous place for women."
"That's crazy," Debbie said.
"It's the culture," Oscar replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He said, "Georgia already produced a minor change in how Islam views women when Allah praised her skill as a warrior. Today, Debbie has introduced another change."
"I feel a little guilty."
Shaking his head, Oscar said, "Don't. The Powers That Be work in mysterious ways. Perhaps your actions this afternoon were part of something greater. I don't know and won't even pretend to know."
With the coming of night, the black sky overhead showed the stars with a clarity that only existed within desert environments. Looking up at the Milky Way, Debbie said, "It's very pretty here."
"It may look romantic, but it has historically been a place of great misery. This oasis has been a major stop on the slave route for thousands of years. Hundreds of thousands of young men, women, and children have been brought through here wearing chains. The sand out there probably hides the bones of thousands who didn't make it," Oscar said with a gesture in the direction of the desert.
"That's horrible," Georgia said.
"Thank goodness that slavery has ended," Debbie said.
"It hasn't," Oscar said. He settled a little more comfortably in front of the fire.
"What do you mean it hasn't? This is the twenty first century. There's no need to own slaves," Debbie said.
Taking a deep breath, he said, "We are dealing with a culture that is so foreign to us that we have difficulties comprehending it. In some ways it is a very harsh culture, but that reflects the situation of its founding."
"What do you mean?" Debbie asked.
Pointing in the general direction of the desert, Oscar answered, "The conditions a hundred yards from where we are sitting are very dangerous. One day without water in that desert will kill you. It is easy to get lost out there. If you are in the desert on your own, then one mistake can kill you. It is a very hostile territory.
"At the time of Mohammed, the world was a very different place. We are talking about a society that was basically formed of little nomadic groups that traveled across great distances every year to prevent over taxing the resources of the land. These groups were little more than a family unit. At times, these family groups included a couple of brothers, their wives, and their children. Sure, there were cities, but the people within the cities were still tied to their tribal nomadic roots.
"There is a Bedouin saying — I against my brothers, I and my brothers against my cousins, I and my brothers and my cousins against the world. It tells of the hierarchy of loyalty that they have for each other. The leader of the family was the Sheik.
"In such a hostile environment, it was very easy to lose a significant fraction of your family. Starvation, thirst, illness, heat stroke, and bad luck could kill off most of a family. Women were the most easy to lose. Many died from childbirth. You didn't want to invite even greater disaster by having the women stolen from your family, so you protected them and hid them away from outsiders."
Oscar looked at the pair of women seated beside him and said, "When Mohammed laid down the laws, a major element of it was to protect women from individuals outside the family group. Don't forget that at that time when one group defeated another group in battle that the captives became slaves. If you have to sacrifice some member of your group when times got hard, then it was easiest to sacrifice the slaves over the family. You could sell a slave and get some wealth in the process. You couldn't do that with family.
"Warfare was an easy way to gain wealth, labor, and women. Living in a harsh environment made the easy way to gain wealth very attractive. There was a down side to that. Advertising that you had attractive women within your group was tantamount to an invitation to attack.
"The harsh environment also meant that you couldn't tolerate someone who put the family at risk. A woman who slept around created the conditions where strife could tear apart a family. From the male perspective, what man can resist an attractive woman who wants to seduce him? The answer is no man can, but giving into a seductress can cause brother to kill brother. One such killing can escalate to a bloodbath and leave a family defenseless.
"Small groups of people living in a hostile environment have to punish violations of law harshly. The crime is not against the individual, but the family as a whole. For this reason, most punishments are brutal by our modern standards. The thief loses his hand. The adulteress and adulterer lose their lives. To punish crimes with less is to invite disaster. This fundamental view of crime being against the family has been brought into Islam making it a crime against God, as well."
Georgia said, "We don't live in the dark ages. There are cities and police to keep order."
"Remember the Bedouin saying. The first in importance is 'I'. The community is a far distance down from that. If the community is not important to you, then why should you be important to the community? You won't be important, so you can't trust it to watch out for your interests," Oscar replied.
"Oh," Debbie said. This world view was so far from what she was used to thinking about that it was almost impossible to grasp.
Nodding his head, Oscar said, "So how do you deal with a society full of individuals that hold themselves as the center of the universe?"
"I don't know," Georgia asked.
Smiling, Oscar said, "Since they can not be expected to swear allegiance to another man beyond self-interest, you demand that they be subservient to God. All men who are good must be subservient to God and follow his laws. The man who will not be subservient to God must not be tolerated, obeyed, or respected by those who are faithful. That is why men of other religions are not tolerated in Islam."
Georgia had been traveling with Oscar for the majority of his service. She had seen thousands of people touched by what Oscar had done inside Mosques, Churches, and Synagogues. The full implications of his words struck her and she said, "The message that you are spreading is to rid them of their intolerance of others."
Shaking his head, Oscar said, "No. The message limits their intolerance and prevents it from being violent. Don't get me wrong; that is a significant change. Remember, crimes in Islam are punished harshly because crimes against family are also crimes against God. Allah has said that a lack of belief in him by infidels may be a crime, but it is not a crime of the same seriousness as other crimes.
"It is a lessening of the knot that has held this culture together for more than a thousand years. I can't predict what the long term consequences of this will be for the culture of Islam, but they will be far more significant than anyone realizes."
Thanksgiving was spent in a leisurely manner. For most of the day,
the three made love. For lunch they ate Turkey MREs. There was a sense
of sadness about the meal. Oscar was thankful for the chance to spend
time with his wives. His wives were thankful for the time they could
spend with Oscar. The mood was restrained by the sense that their time
together was limited.