Blog

by Khaled Hammad

A Journey Through Hell Fire

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Part 3 is here.

Chapter 4: “Face to Face with Satan”

What did Ahmed say to me?

Walking through Cairo at night is no different from doing so in any busy capital. Random streets bustle with life. Cafes and restaurants are full; there is loud music, raucous laughter, and shoppers and walkers jostle, just like myself and Ahmed, who was about to tell me what would cause a rift in our friendship for about two years.

Impatient, I started by telling him I was curious to understand what could make him write such a song with inconsiderate provoking connotations. ‘Creating life is God’s job. You do not want to fall into the trap of Satan,’ I said. ‘Music is bad enough, but we will go to heaven at the end because we are Muslims,’ I continued. ‘But writing such words will get you into hell for eternity because it is infidelity, and I have the evidence, and I can…’

The Dialogue: What is a Molhed?

Ahmed interrupted me and calmly said what I had never accounted for. ‘I am a molhed, Khaled.’

‘What do you mean, molhed? Sorry?’ I asked with a dropped jaw and wide-open eyes while trying to comprehend fully what I was listening to.

He replied. ‘I do not believe in God, Khaled. We have been made fools of for 1400 years.’

… And Mohammed?

I remember very well at that point, the first thing I asked him was, ‘What about the prophet, Mohammed?’ That question might seem curious to the reader. However, it might help you to understand but not justify why a Muslim would burn an embassy or commit mass murder as a response to an offensive cartoon of the prophet Mohammed. A devout Muslim feels very protective over the prophet, and I was not any different. A holy speech that any Muslim knows very well says, ‘The Messenger of Allah said: “None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his child, his father and all the people.”’ That is not an arrogant person. That is a messenger who does not say anything without inspiration from God. Even God loves him to the point that he created the whole universe just to give life to the prophet Mohammed so he could see him.

Was Ahmed the Devil?

These ideas might be difficult to digest unless you have grown up with them all your life. Ahmed’s replies to my questions were a series of horrifying, breathtaking shocks. Firstly, he said, ‘Mohammed was…’ Did he actually say Mohammed without placing ‘prophet’ before the name?،  I asked myself. But what came after did not leave time for me to comprehend the striking lack of respect he’d just demonstrated toward my prophet. He compounded the insult by saying ‘Mohammed was not a prophet, he was a butcher,’ my jaw drops more, ‘son of a dog,’. He continues. At this point, as you can imagine, I almost experienced what you would call an out-of-body experience. I could not see or hear anything around me. Streets became empty and quiet. I was alone, face to face with the devil. I was trying to hide my fears and contain myself. How did I reply to that, and what was the outcome of the conversation?

[To be continued]