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Chapter 8 - Islam and Christianity:

The Islam and Christianity.: One maid came to call them, the mother Fatima was waiting to receive them in her room . Mother Fatima was sitting with her praying rosary in her hand, they all kissed her hands , Salim and his brothers advanced too and kissed the lady's hands , she kissed them back like a mother kissing her own sons she told them all to take their seats , Francesca as usual took her seat on her grandma s bed saying I miss you mum , will you tel us more about your mother , the lady smiled saying : today is Salim and his brothers to tell us about mum original home. Salim smiled and started to tel them about Syria and it's history , he started with a summary about the Islam rising sun and the main battles that caused the entrance of the Islam into the Syrian territory , the Arabs tribes who joined the first kingdom of Bani Umayyad , the geography of Syria , the neighboring countries and geography, the people races and religions , the customs and traditions ,the ottomans and their great Sultans , all were listening with big interest , they were knowing for the first time things about their remote roots , the roots of their grandmother, Wehbe was sharing his brother s narration , proceeding with some details his brother ignored while Salim was looking in amusement to his small brother interruption that made them all laugh , then Mohammad came into the room running away from Sandra who tried to reserve him to herself . When Salim had finished his speech , the lady ordered the maids to bring some tea and some sweets, Marco to his mother: today Salim and his brothers accepted to join us in our farms, the mother was too much happy to hear the good news asking her sons to take care of their new brothers and uncles ,Francesca: who are their uncles? Mother Fatima smiling : since Salim and his brothers are supposed to be my mother s relatives , we look at them as your uncles , they all laughed , Salim murmured to Marco : why didn't tel me before that your mother s name is Fatima ? I was surprised when that man we met told me that , Marco : that didn't come to my mind , the mother to Marco : what are you murmuring among us ? Marco-smiling : Salim was surprised that your name is Fatima! , the mother: yes, the name Fatima is an Arabic name and she is the master lady in paradise and the selected daughter of our prophet and the most beloved ti his heart among her sisters, she was called the mother of her father, the Catholics took that name and they are calling their daughters too with it, her in Argentina and in other countries like Brazil , there are a lot of shrines in the name of the black saint Fatima even in Italy we have these shrines , my mum had chosen for me that name and the Italians were not surprised because it was familiar for them , like Omar for example, Salim : do they call Omar for men too ? The mother: yes, I know some Italian in this name , Salim : you and your mother are having the most beloved name to our prophet Alayhi Assalat Wasalam , the mother: alhamdu lilah , I was not called an Italian name like Georgina or something alike , they all laughed , Francesca protested saying : does that mean that my name is ugly? Mother Fatima: no my love , I'm a Muslim and I love to be called a Muslim name , some names are more blessed because their remind us of those great people who are supposed to be our ideals , if you agree with me and adopt Islam as your salvation , I'll call you Aisha like my mum original name , Francesca smiling : ok, I love this name , from now on call me Aisha , they all loved again . Omar to Salim : tel me about the Christians and Jews , how are they living among you in peace without anybody touching them or hurting them ? Salim , islam since the first days of its message was accepting the existence of other religions , in Al Madina , the Hebrews were living in peace with Muslims til they choose to cheat and betray the Muslim that drove the Muslims to send them far , when the Islamic power extended to the world , the Christians , Hebrews , magus , remained living in peace til today , Omar: the church talks about the barbaric s Muslims when the church eliminated all Muslims , Hebrews even Christians of different sects like the Protestants and other and making with them horrible massacres and they are still saying that the church hold the message of fraternity and peace to the world! , they betrayed Jesus Christ in person, changing his message from mono-seism faith to a pagan religion that pray idols and statues and a human being, Marco: the Christians will tel you the same about Islam , that it was too affected by changes and alterations through its history, Salim : we have some outsiders effects that mixed with our traditions or rituals, but the basis of Islam since it's first dawn til today are still the same, the prophet and his sahibs were very much interested to keep all the main basis intact and safe, the Muslims and our scholars followed on their steps til today , Omar : what Salim mentioned is very true , the science of Hadith the Muslim initiated and developed is incomparable in all other religions that kept Islam out of major alterations and changes , while the church didn't take any steps in that direction, remember that the Christian declaration of the Christian belief was only declared after Nikia first assembly in 325 after Christ even they were arguing on the identity of the the saint spirit til the end of the fourth century and til today they don't have a common identification for the three personalities of god and their inner relationship, Michelle: this answer is enough to give Marco an answer to his suspect , in addition that the Bible's were more than eighty before, the church had chosen these four because they were more suitable for their belief not due to their authenticity beside the messages of that suspected personality; Saint Paul as they called him, Marco : if you suspect the pretending St. Paul , the Christian will suspect the authenticity of the prophet Mohammad as a real prophet! , Omar a lot of things prove the sincerity of our prophet Mohammad Salla Allah Alayhi wasalam , first of all his mentions in the Old Testament and in the Bible of John , second his life and sincerity and justice he was teaching , third if he was false , his religion would not spread in the world in that fast speed unprecedented by any other religion , fourth , his inability to read or to right and after that he received a book no Arabic could hematite ever and for ever , when the so called St. Paul didn't any proof of his true genuine as a true messenger of Jesus nor he had a true witness even the apostles didn't believe him and they argued and contradicted with him in the first assembly in Jerusalem including St. Peter and Barnabas , the new discovery of Barnabas Bible is another proof of St. Paul false identity even though the church negates its genuinely, Marco : how did you get all these info , Omar : we didn't leave the church and adopt Islam unless we made a very serious revision and study , in the old history of Christianity there were a great numbers of Christians who didn't follow the church s today commencements, read about the first patriarchy, oreganos, Ariosto and others of the great first Christians were negating most of today s beliefs . Marco : by the church way , I brought with me the messages of my aunty Rosalba, he went out then he came back with a small tiny box closed and knotted with a white ribbons, Marco: I never opened waiting for you to be the first to open it , the mother very exited took the box and removed the ribbons then opened to find a book with several letters , the book title was, The Bible of Barnabas , to their astonishing eyes , she gave the book to Omar , Omar very surprised , this is the book that we just have mentioned, Marco : may I take it first to take a look on it , the looked at Omar saying : let marco have it first , he still have some suspicions in his head to be cleared, Salim : I heard about it before , but never had read or seen , Mohammad : I'll make a copy of it if they pardon , Omar sure my brother after Marco takes his look you may take that copy . Francesca was listening and not interfering than she said: you had taken all the time preventing grandma telling us about her family and mother , the Mother Fatima smiled saying : the next sitting will be for girls and women, I'll tel you a lot of things . Salim and his brothers executed to leave , but the mother insisted on them to remain that night in Omar house , telling them tomorrow they have to go to the farm to take their first look and to see we're they are supposed to work and live . Francesca remained with her grandma insisting to sleep with her in the same room , the Mother Fatima took the messages of her sister and opened one of them to read. Rosalba message : My beloved only sister Fatima , the most beloved to my heart after my mother the Santa Aisha or the Santa Maria as father used to call mum or the Santa Mariam as mama loved to be called , I was living like a blind out of my selfishness and high ego , living with two saints women , but my eyes were closed with my conscience too , when clouds removed from my soul , I became a believer that mum was the never seen Santa in all the history of Italian and even the whole west, my feelings of superiority, my stupid selfishness, my mad attitudes were all broken and burnt to ashes and blown with winds , the day I was informed that you traveled to Argentina leaving me alone after mum and daddy s leaving, my rumors were too hard and killing my soul , fears grew up in my heart that I'm going to lose you as I lost before mum , I got hysterical and I went into the streets of Venice crying and yelling like an obsessed , they brought me home and collapsed two whole weeks suffering from a killing fever , then I run to Napoli to mum and daddy s graves praying , yelling , crying for forgiveness , our Santa mum loved us both more than any mother could love her daughters , but my madding selfishness made me exchange her love and your love with hates and rejection , I swore on mum grave that I'll kneel down your legs only to forgive me and I told Marco, your son to write to you and to tel you that the lost sister is back and I kept waiting for your tender and forgiveness, my husband died, my daughters got married and my sons too left with their wives to their business and tradings , nothing remained to me except you and our memories, but no answer came from your sides , today I'm living alone spending most of my time in mum s room or bedside her grave, I'm going to be insane if your mercy and tenders didn't come to my rescue , will you forgive, will your forget my sins ? , if not for my sake , for mum s who taught us to be loving and forgiving , for mum and daddy s memories , forgive please your lonely sister , I know your heart is very soft and forgiving and I know that I was the black goat in our house who cared only for her post and self ambitions or selfishness , when I left you before my mum s death, I felt a big hates and disgust towards you and towards that religion , you call Islam , I thought that it was the reason behind my mum great love to you, because you were always nearer to her , obeying all her words and orders when I was always stubborn and pretending that my false Christian feelings were more superiors , I was not even a true practitioner or a true Christian, it was only my envy and selfish , in my inner soul , I was knowing well how mum was loving all of us, me , you , dear brother Omar and daddy too , but my wish to have all her attention and affection, blinded my eyes , my soul and conscience, that religion that took her full attention , was my biggest enemy,, although I did not tel anybody about mum s big secret, it was a revenge between me and that religion, after your traveling, I woke up from my madding and I started to read and to check about what was hidden from me , what I did not try once to see or to know , my mum's neighbors told me about the herbs mum was using to cure them, I took that all to pharmacists, to chemists , they all told me that they were well known used herbs and nothing was unusual or magical about them , when I mentioned the various diseases mum was curing , they said that these herbs can't ever cure these diseases , the shining truth at lost exploded in my faith, my mum was not a witch , her life , her sincere worshiping to Allah , her tender and love to poor and her sympathy and affectionate treatment to others , all told me that mama was a saint not a wicked witch , my heart started to be filled in the true belief mum followed in all her life , and I started to believe deeply that those strange deeds my mum did , were true miracles Allah executed on her hands because of her white heart and faith , I swear to you that I saw for many times, white birds perching on her graves , and never seen on others , when I was staying in our house, a lot of women came asking the possibility of touching her belongings including her clothes or chair or whatever she used to touch , telling me that the whole neighborhood was believing in her sainthood and pureness, they were calling her " la Santa " , they were bringing candles to her grave , but apologized to remove them since mum never believed in these practices, I moved after that permanently to live in our parents house , after Omar traveling, always putting on me some of mums dressings, locking my self in her room , praying her prayers wearing one her left white body covers after that you had taken the rest , sleeping always with her dresses over my face , to see her in my dreams and at last I did , I saw her for several nights hugging us all together telling me that you are waiting for me , I'm not anymore that old fanatic Catholic especially after I read this book that you finds with these letters , will you forgive as mum promised me in my dream as mum did ? Waiting for your kind heart . Signature: your loving sister ; Rosalba , Mariam . The mother Fatima raised her hands to her face and she started to weep , Francesca approached her grandma, hugging her and she started to weep too with her . The next day the mother gathered all the women and the girls of her family in her house , Lucia , Anna Maria ; her daughters, Lucia and Marta , the wives of Omar and Michelle, Francesca and her mother , Sandra and her mother , they all started some fresh juices and some light sweets , no alcohol was present . The mother started her lecture : today we are gathering here for something very important in my life and your lives all , first of all I'm going to read to you all the message of my sister Rosalba, and this message could be an introduction to our meeting today , she gave the message to her daughter Lucia to read saying : darling read it loudly that everyone here listen and hear carefully my sister words , Lucia stared her reading, gradually, tears started to appear on the all faces and the eyes , some even wept , they all were surprised of Rosalba s stubbornness and hard head that made her leave her most beloved people than her return and bad regrets and suffering.

Mother Fatima: this message was supposed to come earlier, but it al last came, i want everyone of you to memorize this message in mind , memorize the spirit of this message not the words, she started to narrate to them her story with her sister and mother ,when her story reached an end, all was waiting to see what the real purpose of this meeting , she proceeded : you all know that you are my daughters, never in my life , I treated my children differently, the sons were always treated in equally with their sisters ,but the different physiology of males and females impose on us different methods and I never dealt with my daughters in law in a different manner I do with my sons neither with my sons in law, for me, all of me are equal , you are all my daughters and sons , I want you all to behave with each other's with love, passion, cooperation and understanding, with your husbands , daughters , sons , never leaving for Satan an open window or a door to come into your house , being a Muslim , my faith impose on me to call all my family, relatives, beloved , friends to know truth in our faith fearing that my day will come suddenly and I didn't deliver to you my religion and faith , Islam is not a mutual relationship between the creator and his slaves, we all are slaves for only one , our creator Allah, Islam a full integrated life concerning everything in our life, my obligation is to deliver to you this message praying to Allah to deliver in the most proper way, you obligation after that is judge your conscience and soul with the light shining from this message, who sees the truth and believe in it will be generously by Allah in the eternal life and who negates the sunshine will be paying for his disbelief , no true faith could be imposed by force, Allah had given the two options, to believe or not, when you believe your life and your actions will be adaptive to your faith , from now on I want you all to start thinking about your life and the everlasting life after , I wish that all my family to share the same faith, the same belief, Allah , the whole merciful, had spelled his generosity over my mother and later on me, my brother Omar , my daddy, my Michelle, my Amedeo and hopefully soon Lucia , my daughter with her family , who declared their full intention to join , all that is due to the blessing of my mother , that blessing that penetrated our life and souls and guided us pray only one god, the god of Mohammad , Moses , Ibrahim , Christ and all the creations , no son, no wife , no family, no relatives, only on Allah that all the creatures are submissive to his powers only , who wants to take that road with us should know that the way is not planted with roses and perfumes rather with problems and patience, she pointed Anna Maria : what about you daughter with your husband , Anna Maria : after a long marathon with my brothers , me and my husband are convinced now that Islam is the true and the only religion to all humanity and we declared yesterday our shahada and repeat it now in front of you all : I witness that there is god except Allah and I witness that Mohammad is his true slave and messenger, mother Fatima with bewildered and taken by surprise then she raised up hugging her daughter weeping out of happiness as joy , Lucia her sister too raised and hugged her sister saying : we decided before you two , but you accelerated your declaration before us and I join you now before mum and all saying : I witness that there is no god except Allah and I witness that Mohammad is his slave and messenger, the joy and happiness for mother Fatima became doubled with her two only daughters embracing Islam in the same day , then she pointed to Lucia , wife of Michelle: darling Lucia , you know from the first beginning how much I loved you , you were one of my favorites and always I took you and dealt with you like my Lucia and Anna , Lucia : you were always really like a mother even you gave me tender, love and caring more than my blood mother did , mother Fatima : you know honey that you could remain a wife to Michelle in your present situation on one condition , that you respect his choices and new faith as he respect your faith , I know you are mad with each other's and your love story is well known in all Napoli and our community , what I want from you is to just listen in calm and patience to Michelle, if you insist on insulting our prophet and religion I swear to you that I myself will not accept you to remain the wife of Michelle nor my daughter in law any more , something you don't know honey and I'm sure you don't , we are not like the Christians any more , they accept insulting god , Jesus ,the virgin anytime and then they go to church , in Islam , any direct insult to Allah , the prophet, means very severe punishment that reaches death , so I advice you to avoid that ., second if you don't want to believe it is your choice as I said but believe me you won't be together as before , Lucia was weeping silently in her seat , mother Fatima finished her words and kept silent til Lucia stopped her tears and looked up to see all faces we're watching her , she became all red in face and looked with pleading eyes to mother Fatima and said with a broken voice : I heard well the story of your sister Rosalba and I'm not a stupid to repeat her mistake, but mum Michelle is pushing too hard against me , I love you all , you are all now my real family and I don't have really any other family after my parents death , you mum my true mother now, you were always the tender blossom that took me to his tenderness when I lost my two pregnancies , you were always on my side against Michelle when we were arguing even if I was wrong , knowing that that wanted to let me know that I'm not alone after my parents departure and death , but Michelle does not give a breath , he continues to push hard , I didn't refuse most of what he says , but embracing Islam and leaving all my friends , all our community, our Italia , our church is not very easy to me , mother Fatima , all of us left everything behind and we embraced our mother way , Italia and Italians or your family won't save you in the day of judgement when Allah calls you asking : how do you worship another god knowing that I'm the only true god , if you believe that Allah is one and that Jesus is just a human being created with a miracle, you are just one step from declaring your Islam , if you believed in Islam , but are afraid to lose your friends and community, at least declare that to me , to your husband , to your family then other things will be easy , but insulting , cursing and blemishing isn't accepted in no rate absolutely, Lucia : I swear to you in front of all that you won't hear any such words from my lips again , yesterday I talked with Marco for a longtime and promised him too , just give time , I promise mum . The women left the room of mother Fatima, but she told Francesca and Sandra to remain there . The two girls sat down silent waiting for their grandmother to talk : mother Fatima to Sandra : I heard that you are after our new son ; Mohammad, Sandra blushing: I'm not after him grandma, it I like him , I see in him a true a a sincere type , a new specie of man I didn't see before , mother Fatima smiling : how old are you child to say that , how many men you knew or you met in your life ? who hears you thinks that are a full mature woman with heavy experiences on her back ! Sandra surprised: but I'm no more a teenager grandma , I'm nineteen years old, mother Fatima: nineteen or ninety , all I know that you have a zero experience with man as I know , don't talk about new or old type and species, my grandchild never runs after a man who doesn't love her or who doesn't care about her , remember child these people are not like napolitani or Spanish boys you knew before , these people don't mix with girls or woman more than their sisters , mothers , aunties and wives , if keep running after him without a serous approach from his side is a big shame to me , to you , to our family , Sandra : I promise to settle down things with him , if he is not interested s to have a serious relationship, I promise you to quite , the mother then turned to Francesca : and what about you with Wehbe , Francesca all blushing red : me nothing grandma, all that we have a mere brother and sister relationship, mother: do you meet in private ? Francesca: no we don't , Salim his big brother and dad agreed on our relationship on condition that we don't meet in a privacy and we promised to , mother Fatima: good , you may leave now I have things to discuss with Sandra s mother . Sandra s mother was the daughter of Rosalba, mother Fatima s sister , she came to her aunty room and her aunty was very delighted to have her sisters s daughter in private , mother s Fatima apologized to her that her mother personal message was read before all of them saying : I know that was not polite , but I had been obliged to give you a real example how a human being could lead himself to his self destruction , if Allah don't interfere in the last moment, she could be lost by now , Paula: I know how mum had been always hard in her judgement on others , I know well your real and true intention and your deep love to her , , but was always like that stubborn and proud , even her big love to us was always self oriented , we were hers and only hers , we could not belong to others , she was loving , tender , passionate, but in that direction , but she all changed after you leaving Italy , she became distracted, broken to the earth , closing on herself for long times even for weeks sometimes she refused to leave our house or to meet visitors or friends pretending always of headaches, her tears became a daily visitors to her eyes , her nerves were like glasses very easy to break , she was turned up down 180 degrees , only when she left us to Napoli for the first time , she remained there for a month , when returned, she was somehow better than before , calmer and more absent of mind , she were silent more , looking at the heavens she was cursing few month before and for the first time she started to mention her family , her loving mother , her loving father and her beloved sister , she started regularly to visit Napoli for long times , weeks , months, til the day daddy passed away , she could not support staying any more in Venice and told us that she is leaving for good to live in Napoli in her parents house , in that time met Marco and for the first time was introduced to my cousin that I didn't meet before , when he visited us in Venice we became too much happy and very close friends , mother Fatima: I'll do my best to have her here in my side , to live together the rest of our life and to pray Allah to praise and to bless our mum and dad s souls .