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Welcome to Afghanistan, bastion of liberty, where a man is guaranteed free religious expression, provided only that he is certifiably insane.
Here we have the unfortunate case of Abdul Rahman, who faces execution on charges of apostasy. Rahman broke religious law by converting from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago, somehow managing to fly below radar for the duration of that time, until he was finally discovered in possession of a Bible.
The suspect is armed with a Bible. Repeat: Bible. Swarm!
His arrest and brief incarceration are met with shocked outrage in parts of the world, notably including conservative America, where all of a sudden even George Bush brand certainty isn’t so reassuring. Could this be happening? A Christian on trial in the new, democratized Middle East?
Twenty-four hour news networks keep solemn vigil as the events unfold. President Karzai enters the scene as a man torn, faced with an awful choice: submit to the will of the people, or submit to the will of the sponsors. Police stand guard as protesters chant in the streets. Muslim clerics call for Rahman’s blood. His conversion is thought by some to be part of a larger conspiracy, possibly plotted by the West or the Jews. Diplomats look for ways to avoid a crisis. And in the courthouse, above the frenzy, chief presiding judge Ansarullah Mawlavi Zada makes his proclamation to the press: “We have constitution and law here,” he says. “Nobody has the right to put pressure on us.”
The situation is nearing its boiling point. Rahman’s life hangs in the balance.
But suddenly, as the sun rises over Kabul on Monday morning, the tension is released, and the world realizes that Rahman’s entire struggle was just a big moot point. Thankfully, it turns out the guy’s a complete nutcase, and nutcases are unfit for trial.
The End.
But as the credits begin to roll, the audience refuses to stand, and it reminds you of that time you paid nine bucks to sit through “Vanilla Sky.” There is something unsettling about the resolution, something that remains patently unresolved. It’s like watching a street magician do a card trick poorly. Nobody is fooled, but you clap softly because you feel it’s expected.
Following his dismissal, Abdul Rahman sits quietly in an unspecified – but surely fortified – location, while chants rise like smoke from the crowded streets: “Death to Bush!” they scream, “Death to Christians!” It’s just another day in democracy.
Even in the darkest of Rahman’s 72 or so hours of fame, the poor, unwitting, feeble-minded apostate had reason to believe that he might keep his head. Across the sea, in America, there was a distinct sense that ol’ Abdul would be okay after all, that maybe his life was just a little too symbolic to duck a happy ending. But how happy is it? And is it the end?
Every week it seems the divide between East and West becomes a little more pronounced, as if the very fabric of the earth is in the process of tearing, and we realize how little we understand it. We are finding that the Middle East is not just a different region, or a different culture, but rather an entirely different world. In many ways it’s as foreign to us as Lisa Simpson’s Rand McNally, where “they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people.” It’s a world that gets rocked every single day, sometimes by bombs, sometimes by books, and at least once by a Danish comic strip.
We don’t understand, and unfortunately, neither does our leadership.
This year will mark the fifth anniversary of 9-11, the fifth year of the War on Terror, the fifth year of America’s great project, democratizing the Arab. We have learned now that it’s not as easy as they thought it would be. Neither is it as cheap, as quick, or as successful. At this point the fanfare, banners, slogans and dismissive comments seem a little ridiculous, and the Bush administration has no choice but to look upon the monster it has created, and to concede that it never really had any idea what it was getting into.
It has been reported that Abdul Rahman has now left Afghanistan and has been granted asylum in Italy. This is fortunate, because if he was found in the streets of Kabul, demonstrators have vowed to kill him. But if his new home doesn’t suit, or if he finds himself pining for the motherland, it might just be best to return to his country. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Afghanistan’s caves, it’s that people who hide in them are pretty damn hard to find. And who knows, if Rahman lays low for a while, maybe his pursuers will get distracted elsewhere. Iraq?
Eric Miller is a graduate student in the English Department.
