Alina Kanaan

Chapter 11

Women impure are for men impure, and men impure for women impure and women of purity are for men of purity, and men of purity are for women of purity: these are not affected by what people say: for them there is forgiveness and a provision honorable. (Quran 24:26)

I'm in a desert walking down the sand dunes. I see an oasis near. I feel so thirsty, so I quicken my pace.

Hussein appears next to me. I'm startled since I didn't see him coming.

We're almost near the oasis, but a man gets in front of us. He's the Israeli soldier who shot my brother. He takes out his gun and points it at Hussein, but I get in front of him. The bullet hits me. I'm starting to fall down but-

I wake up. I sit up in my bed. It's still dark. I have no idea what time it is.

I check my phone and I see that it's three a.m. I also see that Aman texted me a bunch of times and so did Francisco.

"Mera pyara, I love you. I feel guilty. I'm sorry that I made you do that tonight. We should've married before that. Please forgive me." Aman texted an hour ago.

"Alina, please FaceTime me as soon as you get up." Francisco texted twenty minutes ago. I decide to FaceTime since his sounds more urgent. I can think of what to say to Aman later.

I go to the bathroom and FaceTime Francisco. This is becoming a routine for me.

He answers right away as if he were waiting for me to wake up.

"Have you seen the news?!" he asks in a serious tone. My smile fades away.

"No, why?" I ask.

"Look." he says. He puts the camera on his computer. It's a headline on Yahoo about me.

"Alina Kanaan Defends Herself and Islam on National TV" the headline says. I instantly smile, but something's wrong. I know because Francisco is very serious.

"I'm sending you the article link." he says. I get out my laptop and go back to the bathroom. I click on the link he just sent me through Facebook. I begin to read the article.

"Alina Kanaan defended herself and Islam on Fox News earlier tonight. She had very good points and proved that Islam is a good religion, but not everyone is happy with that. Watch the video below to see what others think of what she's said." the article says.

"Have you seen the video?" I ask Francisco.

"Yes, I've watched it already and that's why I can't sleep." he says.

"Should I watch it?" I ask him.

"I think you should."

I take a deep breath before I watch the video. I prepare myself for all of the possible things that could happen. I press play.

"Alina Kanaan, the seventeen year old American Idol star, has appeared on Fox News earlier tonight," the video shows pictures of me from American Idol. "She defended herself and Islam," it plays a clip from my segment on Fox News. "She has gotten praise for it," It shows some posts on Twitter of people saying that I'm a great singer and speaker and that they're happy that I defended Islam. "However, she has also gotten hate for it," It shows some hateful Twitter posts.

One of them says "Alina has to go back to her country. We don't want a terrorist on American TV." Another says "How can she possibly justify the cruel things that Muslims have done to people? What if she ends up brainwashing us to follow Sharia and becoming jihadists. America can't have people like her here. We'll all be dead if we don't get her out of here." I read the others, but my vision is blurred from the tears forming in my eyes. The first one I could take, but that second post was horrible.