Empires of Faith

Chapter 7: Parting Words

23 Sha'baan, 1663

Ishaq and Gabriel stood outside the wooden door. Ishaq looked up to the sky, seeing that there remained only a red glow from the sun. To him, it meant that it was time for the 4th prayer of the day, Maghrib. To Gabriel, it meant that he his last night with his family for weeks was just beginning, and he needed to get home. Before then, however, he would share one last conversation with Ishaq.

"As the day becomes night or the night becomes the day, one must truly must ponder at the miracles of God," Ishaq spoke.

"What do you mean by this?" Gabriel asked.

"He merges Night into Day, and He merges Day into Night; and He has full knowledge of the secrets of (all) hearts," Ishaq replied, quoting an ayah from the Quran. "Were He to have made night and day suddenly shift in time, would we not be in loss? Wouldn't it be a stressful thing for us if we were suddenly jerked into night, and similarly into day? But God has made it a merging, such that it happens subtly and gradually."

"You seem to be quite thoughtful of these subtle wisdoms, my friend. How is it that you came to think in this way?"

"My deen is all that I have in this world. What I have spoken to you is not merely my own speech, rather I mentioned to you one of the Signs of God."

"Deen? That's religion right?"

"It's an acceptable equivalent word for this language yes."

"And just how did you learn religion my friend, are you not a wanderer, orphaned at birth? Who taught you these things?"

"I sought the truth and God is ever ready to Guide those in search of Guidance. This Kwaade man, he most certainly has the people led astray. It is the natural fitrah* of mankind to believe in God. We are born with an instinctive belief in Him, even if we do not know fully about Him."

"That's an interesting way to think."

"I tell you of all this because you seem to be a man of good judgment, unlike your companion Juan."

"I only do my best to seek God's favor. As for Juan, I don't know what to tell you about him. I am just a citizen; I have no authority over him and his sins are upon him. The people tell me I should take command, but I do not think that that will be my best course of action. For now, I am content with whatever God would have me do. I remind myself that Jesus didn't seek to just rule over mankind and seize power for himself, so what right have I for it?"

"So long as you continue on the path of good morality and seek Guidance upon truth, the answers will all come to you. Just remember that and the straight path may be shown to you."

"I will pray for that."

"Yes, and speaking of praying, I really must leave now to pray; I do not want to run out of time."

"Ay, si. Actually, if it is no bother to you, I would like to join you in that. If we are going to be fighting together, I would like to understand my comrades better."

"It is fine by me. In non-Muslim lands I must really be cautious during my prayer, lest I get assaulted or distracted from my prayer. If you would stand guard over me it would be most appreciated."

"Excelente. Where shall we go?"

"Follow me," Ishaq said, walking quickly. Gabriel followed after him until they reached to a stony path which abruptly ended at a cliff. Ishaq and Gabriel descended down the short wall of the cliff and arrived at the old site of the Manzanares River. Having once been a great river of 52 miles, the Manzanares was now reduced to a few scattered little pools of water with little vegetation growing around it and no animals. In these times, the river was no longer the valued resource it had once been. Instead its waters had been mostly used up or contaminated by strange chemicals. Ishaq and Gabriel were fortunate to be at one of cleaner locations.