Birthright by Alan Gold & Mike Jones

Author:Alan Gold & Mike Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

The Home of the Ninth Imam, Baghdad

820 C.E.

UNLIKE THAT OF the caliph, the home of Muhammad al-Jawad, the person identified by Hadir and known as the ninth imam in the Shi’ite faith, was unassuming and humble. As Zakki stood outside the house, his stomach in knots of hesitation, he reminded himself what was at stake. There was no mistake in Hadir’s threat to Zakki’s family. Equally, Zakki was aware how precarious it was to be a stranger in this city, even an invited one, if he was caught up in political infighting. It was an unwritten rule of the people that guests were welcomed and accorded respect, provided they remained guests and didn’t interfere in the activities of the land.

Zakki had told himself that he was simply a messenger and the purpose of preventing civil war was a noble one. The murder of the imam would be an assassination that might trigger untold deaths, deaths he might now prevent with a warning.

The imam he had come to visit had quite a reputation, though he was only nine years of age. The young theologian’s brilliance at answering even the most searching questions demanded of him by other spiritual leaders had been impressive. He had been interrogated in an effort to disprove his claim to be the next imam, and his responses had shown his followers that he was worthy of the role placed on his young shoulders by the death of his predecessor, the imam Ali al-Reza.

It was these thoughts that overcame his fears as Zakki walked toward the porch of the home and knocked on the ornately carved latticed front door. Islamic architecture and carvings were a wonder to behold, strong but light as a feather, and the scholar in Zakki had him examining the design with his fingertips as he waited.

The door was soon opened by a middle-aged woman who looked searchingly at Zakki, quickly asking who he was and what he wanted.

“I am a scholar of the House of Wisdom. I wish to speak with he who is called the imam, Muhammad al-Jawad. My name is Zakki, son of Jacob, a family of doctors from Jerusalem.”

“I am Sabika, the imam’s mother. Why do you seek my son?”

“I have things of great importance that I am compelled to discuss with him.”

“My son is with the caliph. You cannot speak to him. But you may speak to the imam’s uncle. His name is Da’oud.”

Zakki agreed. So long as he could talk to just one member of the family and give the warning he was charged to deliver by Hadir, he might yet see his task complete and the threat to his family lifted.

Sabika invited him inside the home. It was comfortably furnished but far from ostentatious. Yet he had been told by Hadir that the imam received the most important visitors from throughout the world, who came to seek guidance and hoped to make treaties and agreements. To Zakki, this home did not seem suitable for such important meetings.

Seeing the

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