The Flame Tree by Richard Lewis Read Free Book Online Page B

pronounced it “Core-ann.”
    Mr. Suherman arched his eyebrows. “Do you know what is in the Qur’an, Robert? Quote me a verse. Arabic is best, but an English translation is fine.”
    Slobert shifted uneasily. “Don’t know any.”
    “Don’t argue beliefs out of ignorance, Robert, for that surely leads to enmity.”
    Slobert colored, staring down at his hands.
    Mr. Suherman said, “Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim nation. To understand its various cultures, most of which are Islamic, it is necessary to understand Islam, both the religion and the history of it. And the beginning of Islam is actually recorded in the Bible.” He handed Slobert the Bible and asked him to read Genesis 16. Slobert reluctantly did so, the story of Sarah and Abraham, how Sarah had borne Abraham no children and so gave her maidservant Hagar to him to build a family. Hagar became pregnant, and Sarah grew jealous, despite the fact that this had been her plan. Hagar was afraid of Sarah, but God reassured her of His will. Hagar bore a son whom Abraham named Ishmael.
    “And now Genesis 21,” Mr. Suherman said. Slobert dutifully continued, reading aloud the story of how Sarah finally conceived and bore her own son, Isaac, when Abraham was one hundred years old. She then demanded that Abraham send away the slave woman Hagar and her fourteen-year-old son, Ishmael. Abraham did so. When Ishmael was near death in the desert, God heard Hagar’s and Ishmael’s cries and rescued them, making a promise.
    “Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.’” Mr. Suherman repeated the verse that Slobert had read. “And that nation is, through the blessed prophet Muhammad, the great nation of Islam.”
    “Sheesh,” Slobert muttered.
    Mr. Suherman ignored him. For the rest of the period he presented the pre-Muhammad history of the Arab peoples, a bunch of idolatrous, feuding tribes.
    Isaac listened with intense interest. Ishmael and Isaac. Ismail and Isak. Of course he’d been aware of the coincidence, but that was all it was. Coincidence. But now, jeez, it was like he and Ismail were the Bible story come to life!
    Slobert, making a show of being bored, sprawled in his chair. He sneered at Isaac’s absorbed attention. “Teacher’s pet,” he whispered.
    When the bell rang, Mr. Suherman said, “Tomorrow, the birth and life of the blessed prophet Muhammad.”
    Isaac lingered to ask Mr. Suherman if he’d gone to see Ismail’s parents. Isaac hadn’t had the chance to ask earlier during his Esperanto lesson, for his teacher had been summoned out of the room by Miss Augusta to help her plan next semester’s curriculum. Mr. Suherman told Isaac now that not only had he visited the Trisnos, but Ismail was already back home.
    Isaac skipped out into the hallway, hugely relieved. Slobert, lounging beyond the doors, said to the others, “Are we in an Islam class now? Maybe Miss Augusta should know about this.”
    Isaac said, “Hey, Slob, Mr. Suherman is right, we really shouldn’t be ignorant. After all, we live in a Muslim country.”
    “Who’s ignorant?” Slobert shot back. “Who’s stupid enough to play down by the river at sunset with his good Mussie friend and get all bit up by malarial Mussie mosquitoes? Hey, maybe instead of getting malaria, you’ll come down with a good case of Islam.”
     
    After school that afternoon Isaac’s parents summoned him to the study at the house. His father, face like granite, held out the front page of the day’s Jakarta Post . Isaac grew slightly faint because onthe front page was a photograph of him with his head tilted sideways, chin thrust upward, a scowl on his face, exchanging glares with the square-faced police lieutenant. He glanced away, at the short gray safe in the corner of the room, wishing he were inside it.
    His mom said, “I thought we had an understanding, Isaac. Can you tell me what that understanding is?”
    Isaac lifted his gaze from the safe