Two months after the death of Bantu and Reggae's acceptance of Islam, Jungle and Reggae, now newly nicknamed Razor after his shahada, met again in Mobile, Alabama. This time, when Jungle came out of the airport, it wasn't unseasonably warm. It was quite cold, and the trees were now bare. Again, he was arriving in the morning time, about ten o'clock, but it was as cold as it would be at six o'clock. It was overcast and the pilot had already informed all of the plane passengers that it would remain so throughout the day. Razor and Max were waiting at the baggage claim because it was too cold to even sit and wait in his car like he preferred.

When Jungle showed up to get his bag, they saw him first and Razor went to him from behind and then bumped into him lightly. "I bet you gonna watch where I'm going next time!" he said to Jungle rudely.

"Or what? You want to do something, Tarzan-chaser?" Jungle challenged back, looking Razor up and down. The people close by began to move away nervously from the two Black men obviously having what a cartoonist had referred to as a 'nigga moment'.

"I don't see nothin' here but space and opportunity, you country-behind, maple syrup eating ex-slave!" answered Razor, to which Max laughed.

"You ain't said nothin' but a word, you coconut-eatin', vine-swinging, Tarzan-chasing, Shaka Zulu-talking, jerk chicken-eatin' jigaboo."

"My god! If that's what you say about each other, what do you say about us?" said a young Caucasian man close by. They glanced at him but didn't answer him.

"Let's close this space and opportunity, then," declared Razor just before he quickly closed in on Jungle and embraced him. Max leaned in and hugged Jungle, too. "No mattah what dem a say, always good fi see you again! Hamdulillah!" Razor said to Jungle.

"You just had some jerk chicken for real, didn't you?" teased Jungle again. "I'm just playin', man. Good to see you again, too. Man, dis really looks good on you!" he remarked at Razor's full beard coming in. He had never thought Razor could grow one so full. All he could raise was a goatee. "I guess that halal jerk chicken finally did the trick, huh?"

They went back to Max's place, where most of Razor's stuff was packed, too. Jungle's parents were at the apartment, on the same balcony on which Max and Razor had first discussed Bantu with Jungle. "Well, look what the plane brought in!" said his mom.

"Plane?!" said his dad. "I was looking for the nigga to sky-dive and make a grand entrance!" he said, coming off the balcony inside to hug his son. They had left the door open, and the apartment was freezing cold because of it. Mom wasn't wearing a jacket, just a sweater. She was the one of the pair who loved cold weather and snow. Dad was tolerating it to humor her, but Jungle's first thought was She's out of her mind! No wonder I was glad to move away from home!

"Sky-dive in this cold? Who I look like? Mom?!" he said, hugging them.

"So, is there anything that I can say to stop you from leaving?" Dad asked ten minutes later as they sat around Max's coffee table. He and Mom were afraid of Jungle going and getting himself in trouble in a foreign country where no one could help him. They didn't expect Razor to be able to help much.

"No, but I need to know something. Will you come and visit often? This way I know what kind of property to look for."

"I will," said Dad, "but I'm not putting your mom in that kind of danger."

"What danger?" asked Reggae.

"Isn't there a crime problem there?" asked Mom.

"There is in about four bad neighborhoods in Kingston. The rest of the country has low crime."

"I heard about that girl who got kidnapped and they still haven't found her, though," said Mom.

"That was Aruba."

"No, I'm talking about another girl in Jamaica, not Aruba. This was before all that. She still hasn't been found. Did you know about that?"

"Back in the nineties? Yeah, that's when the police cracked down. That's why crime stopped in most of the capital city."

"Son, you're grown, but we really wish you wouldn't go into some land you don't have any knowledge of like this. Why are you even going?"

"I really need the climate for my health, mom. One more chest cold and my lungs might close completely on me. I get sicker by the year, mom."

"What you do plan to do for a living there?"

"The income is already set up, I bought a property and I'm renting it. I make enough to buy a property in Jamaica in a year to rent out there, too."

"So you just got it all figured out, huh?" said Dad, sarcastically.

"As much as can be figured out. I picked Jamaica to be close to here so I wouldn't be so far from you. Jamaica has hurricanes and they even get cool weather some days, so I could change my mind now and move to Trinidad or Barbados instead. Now that's a long trip for you to make and a more expensive trip for me. So is it gonna be Jamaica or is it gonna be further away?" Jungle retorted. This was a bluff, he was set on Jamaica for at least the immediate future. He had even taught himself much of the history of Jamaica over the past two months in preparation. He'd hate to go to Barbados with a Jamaican comrade with the grudge between the two nationalities. But Mom and Dad didn't know this.

"If I had known that, I'd have just said go to Arizona. Why not do that? Too dry?"

"Yeah, I was encouraged to go close to a coast line and somewhere neither too hot or too cold. He said south Florida, but then I'd have to go north during the summers again and I can't leave like that every year."

"So what if it gets worse and you need medical treatment but you can't get it there?" his mom asked.

"Then I come back for the treatment and then go back to Jamaica. I can play 'what if' forever, but all of those questions are applicable to here, too. What if I stay and then the pollution and weather finish me off? What if I become unable to work every winter because of it? What if I become unable to travel during the winter? What if a snow storm knocks out the heat for hours and hours and I can't survive it? I'm not staying in America, period. Come with me to live or come visit me when you can. I'll come see you during the springs and falls. But I'm not living in the US again for a while."

That was that. It was final. Jungle was going whether they liked it or not. They went and ate a brunch with his parents one last time, then the three guys drove off in Max's car with Jungle and Razor's bags in it. From Miami, they caught the next morning's flight to Kingston on Air Jamaica and they watched what would be their last sunrise in the US from the plane window. They had prayed fajr at the airport gate, to the dismay of some of the tourists about to board the flight. But as there were few tourists for such an early flight, and Kingston wasn't the port of entry for tourists, anyway, the bulk of the passengers were Jamaicans visiting or returning. They were amazed, but not dismayed at the sight of the two Muslims praying at the gate. A couple even asked them about it politely. "Our son is Muslim, too. He went to London to study and it seems like every time a kid goes to London he comes back a Muslim. But he hasn't told us much about it because it costs a lot to call back and forth."

"What would you like to know?" asked Razor.

"What does it really mean when someone says they're Muslim? What changes does it imply?" asked the husband.

"That the Shariah is the right way to live. And self-discipline brings happiness. Everything has a middle path and a balance, but not everything is compromisable. Extreme ting dem like celibacy or runnin' too much lovahs an' tings nuh make no sense. Marriage de way fi deal wit human nature. Honest work de way fi get bread. Islam means yuh give people dem deir rights and you don't let no one take yuh rights from yuh. But it also means you don't count other ways as correct in God's eyes."

"So it's about fairness and balance but you don't believe Christians and Jews go to heaven, then?"

"Not when the news of Islam and Muhammad reaches them first," answered Jungle. "But many who get the message decide it's true and accept it."

"Then why isn't America a Muslim country and they know about Islam here?"

Razor looked at Jungle, who answered, "Because you can't impress a Roman with truth alone, you also have to impress him with power, might, strength, wealth. Right now America is what Rome was. Same thing applies. I was talking about normal people when I said 'many who get the message'. As an American, I know Americans aren't normal."

As the sun rose over Miami, the Air Jamaica flight from Kingston arrived at the Miami airport and the passengers emptied the plane. Not long after, all seats were called to board the plane and they got on. When it pulled away from the gate, Razor looked at Jungle and raised his eyebrows, not with a nervousness, but with a touch of uncertainty. Razor didn't look at all like the man who had once killed someone very quickly and resolutely. "What you a tink 'bout right now?" Jungle asked him. What are you thinking about right now?

"We're going back home, man! I've been away for eleven years and we're going back, finally. I've always wanted to come back and visit. Then I wanted to come back and live. Never thought I'd be coming back so soon, or as a Muslim. We always hope, but we never know what to expect even when we get what we want."

"I understand all of that, but what do you mean we're going back home? I'm a foreigner in Jamaica. I've never been there before. Never."

"But nuff speakie spokie yuh know arreddy." But you know enough Jamaican English already. "And just like you looked out for me when we were small boys and I had just got there, I'll now look out for you as men when we get there. Not to brag, but Jamaicans will receive you better than what I got. You're gonna be like a Jamaican as far as we'll be concerned because you're with me, not some tourist. Once you're fluent in patois you won't be any different and you won't be treated different. Anyway, Jamaica de closest to Africa you might evah get inna yuh life." Jungle nodded in understanding as they both looked out of Razor's window at the last of America they might ever see.

"Yeah, man. I don't have any second thoughts about going, I just didn't want to sound too presumptuous. I understand they can deport me at any time just like America be deportin' Jamaicans for traffic tickets. I just meant to sound realistic, you know?" The sun was still low over the horizon, which Jungle was noticing at the same time he was talking. About then, the plane got to the runway from which they would take off.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said the pilot. "We have been cleared for take-off to Kingston, Jamaica. Please buckle all seat belts if you haven't done so already and..." he continued on after which the flight attendants began their safety instructions for the crew. When they finally took off, Jungle muttered a du'a after which Razor repeated, both saying it in Arabic and English to ask Allah for safety during and after the trip. At this point, Jungle felt just as happy as Razor about going 'back home', though he knew nothing of Jamaica first-hand. And when Razor woke Jungle from his nap two hours later, Jungle was really excited to see the island outside of the window coming closer. "To your left we can see the Blue Mountains," explained the captain over the intercom. "And on your right straight down is the shipwrecked vessel Pilar Del Caribe." But all Jungle and Razor could think about was their new beginning. Despite the fact that one was returning and the other was entering for the first time, they actually felt similarly about it. As the plane lowered over Kingston, they were both amazed at the villas on the mountainsides as well as the shanties with tin roofs in the flatter part of the city. They appeared to be continuing past the city into the ocean, but in reality the airport was on an island a bit away from the city. To Jungle, it was like the feeling he had when descending on Mobile's airport, amplified.

Razor was waved through customs since he only had one luggage bag, but his carry-on was full of American dollars, which the Jamaican customs officials didn't know about. Jungle was pulled aside for an interview. He was not a deportee, but it wasn't necessary for him to be interviewed. "We just want to ask you a few things," said Inspector Hammond very politely. "What brings you to Jamaica? Do you have family here?"

"A friend here, but not family."

"So you have said on your immigration form that you intend to live in Jamaica, but you have no residency visa and you have no job here. Are you aware of the requirements to live here?"

"Me know seh retired Yankee can live here if we nuh try and compete wit Jamaican dem fuh job," Jungle answered in the local English, though this was a formal occasion for which formal English was appropriate. "I plan to apply for the residency here because there was no Jamaican consulate office in Nashville to help me with that. The one in Miami was no help. They thought I was playing, I guess."

"We certainly don't mind foreigners that want to live here, but I would like to know why you chose Jamaica and how you will live here. You said the word retired and I'd like you to please explain that since you're only 29 according to this form here."

"Well, sir. Me bought a property back inna de US, and the rent me collect is a start. From dair, me a invest inna Spanish-language schools here inna Jamaica so me can earn and help without being a competition the law not allow here. Also, me own a vehicle inna de US dat certain large business dem haffi pay me for since dem use it for advertisin' and tings. What me a say is dat I can earn from aforeign widout laboring right here."

"Seem like you a Jamaican man, den. If not for your accent I'd tink seh you a real yardie. Oo teach yuh de patois, Mr. Sharp?"

"Mi friend dat come back wit me pon de flight here. Ryan Telfrey."

"Is that how you came to pick Jamaica to live in?"

"That and health reasons. Doctor suggested I live in a climate like this and that's all the excuse I needed to pick here. I know about Jamaican history and I want to know the place that produced Sam Sharpe and Marcus Garvey and others." Hammond raised his eyebrows as he heard this from him. "Ryan tell me pon de flight dat Jamaica as close to Africa as I might ever get."

"Very well, den, man. We normally fingerprint everyone that immigrates here, but don't worry about dat right now. Let me just tell you a few things that help foreigners to know. You must apply within 3 months of today for residency here. Also, you cannot own a gun of any kind. Next ting, you cyan't smoke de ganja here in Jamaica. You might have heard dat it's legal here but it's not at all. You will go to jail if you're caught with it and the American embassy cyan't bail you out. If you can obey our laws, den welcome to Jamaica and I wish you de best." With this, Inspector Hammond handed him his passport back and shook his hand. This was it. Jungle had entered his new country. He left the office and re-joined Razor who was waiting at the currency exchange.

It was only becoming 9:00 am when they stepped out of the airport building and into the pleasant climate of a tropical morning. It was pleasantly cool in the shade and warming up in the increasing sunlight. Jungle had never felt that warm that time of year, even though it wasn't hot yet at only 9 in the morning. Jungle met Razor's cousin who had come to pick them up in his jeep. "Welcome, suh. I really hope you like Jamaica, Mr. Sharpe," said Frank warmly.

"You kidding? I love it already! This clean air y'all got. I think my sinuses just cleared up for real!"

"Wait till we get into the city itself, then. You'll start coughing soon enough," he joked. "I hope Ryan told you it's a real city here. But no worries, man. Where we live is all right, you won't suffocate."

As Frank drove them on the narrow strip to the mainland, Jungle took in the sight of the Blue Mountains close by and just marvelled at their beauty. He was taken aback by it all. But he didn't expect to be going to the foothills of them right away. Frank took them to Island Grill in a place called Twin Gates Plaza, where Jungle amused them by getting the kingfish and then putting some jerk sauce on it, which wasn't done commonly by Jamaicans. Razor and Frank laughed at him heartily, but not viciously. Good-naturedly, Frank, clapped Jungle's shoulder. "You must not have eaten much Jamaican cuisine back aforeign."

"You know seh Razor cyan't cook," he teased back, laughing at himself. "Me just a yankee bwoy 'im nevah teach no betta." I'm just a yankee he never taught any better.

"Unu call him Razor now?" Unu was the plural word for you.

"Yes, suh. 'Im call me Jungle, too."

"Yuh go turn him into a yardie if yuh not careful... Razor," Frank said to Razor, emphasizing his nickname to tease him about it.

"Not from dat. Yankee bwoy dem always have nickname, like we. You dunno seh everyting nuh start hyah inna yard?" Don't you know everything didn't get started here in Jamaica?

After the meal, for which Frank wouldn't even let them see the bill, they took off again, this time Frank asking Jungle, "Yuh wan see Trenchtown before we get to the house?" They were driving by what Jungle could tell was a poor area, though he had not a clue if it was dangerous or not.

"No, I'm not interested. If I can't have a gun I don't want to go where someone else does."

"F__ dat! Mi have a gun wit me so no worries. No one gwan hurt you. We'll just see de place, you get a look at it, den we go home." He was turning into it as he said this, so objections would have made little difference.

"Yuh have a gun for what?" asked Razor sternly. "Why yuh become a gunman and Uncle Don make nuff money for de family?"

"Jus have it for protection, man. Cool now!"

"You nuh live inna Trenchtown so why you haffi go?! Stay outta bad area and you nuh need nuh gun for protection!" Razor protested.

"All right, Razor. But tell me. Dis have sometin' tuh do wit you tellin' Uncle Ron not to have liquor when you come back?"

"Of course!" Razor answered boldly. "Muslim man nah need fi drink and nuh need fi go a bad area for no reason!"

"You're Muslim?"

"Yeah, dat's why we come back! Uncle Don nah tell you dis arreddy?" The fact that Razor's Uncle hadn't told anyone meant that either Razor's parents hadn't told Don or that Don had withheld it from Frank. Either way, someone might have been afraid to make waves, which forecasted a cold reception to Islam to Jungle. It came out in conversation that while Jamaicans weren't hostile to Islam, they were talking about a Jamaican imam who had been deported from the US a few months earlier. He had been in New York and had been convicted of hate crimes and inciting sedition, for which he was deported.

It was further explained at the Telfrey house, which was in a nice neighborhood at the foot hills of the Blue Mountains. Razor's parents had retired back home 3 years earlier, and were obviously benefiting from their perpetual tropical vacation. They looked younger than when they had left Mobile. Despite the breakfast they'd had at Island Grill, there was more food waiting for them so they had to eat more. Don was there with his wife and other child, a daughter. As they ate dessert afterwards, Norman Telfrey explained to his brother-in-law Don why there was no liquor served. "See, my son became Muslim in America about 2 months back. Jungle here has been one for a few years, I think. I didn't tell you because I wanted you to find out in front of him and not be worried about what it means waiting on him to get back."

"Well, so what does it mean? Did you follow your friend here or was it your own decision?"

"Mine," said Razor quickly and boldly, looking into his uncle's eyes. "He didn't know I was going to accept Islam for myself when I did it. He was surprised, not me."

"What convinced you, then? Him?"

"Another Muslim friend of ours," said Razor regarding Bantu whom he had killed just before his shahada to protect Jungle. Jungle didn't expect Razor to even mention him, much less describe his connection to his conversion.

"Is that Bantu?" asked Janet, Razor's mom. "Why didn't he come with you two? Isn't he Muslim as well?"

Jungle answered so that Razor wouldn't have to say anything regarding who he had killed. "Bantu got vex when 'im realize I see America as a wicked country, so 'im tell me seh he plan to go and inform pon me. But I nevah planned or did any crimes. He must have informed like he said because we nevah see him again after dat. But no police nevah come for me."

"Him a bloodclot Judas!" swore Razor, forgetting he wasn't supposed to curse in any dialect. "To tell yuh de truth, he wasn't a Muslim at all. Yuh cyan't go and lie to Babylon on anudda Muslim because yuh tink seh him a show you up." You can't go and lie to the false-god authorities on another Muslim because you think he'll expose your folly. "Me glad him missing for what him do to Jungle here. When I saw how he couldn't accept the truth from Jungle because it was too hard for his weak ras, me know seh it de truth! A dat how me become a Muslim!"

"You know seh de whole island's talkin' about Sheikh Umar Cooper right now since he got back from New York?" said Don. "People have become Muslim since then left and right. Church preacherman dem a get vex!"

"Nuff people dem become Muslim?" asked Razor.

"You tell us!" answered Frank. "Obviously! Me nevah know seh you a Muslim till now!"

"Sheikh Cooper said it's been an average of about 130 people a month and they have to move their mosque to a bigger location soon. What I didn't know until now is that apparently many Jamaicans have been converting to Islam in England but they just haven't come back here so most of us never knew about this. But since Cooper has been sent back, more of them are finding out about it how popular it is aforeign and what Islam is really like. I even heard one new Muslim say on camera seh Muslims are supposed to be enemies to England because the Crown is killing Muslims in Iraq but Muslims don't have a grudge with the Caribbean because we're not the ones killing them. That was a relief to me for real!" sighed Don.

"What about you, Jungle? You have anything to say about Cooper since you might have heard about him before now?" asked Norman.

"I don't know much about him. I just heard there was a sheikh in New York named Cooper who Pakistanis didn't like very much. I didn't know anything else about him until he got arrested. Never even knew he was a foreigner or that he got deported. There are so many Muslims getting arrested in the US for nothing that the names start to come together in my memory now."

Apparently Don had kept up with Islam in Jamaica since Cooper's deportation. "Well now, Mr. Sharp. If you obey de laws here, you won't get arrested so you have nothin' to worry about. Unless you're here to start a revolt like Grenada's you'll be all right. Not to be mean at all, but if you're here to meddle in the island's internal affairs then I'll turn you in myself and you'll be back on the next flight to America."

"I'll give -"

"Hey yo, Uncle Don! It nah him you need fi worry about, it a me! I come back fi preach dis religion as soon I learn more, Jungle come here for the climate! Leave him alone! Matter of fact, you know what really happened to we friend Bantu you hear mi motha a talk 'bout? I killed him to protect Jungle! So who you tink come here fi cause trouble?"

This was it, Razor had dropped the bombshell. He was safe from Mobile detectives in Kingston, not that Bantu's body had ever been found. But he had told his family that he had killed for Islam, not Jungle, and that if they wanted to suspect anyone of coming to cause trouble, it was him and not Jungle. He really was watching out for his Muslim brother like he said he would.

With mouths and eyes wide open everyone was silent for a few tense seconds until Don said, "So you're really fleeing the authorities? That's why you come back here? We thought you were here to be with your family in your homeland again."

Jungle was too shocked to speak yet. All he could do was look wide-eyed at his protector who had twice defended him by taking serious risks. Yet, the way he had killed Bantu in the Gulf off of Dauphin Island was calculated, whether or not Razor had ever killed anyone before this. So this was strange to Jungle to see Razor confess to that same killing to his family. Not only would Jamaican authorities report and extradite Razor should they know this, but they might even shoot him dead if he even tried to escape without harming any officers. Jamaica had the highest number of police killings in the world at that time, none of them being investigated or punished. Police officers routinely carried M-16s or Tech 9s in addition to their side arms on patrol. Jungle had to think of something very quickly because it would be unfair for him to duck behind Razor as he continually protected Jungle. Jungle had befriended him as a child by defending him when other kids picked on him for his foreign accent. But now Razor was risking his life and freedom for the second time to protect him. Razor was a few months in Islam and Jungle a few years, yet Razor was bolder and more brazen.

Getting his speech back, Jungle made sure not to let his voice shake or crack and he said to Don, "Mr. Don, Razor protected me when he killed Bantu, and really Bantu killed himself by over-reacting. Best case scenario; Bantu was about to knock me unconscious and Razor caught him and hit him to stop him. He took Bantu's weapon out of his hand and threw it into the Gulf of Mexcio, then Bantu ran into the water with no light or anything to see with and he never came back or showed up later. If Razor even killed him at all, it was to protect me, so he's innocent and I'd testify if he ever got arrested. He wouldn't even lose his extradition trial here in Jamaica, and he'd never be sent back to face a judge in America. He came back because he wanted to help Jamaicans know how to independently research Islam for themselves, no matter what the US or England told them. And I got something else to tell you. I am here to meddle in Jamaica's affairs or to not meddle, whichever one helps her the most. Just like my dad once told me he'd be for me or against me, whichever one helps me. Razor and me, de two of we, both realized dat Jamaica come undah attack from some homosexual special interest groups just so dem have a cheap playground inna de tropics! Unu Jamaican a fight it, best unu can dweet, but dem 'ave nuff money and resources fuh win dis ting if unu don't know how fi win fust!" You Jamaicans are fighting as best you can, but they have enough money and resources to win if you don't know how to win first. "Arredy dem have dem Jamaican agents right hyah inna yard and dem get money fi promote de gay business! Dem tek likkle boys arredy and dem use dem and nuttin' nevah happen to dem! We nuh here fuh cause trouble, we come fuh stop and reverse it! 'Cause we know what dem a do next if dem win hyah!" Jungle was asking how they would beat this well-funded movement which already had Jamaican agents inside the country getting paid to promote the gay lifestyle and already boys were being victimized by pedophiles and getting away with it. Jungle and Razor weren't there to cause trouble, but they knew what would happen next if the gay interest groups succeeded in Jamaica.

"Yuh know, Razor here is a Jamaican, so he can speak on this. But what do you think you can accomplish here as a yankee bwoy who grow up easy in America?"

"Life in America isn't as easy as we think, Don," said Razor's mom, Don's sister. "After all, we came back, didn't we? Aren't we back here right now sitting with you? Isn't this our home right here in Kingston?"

"I take your point but what can a yankee bwoy get done hyah inna Jamaica? 'Im should stick with just living here and enjoying himself like the other expats."

"But dad," said Frank. "Let us notice dat de bot' o' them come back hyah, not just one o' dem."

"So you tink seh dem come back as a team?"

"If dem say so."

"Dat's how we come back," said Razor.

"You guys are only in your early thirties! You'll soon be fighting over small ting and not speaking to each other."

"He's your nephew, but he's my son," said Mr. Telfrey. "Dem nevah fight from before dem were small pickney dem, so why you tink seh dem a fight so vicious now when dem grown up?"

"Dem talkin' politics like dis hyah America! Politics hyah is grown man business, not for youth," Don said like they were teen-agers. But had they been older men, he'd have said they were too old to be talking about a political or cultural overhaul in the island.

To Jungle's relief, the conversation turned out to be just that, a conversation. It got more light-hearted, in large part due to Jungle's explaining away Razor's confession. Jungle felt he would never be able to repay him, so that had been the least he could do. None the less, he was enjoying the talk once Razor explained to him in the kitchen that Jamaicans, like others of the Diaspora, talked loud, debated fervently, and exaggerated much. By covering for Razor's confession, Jungle had actually made it appear that Razor had just exaggerated an event, which was quite normal for them as Black people. They had successfully taken the heat off of one another. Hamdulillah. The meal was great, though they couldn't eat it all. After the sun began its downward decline, they went out on the family's balcony and talked more. The only thing about Jungle that really raised their eyebrows was his calling the servants 'sir' and 'ma'am'. No one got upset, just surprised to hear it. Even the servants became more humble in their demenaor when they had prior to been neutral.

"Yankee bwoy, me hear seh you cyan't tell the difference between Jamaica and Africa," teased Frank.

"What is the difference?" responded Jungle. "All y'all Africans sound the same to me." He'd have only teased Razor like that, but since Frank had obviously chosen to joke the same way, Jungle obliged him. "De way unu talk, unu could be extra actor in a Tarzan movie." This brought a hearty laugh from Frank and Razor and even Don who heard it on his way back from the kitchen. "Unu sound like James Brown pon a tranquilizer drug." He continued through their laughter.

"What city in America you fly here from?" Frank said.

"Miami."

"And how long it take you fih get here?"

"How ever long I was asleep." As they all joked back and forth about Black people, politics, and Jamaica, Jungle sat on the balcony and enjoyed the weather and the day. The sun was a good bit higher in the sky than it would have been in the US just a little bit north of them. The breeze was gentle and warm coming off of the ocean they could see just beyond Kingston to the southwest of them. In the sunlight it was quite warm but not unbearable, and in the shade it was very comfortable. There was no need to run heat or air conditioning. Jungle hadn't felt that good in all of his life, much less in that time of year. In the end of February, and he was sitting in 80-degree weather and taking it easy. Matter of fact, Jungle noticed that in line with his joke at the airport that morning was becoming a reality. His sinuses really were clearing up by the hour and therefore, his thinking was clearer, too. Man! The things they can take for granted here! If I can live here, I'll never go back to America to live. There in the tropics, he finally relaxed for the first time since he was a small boy with no worries. I can see why the homos want this as a playground for themselves. Just a few hours here and I can see the potential it has. He had no idea how important that realization would be to his life later on.

Razor, who had taken no nap on the plane, began to doze off in his chair in the comfortable afternoon heat. But in his waking thoughts and his slumber alike, he was thinking of how great it was to be back home in his country after eleven years away and even seven more since he had actually lived there. He also hadn't felt that good and that warm in that time of year since his last visit in '97. Just four months before, he didn't know when he'd be back to visit Jamaica again, much less to live there. He had even less of an idea that he'd be back as a Muslim and not celebrating his return with alcohol. His favorite drink, rum and coke, was no longer even on his mind in that kind of weather after years in the more extreme temperatures of America's gulf coast. His mind was on his return and on his mission to disseminate not just information about Islam, but what it meant for Jamaicans. Jungle's comment had come from what he had told him back in Mobile the day after he took his shahada. The corporations and governments were capturing the Jamaican consumer market with satellite and cable TV, this much Razor knew. Jungle had surmised that gay interest groups were at work in the Caribbean, though, especially Jamaica since it was the staunchest of islands in its homophobia. Razor didn't fall asleep completely, though. The noise awakened him and kept him from staying asleep, but they both retired early that night, right after they combined their prayers as travelers. Then they each went to sleep, Razor in the guest bedroom of his parent's house, Jungle in the detached guest villa in the backyard. In the tropics, the day had lasted longer than it would have in Mobile or in Nashville.

ADJUSTMENT

The next morning, Jungle awoke feeling better than ever since childhood. He arose from the best sleep he could ever remember, and only regretted that the alarm clock went off after the sunrise because he had forgotten to account for the hour's difference in time when he set it to go off. Thus, he learned that the sun would be up in Jamaica before it would be where he came from. He immediately got up and washed himself for fajr, begging Allah to forgive him for his error, and then he stretched out his mat from his luggage and prayed.

He didn't enter the main house until the male servant knocked on the door of the guest house and asked if he'd like to join them for breakfast. "Gladly," he answered.

"We have prepared the national dish for you," he told Jungle.

"Ackee and saltfish?"

"That's the only national dish in Jamaica," he answered. And at breakfast, Jungle finished it like there was no tomorrow. Not that he was starving, but the dish was just that good.

"I thought you were retired, Jungle," said Mr. Telfrey. "Tek yuh time, what's the rush?"

"I'm sorry, it's just the best breakfast I've eaten in years, that's all. Yuh know seh yuh son nevah get mi no ackee and saltfish inna de US."

"You know seh yuh son nevah get himself any saltfish and ackee inna de US," Razor joked back.

After a little laughter, Mrs. Telfrey said to them, "Why don't you guys tell us what it's like to be here after away for so long, and for you to be here for the first time, Jabari."

Just as Jungle was gonna ask Razor to go first, Razor beat him to it and told Jungle, so Jungle had to shake his head seriously and point to his exaggeratedly full mouth to decline. "I was small pickney when we left here for America so my memories are like a dream and I'm now seeing it come true. But I'm glad to be back, I chose to come here and I got my wish. Praise God fuh dat. And Jamaica look bettah dan it used to be since I left. Dat's all I know right now since I just got in yesterday."

"Interesting," said his dad. "I wondered if coming back here meant the same to you as it did to me and your mother. We never knew dat life inna de US would be so hard. I was doing all right before we left, but I thought we had to leave here to do better because ting get so bad inna Jamaica at de time. But life was hard in America, too. Things were cheaper, but had I left a year later I would not have been able to get the job I got there and I would have been unable to take care of you and your mother. You know, bad as it is, I am still glad I left Jamaica, but I regret two things. I regret staying away for so long and I wish I had eventually gone from America to another country. I really wish that people with education had come back, but we didn't. I saw independence, and I admit tings inna Jamaica better than inna de res' o' de third world. But dis is not what we had in mind when we asked for independence from de UK. Our currency has been devalued several times over de years and dat's really why I can afford dis house and tings wit me money. I worked hard for dese tings, but I have to say dat dis doesn't mean dat a Jamaican who has also worked hard here should be unable to afford for him pickney and wife. Not fair at all."

When it was Jungle's turn to speak, he said to them, "Where do I go to rent a car and get my license validated?" So that day, he didn't rent a car, but Mr. Telfrey took both of them to some of the stops in Kingston. He took them to the Devon House, a historical house built by a South American gold miner, then to the National Gallery, an art museum that showcased domestic and not foreign artists. It was Razor who had to ask where to find the Marley Museum so his dad could take them to see it. Razor didn't know his way around Kingston yet and Mr. Telfrey had never been interested in seeing the museum until his son mentioned it.

Jungle learned the island fairly quickly, but he always kept in mind that he was adjusting to another country. Jamaica was neither completely Africanized nor completely Americanized, but it was still very African, to which he could relate easily. People weren't very punctual, which bothered him sometimes but became less bothersome. The police patrols routinely carried Uzis and M-16s, many of which they had confiscated from illegal and unlicensed owners. The country had only recently begun to allow citizens to own pistols if they registered them with the police, which was all one national force unlike America's many local and county forces. In Kingston, gunfights regularly broke out between the gunmen of certain neighborhoods like Riverton and Tivoli Gardens and police who ventured in at night. Police patrols were not frequent there, but they were heavily armed when they rolled through and they wore tactical assault uniforms with bullet-proof vests. Kingston's ghettoes were about as bad as any in America if not worse. The worst neighborhoods in Mobile and Nashville would have been cake-walks to some of the gunmen from one particular neighborhood, the name of which rang with Jungle when he heard it. It was called Jungle, too. The newscrews weren't unwelcome there, but the police were and they were always shooting someone they went to arrest instead of bringing them into custody alive. Jungle soon learned that if ever in those neighborhoods, it did no good to surrender to police if they came for anyone. They didn't arrest people from there, they shot them dead and got away with it. Jamaica and Nigeria were competing with each other in extra-judicial killings by police. And most of these problems were in Kingston. Other cities had crime, but spread out and less violent. Kingston almost was crime itself. As Jungle learned more of the local patois, he realized that the youth respected the criminal element. They called each other 'rude bwoy' the way yankees called each other 'man'. This was a bit disconcerting to a foreign Muslim interested in spreading the message to the locals. The negative influences of America's ghettoes had successfully rooted themselves in Jamaica via satellite TV years ago, just in a different dialect. The people in large part weren't criminals, but the criminals Kingston's worst areas bred were much worse and desperate than what Jungle had known in America.

Travelling from city to was easy once you rented a car, but he had to get a license, only to find that he was never asked for it when he came to a roadblock. It took two or three hours to drive from Kingston to Montego Bay, which was almost at the opposite end of the island. But he rented a motorcycle the first time and found that the road went through some of the Blue Mountain range and the roads weren't as wide as he would have liked had he taken a car instead. He had refused to start driving until he had been there two months to avoid driving on the right side out of habit and getting himself killed stupidly. Razor often went with him, but not all of the time. There would be times when Razor needed to just circulate around Kingston and get himself re-acquainted with his homeland after so long an absence. But it was Razor's advice that smoothed Jungle's adjustment to a new home country. Between Razor's help and Jungle's own natural talent, Jungle began to not just pick up, but to think and dream in patois and English side-by-side. It was easier to understand then to speak sometimes, but he could still speak it up to a medium speed. It helped him when he was stopped by police cars for riding on a motorcycle both times he rented one. Apparently, motorcycles were popular in Kingston with drug runners because they could accelerate and flee the police through traffic easily. When he showed his passport and his license the second time, the officer said to him, "Oh, you're from a aforeign but you talk like we."

"Mi a learn de real English, likkle by likkle," he answered.

"Do you have to live in Kingston or do you have a choice in where to live?" asked the officer.

"I have a choice in a few months. Is it unsafe here?"

"It is on a motorcycle. You know who rides dem here?"

"No, I don't know." So the officer explained it to him and recommended he rent cars from then on unless he was riding in the countryside.

When Jungle placed up a blog specifically for Jamaicans to learn about Islam in bits and pieces as he learned himself, he began to find out that more of his support was coming from Montego Bay, ironically. He was unsure why Montego kept coming up at first, but then Razor learned what was going on. Razor travelled to Montego with his parents one weekend and attended the masjid there. He didn't know that Umar Cooper was giving the Friday lectures and leading the prayers like Jungle knew, so he was surprised to learn this first-hand. When he heard Sheikh Umar informing the jama'a that Muslims should never have an inferiority complex and to never apologize for anything about Islam as they learn it and then call others to it, he pulled his recorder out and hit record. After the prayer was over, he introduced himself to Sheikh Umar and asked him for permission to keep his recording so he could hear the lecture later on. After the trip, he gave the recording to Jungle, who downloaded it and listened to it himself.

The next Friday, he had travelled to Montego Bay himself and attended the masjid there. This time, Sheikh Umar addressed the topic of common misconceptions from which Muslims themselves suffered, proactively telling those assembled, since they were new to the religion, what pitfalls from which to swerve. This gave Jungle a boost for two reasons; one was that it showed that the Muslims who were there were as unsure as he was because while they were in their home environment they were still in a new religion, and the second reason was that it would save Jungle from having to explain so much later on as he helped to spread the word around the island. Sheikh Umar was explaining the specific misconceptions on which other Muslim communities in more developed countries had tripped and stumbled.

"It's not our job to guide them to Islam, but merely to inform them. Allah said to Muhammad in Qur'an, 'It is not you who guides whom you love, but We who guide whom we will.' So if you inform the non-Muslims of what Islam is and they do not accept, then it's not your fault. If you misinform them of Islam, then you are guilty no matter what decision they make. If you misinform your sister and tell her that in Islam the son and the daughter both inherit equally from the parents and she accepts, her Islam is not valid and you are guilty. If you tell her that the son inherits twice the daughter's share because his job is to look after her if she unmarried, then you are blameless whether she accepts it or rejects it. What if she accepts Islam but she rejects that part of it? She isn't Muslim, she hasn't accepted Islam completely. She has tried to do what the Jews did; pick and choose from Islam, so you want to be free from that. And if you the sisters tell your brothers about Islam and they accept everything except that the man is to protect and maintain women, then they haven't accepted Islam completely so that means they haven't accepted Islam at all. If they go before Allah on Judgment Day and they're telling the truth when they say that you taught them no better, then you will be accountable along with them. If they are lying when they say this, then you're off the hook because you had nothin to do with their wrong choices. So this is why I told you last Friday to never be apologetic about any part of this religion! If they corner you about something you don't know, then say you don't know and you'll look into it, come and ask me and I'll tell you the justification or you can refer them to me. But avoid being apologetic so you won't compromise or water down anything and end up misinforming them to make Islam more suitable to them. Islam does not change because of when or where we are; we change ourselves to be correct Islamically!

"And do not be fooled by certain fabricated hadith that many Muslims love to quote, even many scholars and people from Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia. One such hadith is one that the Arabs love to quote. 'Love the Arabs, for I am an Arab, Allah revealed the Qur'an in Arabic, and the language of Paradise is Arabic.' It is true that Arabic language is important for the Mulims to learn as best one can learn it. The Qur'an is in Arabic and that is not a lie, but the hadith saying to love the Arabs is a fabricated hadith. Muhammad hated nationalism, tribalism, racism; you name it, he hated it more than anyone of us in this masjid right now! When Salman Al-Farsi killed an enemy in a battle and said, 'Taste this! I am Salman the Persian!' Muhammad in the midst of the fighting said to him immediately, not after the battle, but immediately, 'Do not say that! Say you are Salman the Muslim!' So now many of us Jamaicans today love to say we are Jamaicans no matter our racial background. We love to say 'out of many, one people' since that is Jamaica's official motto. Well, that motto actually belongs to the Muslims because anyone can become Muslim and join the ummah. But Jamaicans often recite that in order to minimize their African heritage even when they are proud of it. Jamaicans love to say this to say that we aren't a country of just black people even though we are 95 percent African people. Less than the remaining five percent are anything other than African and yet we try to play up Jamaica's diversity. That is because of racism, not because of diversity. America is twelve percent Black people, but in the seventeen years I lived there no one ever said it was anything other than a white country because whites are the majority of the population, even as the Mexicans catch up with them. Black people still have inferiority complexes, and when you go to white countries like the UK and Canada and America, it's the Muslims who also have inferiority complexes. This is why we cannot afford to hear fabricated hadiths that promote racism and nationalism! When a Medinan and Meccan got into a dispute in Medina, the Medinan called the Ansar to back him up and the Meccan called the Muhajirun to back him up. What did Muhammad say? 'This is ashabiyah, and it is noxious!' That means it sickened Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa salam ."

Jungle was convinced, it was time to move to leave Kingston. The country was nice, but the city was a rude place to live in. The environment was bad for anyone's religion there. The only remaining question was whether or not Montego Bay was a better place to be. When the congregational prayer was over, he spoke to Sheikh Umar himself. "Salam aleikum," he greeted him.

"Wa leikum salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu," answered Umar, shaking his hand.

Jungle got straight to the point. "When you lived in New York, I knew very little about you and what you're doing. Now that you've been deported and sent back here, I heard your last week's lecture from a friend of mine and could see the relevance of it to a place like here where Islam is new."

"Well, of course. Since I am the first in this country to ever go and study Islam and come back, I have to share what was taught to me. It's wrong to hide the knowledge you know people need. You sound like you're American. Am I right?"

"Yes, sir. From Mobile, Alabama."

"So you know the mistakes that Muslims made in America. You lived there and saw them. I'm just trying to help Jamaicans prevent the same thing before error becomes set into the Islam of the people here."

"Hamdulillah, for you doing this. America got its Islam from Muslims who wanted money and worldly gain without fighting for it. Jamaica's getting its Islam back again from a Muslim who has always been ready to go wherever for the cause. You didn't come to Jamaica for money or to retire, you came here because Allah sent you and not for a worldy gain. Now, when I came here to Jamaica this year, it was to use my retirement to help spread the message. May I take your lectures and put them up on a site so other Jamaicans outside of Montego can download and hear them?"

"Yes, certainly. Anything I say is for anyone who can hear it. Just tell me the url for your website so I can also see it myself."

"Yes, sir. That way if you catch any mistakes of mine you can tell me. And one last question. Since you know both Kingston and Montego Bay, which one you observe as best for one's Islam?"

Without hesitation or a second thought, Umar answered "Montego."

Jungle soon rented his own home in Montego Bay for about 300 US dollars a month and got high-speed internet access from Cable & Wireless Jamaica. "Dem call demself Cable & Wireless but dem have nuttin' but DSL," he joked with Razor. "Black people jus cyan't stop showin' off." With the webspace, he was busy putting up a website about Islam along with Razor, and letting other businesses advertise on it in small windows. The website Redemption for a New Jamaica got plenty of hits by the time that it began to cool down again in October. Winter months cooled down an average of ten degrees from the summer, but it was never uncomfortable. It allowed him to keep track of time in the year, which was fine because the pace of business and of life in Jamaica was slower than in his birth country. And about that, Jungle joked to Razor, "Black people a nevah be on time til Judgment a come." Black people will never be on time until Judgment comes.

Redemption placed not only Sheikh Umar's speeches in the ear of many computer-owning Jamaicans, it also gave them the discernment to prevent many misconceptions. Many began to ask questions to Sheikh Umar, which he answered as best he could. From the website Redemption, other websites came up that also featured his lectures. Those who had met and knew Jungle thought he was just a young ex-patriate living in Jamaica and taking it easy. In fact, he was behind the scenes of spreading island-wide whatever Sheikh Umar taught in Montego, which even many non-Muslims heard from time to time. This was part of the reason that many Jamaicans were accepting Islam, by the hundreds each week, and yet they did not know Jungle's role in it. Jungle himself underestimated his own impact on it, and he was happy to be behind the scenes either way. Sheikh Umar only became aware of it over time as he heard more and more new Muslims' stories about how they came to believe in Islam.

Jungle settled into life in Montego, which he liked even more than Kingston. Kingston wasn't as rude a city as New York City, but it was rude compared to Montego. He only realized this after living in Montego for a few weeks when he noticed that people would speak politlely more often, which reminded him of the southern US in which he grew up. Unlike Kingston, Montego had both private and public beaches and so locals didn't have to become hotel guests to swim. They were more relaxed, despite it being a real city like Kingston was. Whenever Jungle had to go back to Kingston for any reason, it was only a 3 hour drive, and he had the time if needed. But he had to acclimatize himself to the livestock that might cross the road in the countryside, and the roadblocks set up. He could not carry a gun, and so if any robbers decided to rob him one day, he'd be defenseless, which was intolerable. If he carried a gun that wasn't registered with police departments, he'd be arrested at the roadblocks. But if he didn't he'd be too easy a target for highway robbers if there ever were any. So he checked with a police officer who told him that a license was attainable, but very difficultly. The bureaucracy and cost were prohibitive, therefore he'd have to almost purchase a license through bribery or join the Jamaica Constabulary Force. There were other ways, but even security companies couldn't get them easily, finding it easier to breed, train, and maintain dogs than to legally procure guns and store them until one needed to carry them. But the knowledge gave him an investment idea which paid off just a little bit. Partial ownership in a security company wound up paying him back just enough after six months to procure a license. The time it took was long, but the first motorcycle trip he took to Kingston with his pistol was well worth it. He finally was able to relax and take in the scenery and the glorious morning in which he was travelling. But he always looked forward to returning to Montego, and that trip was even sweeter for him.

Getting back to Montego, it was like Mobile in a permanent spring season to him, except for about the last three months of 'summer', in which it got into the low 90s and the nights were muggy. He found it easy to conduct business in the city as the trips were shorter than in just about any city in the US. Gas was more expensive anywhere in Jamaica, not just Montego, but trips were less in number and shorter. He was able to swim frequently, which he loved to do, but he had to pay extra to have swimming trunks custom-made to be Shariah-compliant. He could shop in a place like the Sam Sharpe Square, named after local-born national hero who had planned a slave strike and was executed after some anti-slavery violence. He noticed that not only the square, but that almost anything of importance was named after someone important, like they would be anywhere else. So he began to research the history of the names, like Donald Sangster after whom Montego's airport was named. So he became somewhat versed in Jamaican history and even Caribbean history in general, including the influence of Muslim slaves on slave revolts in the Caribbean. This he learned from another Caribbean-American imam who was also a historian, Imam Abdul-Hakim, whose work was known more outside of the Caribbean than inside. Once Jungle learned this, he of course posted that on his website with references for the listeners. In a month, he heard it quoted again by a guest on a radio talk show that was calling Jamaicans to Islam.

Also, Jungle's stress level went down and with the better diet there, his health returned to him. From the first night he had slept in Kingston, he had been able to breathe better and his mental focus improved. But his health improved even more after he settled into life in Montego. His energy and stamina went up so much that he had to take up weightlifting for the first time since his teens and he quickly developed strength and a physique from it. He had never felt better in his life, so much so that he could wake up in the middle of the night and pray a little bit before going back to sleep. He was able to remember more details with less effort. The move began to really turn out well for him. His hijrah was paying off more than he expected or ever hoped. His daily life was unstressful and consisted of a good exercise regimen and then publishing more lectures and mailing out Qur'an copies that were requested through his website. Jungle enjoyed it while it lasted.

The community in Montego needed work, but much less work than any he had seen in the US. Apparently, Islam had been in Jamaica for a while, but not growing so much. It had coccooned there, becoming a butterfly when Shiekh Umar was deported back. When he returned back to Jamaica, eleven Jamaican Muslims and two Trinidadian Muslims returned with him, and together they kept Islam from becoming as weak as it had in the US. The Muslims largely began to move close to the masjid, taking the idea of community seriously and literally. As they also learned the history of Islam from those who had come back with Sheikh Umar, they began to take seriously their dawah because they were confident in it. Though many Jamaicans were still Christian or Rastafarian, Jungle noticed a phenomenon he had seen in the Black community of the US. The non-Muslims respected Muslims a lot. Whenever he told someone he was Muslim, they would usually say "Blessed" in a positive tone. Most of them had met at least one Muslim, but all of them had heard about Sheikh Umar. "Do you know Sheikh Umar?" most of them would ask. And almost all of them had a good story to tell about the Muslims they knew. "My son became Muslim, and he stopped coming home drunk late at night. Instantaneously!" said one lady at a restaurant. "An overnight change! His friends started to hang with him at the house where I know they're safe instead of going out and drinking. He doesn't even let me keep any alcohol in the house anymore, so I had to give up drinking or he would have moved away, and he's only sixteen. I didn't want him out there by himself that young, so I gave it up." This was completely unlike Bantu, who had accepted Islam and then apostated by threatening to bring the authorities down on Jungle for no crime.

The masjid attendance grew beyond its walls, so Razor and Jungle both made anonymous donations, neither one even knowing the other was doing the same thing. When Sheikh Umar said to the gathered one Friday, "We have enough to rent a bigger place starting next month instead of three months later!" everyone said "Allahu Akbar!" so loudly that it shook the walls. It was still in the same area, one block from where they still worshipped.

Their donations were the largest single donations, but nothing close to enough by themselves or even put together.

Jungle reached a point where he was neither completely used to his new home nor could he ever happily go back to the US. The sights and sounds of his new country were quite new to him even after he was there in Jamaica for his first year. He was acclimated to driving on the "wrong" or the left side of the road and to the informal English used there. He was acclimated to the food, too. He was not accustomed to the local currency and its devaluation, causing prices to be so high in Jamaican dollars and yet so low when converted into US dollars. He was unused to seeing so many people so relaxed so consistently, but he was quickly becoming like them.

He also was unused to seeing so many goats along the side of the road in so many places. Sometimes even in cities you would see goats just as easily as you might see dogs and cats. Jamaica was not completely a rural society, it was actually very rural in its countryside and very urban in its cities. But goats were still plentiful and it was even common to see cows cross the roads as close by as the outskirts of the city.

The interesting thing to Jungle wasn't the reality contrasted with his expectations. It was the reality contrasted with other people's expectations. Jamaica in general was much more developed than what foreigners imagined. Jungle had come with no idea what to expect except for what he could learn in his research. Razor was able to help him somewhat, but he still came with an open mind since Razor had been away for years himself. The other yankees he met were mainly tourists, and the ones who were on their first trips to Jamaica were surprised at how much Jamaica consisted of aside from its tourism. One example is that Jamaica had its own McDonalds chain of fast food restaurants, from before the US chain had ever opened up shop there. It served traditional Jamaican fare, which Jungle got frequently for his lunches after his work-outs. Its colors were white and blue, not red and yellow, and its food was so good to him he had to start buying from push carts to control his spending and his weight. Another contrast was that Jamaicans actually did say the stereotypical phrases a lot. "Yah mon" and "no problem mon" were commonly heard by him, just not in talking to foreigners. If tourists came to a restaurant while he was in it, the locals would not use that within earshot of them. How consciously this was done was unknown to him. Overall, Jamaica had everything for sale that the US would have, and sometimes even more. Some things were harder to locate, others easier, but his life was by no means rustic, nor was the life of anyone he met. Even country people could locate anything for which they had and would spend the money to purchase.

His own English began to reflect his new country. When he called his parents, his dad said to him, "Why are you talking like that? You forgot where you come from?"

"Mobile, Alabama. Of course I didn't forget. I grew up there and couldn't wait to leave the whole time. What do you mean? What am I talking like?"

"Sound like them Bahamians you live with, son."

"Jamaicans, dad. I live with Jamaicans, in Jamaica!"

"I can't tell the difference. They all talk the same to me. And how are they treating you? You know they don't all like Black people, right?"

"Dad, they are Black!"

"I mean Black Americans, son."

"You got be kidding me! You think they don't know where we come from, and what happened? Dad, relax! It's little different from living in Miami as far as I'm concerned. Stop worrying! Come down here and visit me if you doubt it!"Then he heard the difference between how he sounded and how he had grown up sounding. But it was so suttle that no Jamaican would even think he had lived in Jamaica until he began to speak in their own accent and dialect.

But there was one thing that he didn't tell his dad and mom about life in Jamaica, because it didn't cross his mind, nor did it bother him. That was the periodic power outages. They usually happened at night, so he was either asleep or in the tub when it happened, and he had a flashlight in his bathroom so he was little inconvenienced by it. But that was still something he wasn't used to. It had never caused him harm, but it unnerved him a bit because he may need power one day and not have it. But he had been through power outages in Nashville, and in the winter at that. Hamdulillah, freezing would not be a problem in Montego.

NIKKAH

Due to his health improving such, he had to fast. He had been Muslim for six years, and had not dated anyone for a year before that. So he had been single for seven years, but it had been fairly easy for him in Nashville because his energy levels had been low. With his health as it was, his instinct had been dulled, but he did not know because he had never known the difference before settling into Montego. To continue to dull this instinct, he took up fasting, but then had to fast three days a week on average.

When he went to Sheikh Umar to ask for advice before considering marriage, Sheikh Umar told him, "I lectured in New York before I was deported on marriage. If you give me your e-mail address, I'll e-mail you the link to it, insha'Allah."

"You know how slow we Black people tend to run, so don't be offended when I ask when you'll e-mail it."

To this, Sheikh Umar laughed heartily. "You still haven't forgotten where you come from! But you're right, we're not the most punctual people in the world. So just because you made me laugh, I'll go ahead and take you to my home and you can e-mail yourself the link from there."

The lecture turned out to be helpful, partially because it was hilarious and it made everything easier to remember. But it cleared up a few misconceptions for Jungle before he even placed himself 'on the market'. Afterwards, he asked Sheikh Umar, "Now what advice do you have for me regarding being a Muslim husband in Jamaica?"

"You mean as opposed to in America?"

"Yes, sir."

"You have a wife in America already?"

"No, I know enough to know better than to marry in America,"laughed Jungle.

"Yes, I can see why. It's a dangerous place to be married and it's a dangerous place to be single. Yes, I know what you mean. You stay single, you may fall into zina. But if you marry, you will probably wind up with a wife that will harm your faith instead of helping it."

"To be fair, I probably would have been a bad husband there, too."

"That is also likely, and I'm not saying this to take anything away from you because I don't know much about you. But America isn't a helpful place for one's deen. There are 3 times that Muslims have gone to America and in every case it was gone by the time their grandchildren came around. Even when the Muslim slaves were taken against their will, Allah did not protect their Islam from the cross and the whip. That should tell us something about the place. That's why I agree that you probably would not have been a good husband. But anyway, you're here now in Jamaica where your Islam is safer. I'll put your name out there as someone who is open to marriage, but I'm the wali for many sisters who want to marry and have no Muslim relatives, so I will scrutinize you and I'll also scrutinize the women for you."

"That's fair,"he answered.

"First question, then. How do you earn a living?"

"I own rental property in Alabama where I'm from, I own a car in the US used to advertise a cell phone company, I have partial ownership of a security company, and I'm currently working on acquiring internet addresses so I can sell them as businesses pop up. But I don't want anyone knowing I own all of these things until I'm married. I'd rather you tell any woman that I just own rental property in Alabama. It's my job to earn a living, but Allah can take it away as soon as I sign a contract, and I don't need someone who can't tolerate hardship for a while."

"And what is your preference in terms of women?"

"This is what may keep them away. She has to be serious about Islam, beautiful, and have good character. She doesn't have to be submissive, but she can't be bossy. You know, I probably am asking for too much, but you tell me if I am. You know the religion AND the land we live in. I only know a little about both."

"Jamaican women in general are pretty loyal, but they are also hot-headed and they don't like to take orders. They are quite expressive and passionate, so they tend to treat men in the extreme ways. They will kiss the feet of the man they love, and they will beat a man they hate. If you mistreat a Jamaican woman, especially if you hit her, she will likely fight back like the Somali women do. I don't really know much more than that. They're a lot like Black American women in some ways, so it's not like you're really marrying into a completely foreign culture. One thing that might help you to know is that Jamaican people in general are more responsible for what they do. When a Jamaican does something with a bad consequence, he won't complain so much about the consequences because he knows he did it. I'm saying he, but it's actually the women, too. So, if a Jamaican woman aggravates you and you tell her you are aggravated without getting ugly, she will likely stop aggravating you. If she has a bunch of children and no man wants her, she knows it's because she was too loose with men before. They understand these things. American women aren't quite that way yet. They feel they should be able to do what they want and never pay for it. If they go out and spend their rent money on a party, they feel someone should come and pay their rent for them. They feel that if they don't pay their rent, they should not be evicted somehow. You won't see that so much here if you marry a Jamaican Muslimah."

"Thanks for the advice, Sheikh Umar."

"Hamdulillah!"

Sheikh Umar said he would ask others about him behind his back so they would feel comfortable telling the truth, and that this would not be back-biting if they told their honest opinions. So Jungle later called Razor and told him, "Sheikh Umar is going to ask people about me, so he'll eventually ask you, too. So, just tell him the truth, the good and the bad you know about me. But let me know if you know anything bad enough that might make me a hard person to live with."

"Why are you talking like that?"This was the second time he had heard the question. But he didn't mind this time.

"Well, I'm putting myself on the market, Razor. I think you ought to also make yourself available to marry."

"I'll think about it,"he said.

"If you know something that's stopping you from marrying, then tell me because I don't want to marry and find I can't be a good husband because I'm too different."

"Nuttin'like dat at all. Jus'being careful. Me still inna Kingston town, you're inna Montego Bay where ting dem cool. Kingston gyal dem rough and inna de bandulu business."Kingston girls are rough and into jerry-rigging things.

"Then you need to come to Montego, too. I got room for now till you find you a place you like. But Montego is a better place to be Muslim, man. Clearly."

Razor wasn't in any hurry to do so, he was accustomed to visiting Montego and living in Kingston, but he had already lived in Miami and Mobile in his lifetime. He had moved three times in his life, so a fourth move wouldn't hurt. Therefore, he went to Montego with his belongings a month later, just as Jungle was introduced to Saudah by Sheikh Umar.

Jungle had little complexion preference, but he was a stickler for even complexions that didn't waver much, and Saudah had it. When he met her at the masjid with Sheikh Umar, she seemed pleased to learn that he was as familiar with Jamaica as he was. Apparently, had Sheikh Umar told her that he was an American at first, then she would have assumed that he was a perpetual tourist who had just grown lonely. Since she didn't learn that he was a yankee until they met, it seemed to help that he was Black and that he seemed at home. She was surprised that he was so normal once she realized he was an American. Since their first impressions of each other were favorable, Sheikh Umar said he would then continue to screen them both, where as if either one had not liked the other, there would have been no reason for Umar to ask either of them any more personal questions.

Once Sheikh Umar gave his permission for them to marry, Saudah told Umar she didn't want to wait any long stretches of time to marry him. Her cousin in London was Muslim and she talked of how many youth strayed even when they knew who they'd marry later, because the parents delayed the marriages too long. She lived with her mother, but she was an adult and she never really took orders from her. She mentioned this because she wanted to protect her religion, and as far as she was concerned, if the marriage would be delayed, it may as well never happen at all. Jungle appreciated her honesty.

His parents came down to Jamaica for the first time since he was born for his wedding. Saudah's mother, a Presbyterian, was not against her daughter getting married, she was against her daughter being Muslim, period, but she loved her and she had no grudge against Jungle. She made this plain to Mr. and Mrs. Sharp when they met at his wedding, and she told them that anytime they wanted to visit their son, they were welcome to stay at her house, too. Overall, she was diplomatic and warm but honest with them.

Jungle's parents had their stereotypes about Jamaica shattered on their trip there to see him marry. They had been into Montego decades before as tourists, so they had never left the resort. This time, seeing the same city and not staying on a resort was like a new experience for them. They stayed in Jungle's guest room, and then left for Kingston the evening of his wedding to stay with the Telfreys, whom they hadn't seen since the three years before when they had left the US. Even in Kingston, they were surprised at how peaceful and developed things were. It wasn't like the US, but they had ignorantly expected a war zone like the ones depicted in Africa. In many ways, it was like the US to them, no more different from the US than the Bahamas. They saw the same restaurants there, and they even learned about the Jamaican McDonald's food chain along with the multi-national chain that was in the US. When Mr. Sharp had his first plate of jerk chicken from the local McDonald's, he was hooked. He couldn't understand the local dialect of English, but he was never required to so he didn't mind. Jungle's mom was a bit different, she was hesitant to try the local cooking but she still liked the escovitch fish when she had it. Her real joy was in finding that there were many of the same restaurants in Kingston there were in Mobile so she could easily eat like she always had. Despite their different approaches to food, the overall pleasant surprise of Jamaica was the same to them. They never saw any armed robbers, no one came to them to beg from them as long as they were with the Telfreys, and they were staying in comfort with them. Since they were satisfied, they no longer felt that Jungle was living in danger anymore.

When they returned to Montego to fly back out, Jungle and Saudah met them at the airport to see them off. "Jungle is a good guy, but his memory is terrible. I've learned to just tell him two things at a time, otherwise he'll forget. He may even tune you out. So, just remember, two things at a time. You'll be all right,"Mrs. Sharp told Saudah.

"Jabari, she's a sweet-heart, but I'm worried about that imam who married you two. I saw him on the internet at Ryan's house. Did you know he was deported for sedition?"she told him off to the side.

Jungle was tired of his parents always worrying no matter what. "Yes, mom. That's why I picked him,"he told her with a bit of irritation. "Had I stayed in America, where would they have deported me to?"he hinted.

CONFRONTATION

They flew off exactly at the right time. That evening, there was an island-wide curfew imposed on everyone. Doctors, nurses, hospital workers, police and military personnel were the only ones allowed outdoors after twilight. There had been civil unrest in some parts of Kingston simultaneously with Montego, Negril, and a bank robbery in Port Antonio. Jungle and Saudah didn't mind being locked in with each other because they were newly-weds, but it precipitated an event that led to Jungle's first confrontation with a Christian over religion.

The next day, as people began to travel about, smoke could be seen in the distance from where the Muslims lived, in the direction of the interior of the country. Apparently it was in a bad neighborhood where a riot had broken out, but cars of armed gunmen had gone into some other neighborhoods shooting up and that explained why Jungle and Saudah had heard gunshots. Some people had been shot in those neighborhoods through windows and many more homes had been shot up, but the area of the Muslims had been left alone even as the gunmen drove through. They had been quiet as they had driven through on their way to somewhere else, and two of the arrested gunmen had said so in their interrogations. The news reached the outside by that afternoon, and the day after that, many Muslim ex-members of Jackson Ministries Baptist Tabernacle called remaining members of the church and told them how while the church took some stray bullets, their Majority-Muslim area wasn't even shot at all. It wasn't the only area to be spared by any means, but it was the only area that close to the epicenter of unrest to be spared. "Why did you all stop shooting in that area specifically?"asked the detective who interrogated the two caught and arrested.

"Because the Muslims haven't done anything to us. Simple!"answered one. "Why would we shoot at them? They're not Babylon, you are!"answered the other, though neither one was Rastafarian.

"This doesn't matter at all!"shouted Pastor Jackson from his pulpit the next Sunday, which was nine days after Jungle and Saudah had married. "They'll say anything to get you to give up your cross because they don't have their guarantee of heaven like we do! Jesus paid the price, and they're tricked by Satan to turn and trick you, too. Everyone believes they're right, but only Jesus can save you and they can't stand him for it! Sheikh Umar will say anything to trick you! Don't think they're so bold and just so positive they can stop a bullet! If they say that gunmen didn't shoot in their area it's because they were hiding so quietly under their beds the gunmen probably thought it was deserted! Islam doesn't make you bold, it just makes you mean! That's why America flung him out after he was there for years! He started preaching violence and hatred. He started preaching sedition! That's what Islam does for you! It makes you come back as a deportee!"Deportee was an epithet in Jamaica because many Jamaicans saw America as a land of gold and opportunity and therefore impossible to fail there. Because this sermon was broadcast by radio on Sunday morning, word got around to the entire on next Friday's jumuah lecture when Sheikh Umar asked that the former members give him a way to contact Pastor Jackson to better explain himself and his beliefs.

"I really think at this point that Pastor Jackson has been lied to, so I will gladly explain to him and educate him. He probably doesn't know any better at this point, but if he meets with me for a civilized dialogue, he will know better afterwards."

The next afternoon, Pastor Jackson was exiting his church with a deacon after working in his office to prepare his next day's sermon. They noticed a bearded man stepping off of his parked motorcycle with his helmet on his handlebar. "Greetings, Brother,"said Jackson to the stranger. "Can I help you?"

The stranger turned immediately to the deacon and said politely in a yankee accent, "I don't mean to interrupt you if you still need the Reverend. I'll wait."

"Not at all,"smiled the deacon pleasantly. "I'm on my way out. Pastor, invite him for service tomorrow. See you in the morning, and hope to see you, too, brother. Can I get your name?"

"Jungle. Your name, sir?"

"These youngsters these days never go by their real names anymore,"joked the deacon. "My name is Deacon Isaiah Arrington. Nice to meet you& Jungle."

"Good to meet you, Deacon Arrington."The deacon then climbed into a small car and puttered off.

"Reverend. I heard about what you said about us not being shot up when the curfew was on a few nights back, and that was the most childish thing I have ever heard from the pulpit. Getting mad because we got spared from what you didn't."

"Just a minute!"exclaimed Jackson. "Now I got Christ to back me up!"he began to preach as if Jungle were a church congregation. "Don't get him started for my sake! Christ looks out for his children, and I suggest you don't oppose one of us!"

"I'm supposed to oppose falsehood, I'm a Muslim. And Christ would tell you that his Gospel has been tampered with and then abrogated in the first place! I came to ask you to contact Sheikh Umar and have a dialogue with him so he can tell you what Islam is and isn't. Stop denigrating him just because people have left your church to join us! That's being a sore loser, man!"

"He's misleading people and he misled you, too! That's why I say the things I say! Jamaica has been in the bosom of Christ since we got here and now you and him want to take us out of it! We have nothing and you want to take away our Christ, too?!"

"No! You can't lose Christ by being a Muslim. You're confusing us with the Jews. Contact him and stop being a sore loser. He can show you from the Bible itself why Islam is the truth and Christianity isn't. He can show you why Jesus himself is a better Muslim than even he is!"

Jackson asked Jungle to hold on, and then he began to arch his back with his eyes closed like he was going into a trance. "I think there's a reason why you came out here in person instead of calling me to tell me this,"he said as if to hint to Jungle that he was looking to take on the cross.

"There is,"said Jungle, dramatically as if something had left it. "There is a reason I came out here."

"Oh, I know. The spirit told me you came here to get saved and come back to salvation."Then Pastor Jackson laid hands on Jungle's shoulder and forehead without even opening his eyes to see what he was doing. And yes, Jungle did feel something strange. It was the normal adrenaline rush one gets when a hostile stranger touches him or her unexpectedly. "Accept Christ again!"shouted Jackson dramatically.

"No!"answered Jungle.

So, Jackson began to shake him harshly. "Demons of Islam! Come out in the name of Jesus, I command you!"But the shaking was too harsh to be appropriate by any means, so Jungle head-butted Jackson in the nose. The pastor went back and down on his bottom, blood coming out of his nose and onto his shirt. He looked up at Jungle with his eyes watering.

Very flatly, Jungle said to him, "Don't go and say one of us came and attacked you and hit you, or I will come back and fight you. I only did what I did because you started shaking me violently like that. That was uncomfortable. If you hadn't done that, I wouldn't have touched you. I mean what I say, don't go lying and saying you got attacked to make us look bad. Now contact him and have that dialogue. Otherwise whatever happens to you is your own fault. Have a nice day, Reverend Pimp Daddy."

"You did not go to the church yourself!"Saudah exclaimed in disbelief when he got back and said he had seen Pastor Jackson.

"Listen, I did go, and he shook me, so I head-butted him to get him off of me. I just want you to know this in case he says I attacked him. That's all! Don't get alarmed, he might not even lie about it!"

"But why do it, anyway? You could have saved yourself a trip and called him or written to him!"

"It took more courage to invite him face-to-face, so I did that instead."

"Oh, proving your bravery, huh?"she mocked.

"No, proving our bravery. Maybe now would be a good time to tell you why I even came to Jamaica in the first place."

"So, it's not the weather?"

"Not only. I've been Muslim for maybe 6 years now. Razor's been Muslim for only a year and some months. The day he became Muslim, he was protecting me from another friend of ours who turned on me and wanted to get the FBI and Homeland Security to lock me up. When he saw how our friend turned on me, he realized that the saved people that everyone would gang up on in the last days weren't the Christians because they were ganging up with the Jews on us. It was us, the Muslims, so he accepted. But he put his life on the line to keep me from being thrown in jail with no lawyer and no rights at all. He protected me. The next day, he said he was ready to come back to Jamaica and help inform the country's people about Islam because the people were looking to the Bible for answers and it's been tampered with. He knew Jamaica and what it's headed for, I knew more about Islam than he did. So he asked me to come with him. We got here and found that Sheikh Umar was back already doing what we came to do, so all we have to do is help him. So I do what I can to help him. I figured by going to the pastor myself I could help, and by appearing in person, he could finally see a Muslim up-close and personal and realize that we're not demon-possessed. It didn't work, but I had to try it to find out."

"Are you done?"

"Yeah."

"Good, that was a mouthful. So tell me if anyone saw him grab you first!"

"I'm sure no one did."

"Why are you so sure?"

"That would be convenient, where would the hardship be in that? A witness on my behalf would eliminate all possibility of a controversy."

"So you have no faith in Allah?"

"Of course I do, but none that He will do something just because it's convenient for me! He can give hardship or ease, whichever He chooses. I brace for the hardship because that's the default, that's all. Just being prepared, not pessimistic."

Saudah was right, Pastor Jackson never claimed that anyone came to him and attacked him violently, but he went on a public relations campaign against Sheikh Umar. He bought a few billboards, a small ad in a local newspaper, and some airtime from RJR 94 FM radio station. Of course, the billboards and the airtime were the most effective. "You're being swindled, Montego!" read one of his most visible billboards. "Sheikh Umar never even cared about Jamaica until he got deported and sent back here!" he ranted on the air during his weekly hour. "When he got a following up in New York, he immediately preached overthrow and they kicked him out. He wants to mislead Jamaicans the same way now that he has no where else to go! He wants power and rulership for himself, that's all!"

But Razor went on the offensive without even asking Sheikh Umar. His first step was to research from where Pastor Jackson suddenly got this money needed to do all of this at the same time that his congregation was shrinking. His contact at the Bank of Nova Scotia explained that while their weekly cash deposits after services couldn't be traced to individuals, the checks and wire transfers came from 4 sources. The first was AIPAC, the American-Isreali Political Action Committee. They were the biggest Zionist lobbying group of the US. The other three were businesses in Miami, not really big name businesses but apparently successful enough to lend help to Jackson Ministries Baptist Tabernacle. Razor was given the names of the businesses, which he then looked up on the internet. When he called the first two to ask about opening franchises outside of the US, both times he was sent to the business owners to ask this, and they were clearly gay, obvious even over the phone. The third business was listed as a gay-friendly business on the Miami Gay Chamber of Commerce website, so he had no need to call. He immediately purchased airtime himself, specifically the hour after that of the station's broadcasting of random church services. It was a on a Sunday that was Pastor Jackson's turn.

"Pastor Jackson says that Sheikh Umar is a con man that was ejected from the US. But in reality, Sheikh Umar was deported as part of America's War on Islam they call the War on Terror. He exposed the US for its hypocrisy and they couldn't take it, he never conned anyone!" Razor told the audience. "The real reason that Pastor Jackson is so fixated on Sheikh Umar is because some of his church members came to Sheikh Umar and accepted Islam, then more followed them and Jackson Ministries shrank in number! That's all! Sheikh Umar didn't even know that many of the new Muslims were coming from the same church until someone else told him. But Pastor Jackson got upset and took it personally.

"Now, you hear him each week for an hour on this station and you see his roadside signs focusing more on Sheikh Umar than on preaching his gospel! I will tell you where he got the money from right now! He got funding from AIPAC, who has the politicians of America in their pockets to make sure America keeps supporting Israel no matter what they do, and that's why America sat out of the Racism Conference in South Africa in 2001! If he is a Christian then why is he taking support from Zionist Jews who refuse to recognize Black Jews as Jews?! They call the Messiah a bastard and his mother a whore! May God forgive me for conveying this, but it's true! And then he gets more funding from three gay-owned businesses in Miami! A fundamentalist Christian preacher getting funding from gays and Zionist Jews, both of whom hate his message! Why would they do this? And why would he accept? Because he went to them and sold them selfish reasons why they should help him. They would never have approached a Jamaican Christian holy-roller themselves! He went to AIPAC and told them that since Sheikh Umar was in Jamaica, he'd help preach against Sheikh Umar in exchange for their support! Then he told the Miami Gay Chamber of Commerce, 'There's a new threat to your agenda in Jamaica, and it's a Muslim named Sheikh Umar. If he is successful in Islamizing Jamaica, you'll never get the place to be gay-friendly.' I don't know why the gays are so obessessed with winning Jamaica over to them but they are obsessed with it, and he had that to sell to them in exchange for their help and support of him.

"This is because if you knew the truth about Islam, you would accept it. It is the next revelation after the Gospel of Jesus, peace to him, so it is what he was telling the church he left behind to expect to come after him. Muhammad was the prophet 'like unto Moses' that Moses told us would later come! But this was kept out of Jamaica intentionally by the British when they carried us here from home! They killed all of the Muslims they could discover and forced the rest to go into hiding. You don't believe me, then look at the first churches in Jamaica the slaves built themselves and see why they always face the same direction! You don't believe me, go the websites I will give you in a few minutes! Ask your relatives aforeign why so many Jamaican dem become Muslim! Pastor Jackson is actually helping the biggest con men in the world, and he doesn't even know it! But there's nothing wrong with at all with what Sheikh Umar is preaching! It's the same secret to liberation that the British gave everything to keep away from us when they first brought us here from home! If this spreads in Jamaica, then the IMF and the World Bank cyan't collect interest on the loans they made to Jamaica anymore because Islam forbids usury; you can't make money by loaning money anymore. They're scared of that because Jamaica has already paid the prinicpals on its loans so many times already! And then if other countries with the same problem follow behind Jamaica, accept Islam, and say they'll no longer collect nor pay interest on the loans, then the US and the UK are finished! No more free money for them! They'll have to come up with other ways to keep their economies going, they'll actually have to earn their own keep! Imagine that!"

Towards the end of the hour, Razor told his audience, "You used to sing in the National Anthem 'Guard us with they mighty hand'. Now you sing 'Guide us with thy mighty hand'. This is why it is that Sheikh Umar was sent back to you. He's not the only Jamaican Muslim who was living abroad, he was the just the only one who studied Islam as much as he did. Now he's back in the answer to your prayer in the anthem. The next thing you say in the anthem is 'Keep us free from evil powers,' but ask yourself if you can really expect the Almighty to do number 2 for you if you reject His answer to your first request."

The next day, reporters went to the masjid and began to question some of the worshippers entering and exiting for any comments on the embarassment of Pastor Jackson. People talked so much about the refutation and the bombshell dropped on them by this Ryan Telfrey on the radio that a radio talk show asked Sheikh Umar to go on the air with them and explain what was going on. He merely told the public that night that he was deported and began to preach to the Muslims here in Montego. He later learned that many of the new Muslims had come from the same church, which was Jackson Ministries Baptist, and then he one day saw a billboard from Jackson Ministries claiming that he was the predecessor of the Anti-Christ. But when someone called in and asked him if he really believed that homosexuality was so bad, he answered "Absolutely, Allah destroyed two cities because of it. And yes, I am quite sure that there they have an organized effort to make Jamaica accept their lifestyle because once they win Jamaica over, the rest of the Caribbean region will be a piece of cake to them."

"So Islam is diametrically opposed to homosexuality?" asked the anonymous caller.

"Yes, the punishment is death, and we don't change our religion," answered Sheikh Umar firmly. "It is one sin for which a person cannot become a Muslim. A gay cannot be Muslim and a Muslim cannot be a gay."

Because of this, as Pastor Jackson's popularity lessened and he lost his ministry, the public began to discuss the Muslims as the island's vanguard against the movement of homosexuality's spread in the region. Since the culture was already against homosexuality, this endeared the community to the people overall, which Sheikh Umar had already taught many of them in classes not to expect. Over the next year, not only did many accept Islam, but many families were restored. Many men who had not been taking care of the their children accepted Islam and then began to look after them and begin relationships with them. Mothers who accepted began to tighten the reigns on their children, curbing their sons from crime and their sons and daughters alike from pre-marital parenthood. It became known that Islam was good for communities as it was good for families and Jamaicans knew that the family structure in their island nation had been crumbling before this due to the pressures on the country's citizens to get by.

However, everything had to come to a head at some point, and it happened a year after Razor had exposed Pastor Jackson and his homosexual connections. Razor had married by then, and the dawah efforts were still successful as many people there in Montego were accepting Islam. One more masjid had to be opened even after the community had transferred to the larger facility. Despite this, that facility had to have a video camera relay the Friday lectures from Sheikh Umar to them so they could follow the Jumuah because they refused to settle for a lecture by anyone else if they could help it. They refused to be a separate masjid, preferring to be another location of the same masjid to accommodate the numbers. So overall, things were going good for Islam, atleast in Montego and to a lesser degree in Kingston and the other cities in the eastern half. Jungle and Razor both were preaching as well, mainly on their websites, and they were busy condeming political corruption and warning the Jamaicans against the spread of further wrongs that would otherwise be promoted behind the scenes.

But one Friday after the Jumuah when Jungle and Razor were both on an errand at a strip mall, it happened. They had always known that sometimes some young guys would go out in groups, dressed like homosexuals and show out in their feminine manner to promote their gayness. Of course, they would be paid by someone else to do this, and they would not go into the roughest neighborhoods and do this because they would then be shot on sight. But in some areas, they would go about and act out in order to get the people used to ignoring them and not reacting. As they desensitized people in middle-class areas, they would take it to slightly worse neighborhoods and progress that way. But this Friday four of them came into the grocery/seafood store in which Jungle and Razor were picking up some things to grill for the get-together between their families. Their wives were back at Razor's home waiting on them. Yet, these homos had come in to the store and were already giggling about something known only amongst themselves. Razor saw them first and signalled Jungled to their presence. They were wearing tight clothes, except the biggest one who actually had on hoop earrings! Razor was so surprised to see them come out like this that he accidentally swore without realizing it. This had happened only twice before in Montego, once in Port Royal, and twice in Kingston, so they never expected to witness something like this themselves. The other times, the policeman had to escort them out, and in Port Royal they had to go straight to the emergency room because they were being beaten to death when the police got there just in time. It was believed that only because a news crew was present with the camera on did the police even intervene at all. This time, there were no news crews, and the other shoppers were still in their initial phases of shock when they saw them.

It was an old lady who came up to them and was cantankerous about it. Probably noticing them because of their noise and giggling, she went and told them, "Unu cyarry on so and bring dung de punishment pon we head! Stop a gwan so like lady and act like unu know seh yuh men". You're carrying like this and bringing down the punishment on our heads! Stop acting like ladies and act like you know you're men! The four looked at each other with abnormal confidence. Normally they would have left, but whoever was their sugar daddy must have really emboldened them. One was sipping some drink in a plastic cup until she told them this, after which he began pouring it on her dress.

"Hey yo! What de ____clot you a do tuh her!" said a cashier angrily.

"Worse to you if you don't shut up, bwoy!" said the biggest one, rolling his neck a little bit and snapping a finger. The sad thing was that they were acting steretypically gay, not even naturally gay. They must have learned it by watching TV. "You want some!" he challenged in a high-pitched voice.

"Don't test! Gyet out while unu can get out!" he answered. Just then, the one pouring the drink pulled a knife and looked challengingly around.

Razor whispered to Jungle, "I can't let this lady be braver than me. Dem have knife dem, and dem a terrorize de people here until de police bwoy dem come, so me a go stop dis mess rightcha now. Tell Khadijah I love her and I'm sorry I didn't get more time with her."

"Why? Why would you do this?"

"I've talked enough. I have to give life to what I preach, fertilize the soil with blood."

Jungle thought for a second as he listened and watched while Razor told him he loved him for Allah's sake and was glad for the time they'd had. Just when Razor whispered that it now be Jungle's turn to work on giving Max dawah, Jungle turned his head to Razor. "No," answered Jungle, not whispering. In a regular speaking volume, he told Razor, "We've had a good run together. If you a go confront dem, we a confront em and fight dem. Dis hyah Jamaica, not America, and we Muslim. So we hear fuh trample pon dem faggot bwoy dem time and time again till we win or Allah take us back and tell us we're forgiven and purified!" The homos heard this and turned towards them. Jungle began to feel not afraid, but rather inspired. "Me nuh go tell Khadijah you stood up and I came back home! No! If Khadijaha go be a widow, Saudah will be one, too unless Allah say different. And right now I'm requesting that He not! We condemned dem already, now let's show how right Allah is and wrong dem are for Jamaica or any place else!"

Turning to the homos, he took notice of the glass drink bottles on the shelves right next to them, while they were fixated on him and Razor. "Sodomites!" he addressed them in the local accent as if he were holding a gun to them. "You proud of what you do? Eh?"

"Come see how proud we are, Yankee Bwoy!" said the biggest one. "Me a go make you me b___ and share you wit dem!" he threatened, now brandishing his own knife. Jungle walked up to him in full view of the shoppers and cashiers, who were amazed. Razor came right with him, both of them standing face to face with one, looking them up and down challengingly.

"Go for it, Sodomite!" said Razor to the one who had poured the drink on the old lady. Then, as if he had read Jungle's mind, he grabbed a glass bottle of soda and cracked it on the gay's head before the gay could be sure what was going on. Then he began to stab the gay repeatedly as he also was being stabbed. Jungle was struggling with the biggest one, and losing due to his smaller size, but he wasn't yet being stabbed. The other two, unoccupied, brandised their knives to keep the crowd at bay. Looking away from their occupied comrades, they were assuming that none of them needed help. But then one turned to his comrade who was fighting Razor and saw that they were actually stabbing each other in the trunk and arms, Razor breaking glass shards off in his opponent. Since it was even, he stepped in and helped his fellow gay and stabbed Razor in the back.

Jungle heard the scream of pain, kneed his opposition in the groin, headbutted him in the nose like he had the pastor, then grabbed a bottle and broke it on his head before he could get over the daze. In the same motion, he then broke sharp glass edge off in the big guy's neck and let him choke to death. This all took him less than a second to do. He was free to help Razor, who was kicking his rear-side attacker as he remained locked with his front opponent. Jungle snapped the rear attacker's neck from behind, killing him as Razor had killed Bantu before in his defense. The irony wasn't lost on him, but he was too occupied to reflect on it as it was still three to two. The big guy had not yet died, he was just weak in his efforts to get back up, and the one who had been holding off the shoppers and cashiers now had to engage the Muslims whether he wanted to or not.

Razor rushed the one whom he had initially opposed, the same one who had poured the drink on the old lady. But they were both off-balance as they had repeatedly stabbed one another. So Jungle kicked the big guy, hoping to knock him down for good, which it did, so that he could now focus on the one who was fresh. He grabbed another glass bottle, and so that gay grabbed one himself to complement the knife he already had. But as that gay was focused on Jungle, he couldn't fend off any one else. So when a glass bottle was brought down on his knife hand and knocked the knife away, it was actually a customer who was seeing to it that the fight was fair. The gay was even with Jungle, who then swung a fist at him and began to drill him with follow-up punches quickly before he could get over the daze of the sharp pain in his wrist and loss of his knife. Jungle then kicked the guy in the stomach to re-daze him, then attempted to quickly grab the gay's knife. As he reached for it, the opponent jumped him suddenly and bit down on his right side. Reflexivly reacting to pain, Jungle elbowed the faggot, but the sodomite was like a pit bull, so he thought through the pain. He took his left fist and punched him in the nose again, then took the left fingers to poke the fag in the eyes, dislodging him. He then fell down as the fag fell back from slipping on the contents of one of the bottles. But Jungle got the knife.

He was so enraged from being bitten, that he stabbed Razor's opponent in the back once, then immediately turned and stabbed his own approaching opponent to death viciously. He continued to stomp the head until it was a pink and red jelly, while Razor went to work on his opponent by smashing the gay's head into the concrete floor repeatedly, until he felt too weak to continue from loss of blood.

With the fight over, Jungle and Razor were tired as they could be. Had it been just a fist-fight, they might all have still been going strong. But Razor had been stabbed and lost blood. Only when Jungle sat down, tired did he realize exactly how much his friend had been stabbed. Razor had atleast six cuts on him! "Bloodclot! Razor!" he exclaimed as people rushed in to help them.

Razor looked at him, just smiling. "Me all right! Knife not even cut that deep!" he grinned just before he spit up some blood.

As he said this, Jungle then realized that he also had been stabbed, he finally began to feel the broken skin itch like insect bites. He began to laugh, and he too coughed up blood in the process realizing that not only had he been stabbed, but that he and Razor both had punctured lungs. When he could finally talk, he said to Razor, "I can't believe we beat 'em. Four to two?! In Mobile, I'd have lost!"

"I guess we showed them! Hamdulillah! Today was a good day!" Razor said.

"Is it over?"

"I think so, Jungle. You may have to pass my message to Khadijah, after all." But Jungle doubted it. He was beginning to feel cold, and some of his blood was pooling on the floor around his bottom.

"Probably not, Razor. I need to get outside where it's warm."

"You're right, it's getting really cold in here," said Razor.

They could hear the sound of sirens, and to Razor it began to sound like they were in a tunnel, then he realized that the sounds of the people around him encouraging him to stay awake were in a tunnel, but they physically were not in one. Jungle struggled to crawl to the outside, but got too tired and sat back down against the side of an aisle, then someone told him to stay still and threw a bad-smelling blanket over him. It didn't help the chill, and he wondered why no one else was cold except he and Razor. Just as he realized that it was because of the blood loss, he heard the people say Razor was dying.

"Let me talk to him first!" he said, coughing up more blood. But he couldn't get over to him. "Razor, look here!" he said. When Razor looked over, his eyes were watery-looking, but he seemed to be ale to see clearly still. So Jungle held up one finger and said, "La ilaha il Allah."

Razor held up his finger weakly and whispered it three times, before he dropped his hand and seemed to fall asleep. Jungle saw this and for the first time since his kid sister had been sick with cancer when he was a teenager, he began to cry silently. His eyes watered as he whispered the shahadah again and again through his silent sobs, which caused him to loose more blood and die within the minute himself.

The witnesses there saw the men die after putting up a hell of a fight, but they all reported that the place smelled like a perfume only after the two men were dead, and that both faces began to smile lightly after Jungle had ceased breathing altogether. Ironically, even the paramedics and the police said that the smell seemed to come from the wounds themselves. People came to the store over the weekend to smell the fragrance for themselves and to remember the men who had stood up to an evil that they all saw threatening their country. By contrast, the bodies of the homsexuals had begun to change color by the time they were even taken to the morgue. All four of their cadavers began to smell rotten within the day, and they were buried quickly. Even when they were buried, there was a light but persistent stink around their graves for a week as those who knew them came to visit. Neither Khadijah nor Saudah washed the bodies of their husbands, but they were buried that Monday in the same bloody clothing, close to each other in the only Muslim cemetery on the island, which was just outside of Kingston. By that time, half of the witnesses to the encounter had learned that they were Muslims and had gone to Sheikh Umar to ask how to be Muslims themselves. The Telfrey parents knew what had happened within hours, and they knew their son had made up his own mind. But the Sharp parents didn't know, they thought that maybe Jungle had been brainwashed by Sheikh Umar. But when Mr. Sharp tried to confront Sheikh Umar at the funeral, Mr. Telfrey grabbed him and told him, "He wasn't even there, he didn't know anything about it until I told him. His hands are clean!" But before they flew back to the US, many people told him and his wife that his son and Razor were heroes. The night before they got ready to fly out of Jamaica, he dreamt that he saw Jungle and Razor resting on hammocks in a very beautiful and comfortable garden, being served plates of fruits and goblets of wine, so happy they couldn't stop praising God even as they were resting. He became a Muslim shortly after, and Mrs. Sharp would become one much later in life after he had also passed away. The Telfreys became Muslim after months of hearing the people sing praises to their son's memory, at the same time.

The State Department in Washington DC received a memo from AIPAC informing them of how they had attempted to support a pastor to prevent the Islamization of Jamaica, namely Montego Bay, who had failed. Then it received a similar communication from the US Embassy in Kingston, saying that they had become aware of the island's increasing fascination and familiarization with Islam due to the preaching of Sheikh Umar as well as the help he had unknowingly received from Razor and Jungle, not realizing that his words were reaching many people he never knew had even heard of him. "This may be of interest to some lobbying groups such as AIPAC," said the memo. "As it has spread in Jamaica, it is also reviving from a slumber in Grenada and in Trinidad. More and more Caribbean nationals who have lived abroad and converted to Islam are now returning to their home countries and helping to disseminate Islamic literature. Counter-intelligence may or may not be successful as two informants have already defected and converted to Islam themselves. They were unaware of one another."

When it reached the desk of the US President, he finally admitted to his secretary of state "We have awakened the monster we sought to kill in its sleep, and our efforst to starve it to death have only fed it more. We're not going to win this war. Tell the Israelis we'll help as much as we can like we always do, but soon we'll be tapped out and they'll have to take care of themselves while we recuperate."

"Will we be able to recuperate at all?"

"Don't tell them this, but no we won't. By the time they find out, I'll be out of office anyway and it won't be our problem anymore. But the answer is no. They're going to win no matter what we do. The only question is when."

The Muslims began to own and possess arms, but their communities were very stable, making it attractive to move and live amongst them. When the Shariah began to be practiced within their areas after the deportation of another sheikh, the police were powerless to stop it as the first two attempts to make arrests in the neighborhoods were repulsed with serious gunfire. The sought-after suspects were reported killed in the gunfights both times, but when police killed an unarmed Muslim resident, two police officers turned up missing later on and an anonymous tip was mailed to a station. "Resurrect Adams if you want to see the cops again." Adams was the elderly man who had been shot unarmed. Because of the confusion of fighting, the police had withdrawn before anyone could plant a gun on the body of Adams to make it appear he had been a shooter himself. Because of the availability of guns on the island, the Muslim men turned it to their advantage until the government had to recognize and atleast turn a blind eye to the de facto Shariah jurisdiction on the western half of its island. No one stopped tourism there, but no Muslim was allowed to traffic in alcohol anymore to cater to the tourists, and the tourism slowed down for the first year in Montego until the word got out that Jamaica was less violent than before, not more. Because tourists' rights were so protected, they were much safer and therefore more free to move around outside of the resorts. But the Muslims in the eastern cities of the island requested that they be allowed Shariah courts, too, and they requested full autonomy for them. This led the government to mobilize against the Muslim areas of the eastern half, but many former police officers, soldiers, and politicians not only shot back, but called in favors to get the forces to withdraw. Because of the news coverage there, the Jamaican government was embarassed and some Muslims in Trinidad nabbed the Jamaican ambassador and promised to not kill him, but torture him until he went crazy unless Jamaica ceased all military action and recognized the supremacy of the Shariah courts. Not the equality, but the supremacy. If searches were made for the ambassador, much less a rescue attempt, he'd be killed very slowly. "We have saved torment as a last resort and detest to have to torture anyone, but as the safety of our brothers and sisters anywhere is important we have elected to employ it for their safety." Many Muslims thought this was a ruse to give them a bad name, but the only ruse was that the kidnappers were prepared to kill, not torture, Jamaica's ambassador to Trinidad. When Jamaica did not answer quickly, a group in Nigeria threatened to not only kill the Jamaican ambassador, but all of the Jamaican diplomatic staff stationed in Abuja, and to attack immediately if any effort was made to evacuate them or to move them to another location. "The only thing Jamaica can do to save them is to give in to our brothers whom they are fighting. Any attempts to do otherwise and we will cut of all of the tentacles of your prime minister elsewhere." The only thing left was for Jamaica to capitulate or lose its diplomats abroad. So the Prime Minister had to eventually say that freedom of religion as defined in Jamaican law allowed for the Muslims to have a separate court system, though none had ever requested it before. "In light of the safety levels Jamaica has enjoyed, even in Kingston, due to Muslim influence, we see them as no threat to us and therefore my administration will not oppose them. It is unnecessary. But understand that other nations will boycott Jamaica and we rely on tourism for our livelihood, so I ask a favor of the Muslim community. Help Jamaica overall and take up the slack left when the bigger countries start to issue travel advisories against their citizens coming here. This is my challenge to you. Meet it, and we have no problems with you." The ambassador was released unharmed, and the diplomats to Nigeria were never bothered.

PROLOGUE

Professor Abdul-Aziz Hightower was lecturing the history class at the Sheikh Umar Cooper College in Grenada. "Even though it was 74 years ago, the effects still last to this day. See, Islam had come to Jamaica and the other islands two times already. But each time it got weakened and diluted like I said at the beginning of theis semester. The Muslims had always been non-confrontational in each case, and we already covered why."

"So why was this time different?" asked a student.

"That's what I'm getting to now, so your timing was perfect. This time, with a sheikh deported back to Jamaica from the US and these two younger fellows going there as well, the combination was just right, because you already know about Sheikh Umar, this school was named after him years ago. But these other two are more known to students in Jamaican schools than other islands. No one knows why they ever came here from America when they did, but it's believed that Ryan became Muslim when Jabari visited his hometown in Alabama."

"His wife said so in an interview on TV not long after he died," said another student. "I had to do a paper on him in high school and I saw the interview."

"Thank you, Sister Karimah," said Hightower. "So now we know how Ryan became Muslim. And this was in that third wave of Islam coming to the Caribbean, just like what I mentioned earlier. See, Caribbean Muslims were seen as non-extremists and more confrontational at a personal level, but Jermaine Lindsay blew up a tube in London along with some other brothers there from the east! It was Caribbean people migrating to America, Canada, and the UK who were accepting Islam when they came in contact with many Arab and Indian Muslims who had also moved there. So there were viable Caribbean Muslim communities abroad already. Islam was small in the islands but it had never disappeared, it was just of little consequence to life here. It was only when Sheikh Umar came back to the Caribbean as a deprotee that more knowledge began to reach the Muslims already here. Then, Ryan and Jabari came later on and used the Internet to make his message go further to more people. Now, the people at that time described him as being really good at describing what Islam is and what it is not, so maybe that's why many responded to his call and accepted Islam. But he was the first to encourage Muslims to actually move into the square block area around his masjid, which is still standing today but in a different location from the original."

"You mean the Muslims would live separate from each other and the masajid?" the same sister asked.

Another student, a brother turned back and nodded yes to her. "My granddad told me they didn't even know they were supposed to live together until Sheikh Umar told them. The average Muslim in Jamaica at that time hadn't come to Jamaica to become better Muslims. So they didn't bring much knowledge with them."

"That's why Sheikh Umar was needed at the time he was. Not only was the Muslim community just barely awake, but remember that all of the country was facing pressure from the Big 3 to hurry up and accept homosexuality. Be more welcoming to gay tourists," said Hightower, getting a murmur of disapproval from his students. "Yes, yes, it's disgusting I know. But that's what happens when there is no Shariah. Corruption spreads until something stops it, and that something is Islam and Shariah. So when these two young Muslim brothers were out in a store and they saw these gays demonstrating, they were unafraid to confront them and stop them. This was Jamaica's sore spot at the time, anyway. All of Jamaica, Muslim and kaffir, was against homosexuality, but there were American gay interest groups that funded people here to promote its acceptance. They thought because the law was always against it, then if the people accepted it, the law would disappear or it wouldn't be enforced."

"Why were they focused on Jamaica so much?" asked Sister Karimah.

"No one really knows clearly why, but they were a wealthy group that had money to spend. See, today most of us never have to travel abroad to make a living, but the economy was so strong in America and so bad in the Caribbean that many people were leaving to go live there and work. But the people from those other countries, not just the gays, loved to travel here for vacations, especially in the winters when it's really cold up there. Since the sexual deviants rarely had children or wives to support and they had better jobs, they had more money to spend on tropical vacations but they couldn't practice their lifestyle here or they would go to jail. This was before the Shariah in the islands, so there was no death penalty for it, but still the jail sentences were long. So they traveled here and kept it behind closed doors as best they could while they paid locals to promote it. Quiet as kept, the yankee tourists were flocking to Jamiaca not just to lay in the sun but to fornicate in the tropics. It was a fantasy of theirs, they saw tropical places as being like Jannah. But the important thing is what the Muslims here did about it. Sheikh Umar preached the truth, even when American journalists tried to put pressure on him to denounce Ryan and Jabari. He said they were enacting the words of Muhammad. 'If you see an evil change it with your hand,' and so they tried to change it with their hands. Insha'Allah, maybe now these homosexuals would learn their lesson and repent. Well, Jamaican authorities came under pressure to denounce him, but they actually sided with him regarding this because the people sided with him and they couldn't force the entire island to accept something like this. Since the people were poor, anyway, they felt they had nothing to lose by refusing to obey any laws that might legalize homosexuality. When he took his stance refusing to denounce the two after their deaths, more and more people accepted Islam and it became a revolution.

"The irony is that the secular political parties, they were called the People's National Party and the Jamaican Labour Party, routinely armed gangs and used violence to win elections. Some of the ex-politicos who accepted Islam under Sheikh Umar were the ones who began to use force to implement the Shariah for the Muslims. They were in the second attack on the eastern half. Another reason for their success was that the Muslims maintained family ties and therefore had the support of their relatives, so many Jamaicans would not help the government against their relatives. Think about it, if your wayward child suddenly begins praying and gives up smoking ganja, would you tolerate that the government that can't meet your needs now comes against that child? The Muslims also refused to listen to blame when they solved problems. Like when too few men were taking shahada and too many women were, they implemented polygyny so the women could have husbands if they wanted them. See, a lot of it had to do with learning from the mistakes the American Muslims had made before them. Don't forget Jabari was an African-American. He had no ties to Jamaica except Ryan. He had grown up in America and become Muslim there, so he knew all of the mistakes of the American Muslim community and he documented them. There are transcripts of his talks on the digital library, but most of you already know the mistakes which are why the grandchildren of the American Muslims aren't even Muslim anymore. Jabari said he saw the mistakes of the American Muslim leading them into apostasy and he predicted that the great-grandchildren of the immigrants would not be Muslim anymore. Now it's the grandchildren who are your age, and they're already not Muslim. So because he came to Jamaica with Ryan when Ryan returned there, he told them the mistakes to avoid, which complemented Sheikh Umar's famous "Misconceptions for Muslims to Avoid." What these did was inoculate the Muslim community in its early stages against the deceptions and mistakes that plagued the one in America."

"I heard that the American Muslims were weak, but what were some of their mistakes?" asked a student named Hakimi.

"Well, has anyone in here seen or heard either of Jabari's lectures on it?"

"I have," answered Karimah again. "From what he described, it seemed like the Muslims in America were almost apostates already back in his day. Like for instance, none of them knew about walaa and baraa. They thought military jihad was abrogated and there was no such thing anymore. They thought that if the kaffirs in America didn't like something in Islam then it meant something was wrong with that part of Islam, whether it was hijab or it was polygamy or anything else. They actually thought it was okay to tailor the deen to suit the kaffirs. That's the kind of thing he said."

"They really believed those things? How were they Muslim, then?" asked Hakimi to Hightower.

"Well, many of them weren't. They just thought they were, and that's why when I went to teach there for a year, I met so many of their grandchildren who were Christian again. The religion went right through them. Others were only Muslim because they opposed the efforts to change their religion. Ryan and Jabari were obviously resistors. But the point of all of this is that the community immunizing itself against deviation of aqeedah was why they could be so cohesive and steadfast. They consciously avoided doing the same things for which Allah did not help the American Muslims in their mission to Islamize the US. When you cannot succeed in righteousness in one place, then you have to go where you can."

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