Chapter 2 - Part 1

May 1, 2009.
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Assalam Wa Aleikum.

This entry will be really quick, I have to go to the publisher to pick up the paper. Its March 1, the first of day of each month is my day to get the paper from the University Press Center. It's one of the less fun parts of being Editor-in-Chief of the paper but there's a lot of fun stuff too. It's kinda cool to meet underclassmen who aspire to be Editors and talk about their accomplishments in Journalism. I mean this is, Harvard, a lot of these kids were Editors-in-Chief of their school paper which is a fairly decent accomplishment. I've met kids who have published books and sold over a million copies: pretty cool, I think. I'm actually, well, I write short stories and I'm working on a novel.

I'll talk about that another day but for now the whole reason I had to write something down is because of this party. There's this senior-only party--ya, a college party--and if your a senior and don't go, your a loser. The student affairs committee holds it every year, there's food, dancing, music, which is bad but nothing compared to the after party. The after party is wild, people openly "do it" while others watch, there's alcohol and weed. If your not hung over or high by the first two hours, your, in the words of a ex-senior, "your not enjoying yourself". I feel bad for the girls who are going to regret getting that drink with that guy the night of the party. If you go to this party, you are putting yourself in an environment where it is just sinful to be there even if you didn't drink or get high. Seriously, there is so much Haram (Anything forbidden in Islam) in this place, how have I survived the pass three years?

Then I remember, Ahmad and Aminah: Subhan'Allah! (It means Glory be to Allah, its a form of remembrance that reminds you that everything is from Allah). If my two amigo's hadn't been with me, I would have definitely committed some huge evil sin by now. Anyway, so we've talked it over and we have a plan.
We will tell everyone that we're going to go to the party, then on that day we won't show up and make some lame excuse. I feel like a coward for doing this but it's either that or weird looks and losing half my post-college future contacts. This is it though, the last big party, once we avoid this, no more weird scheme's to avoid sinful parties.

This one time in freshman year, Ahmad and I went to one of these parties. It was horrible, these guys kept trying to convince Ahmad to drink alcohol but he kept refusing. One of them thought it would be funny to spill some on his head. One thing about Ahmad, he gets mad very easily. Even though the guy was bigger than him, he punched the guy in the face and gave him a black eye. His friends started beating up Ahmad, trying to force him to drink beer and get him high; he kept resisting until I called the cops. Sure, we got into trouble, but it was worth it. Later Ahmad's dad, who is a lawyer, pressed charges against the kids and got they fined and one kicked out. Their gang leader, I think his name was Michael Gregory, got kicked out of the school.

He wasn't just a jerk but a racist and islamophobic too. He was the son of some high-office CIA official too, but that didn't help him against Ahmad's dad, after all he is Ahmad's dad. After he was found guilty, he started cursing us out outside the courtroom. I remember his exact word, he said, "You bastards think America's yours now, once we f**king blow up your country then you'll see whose boss. Go back to Islam land you damn Muslims. We like our beer in America." Ahmad was ready to start up another case by killing this extremely racist idiot, but luckily I stopped him before he did anything irrational. I always think some day he's going to screw with our lives again, he's the son of a white, rich, CIA officer, he's bound to become a member of homeland security. (Humor?). That name still haunts me in the back of my head: Michael Gregory.

This was supposed to be quick but it’s hard to stop writing once you start. Oh Ya, if your wondering what Assalam Wa Aleikum means, it just means peace be upon you in Arabic and is how you say 'hi' or 'bye' to a fellow Muslim. I really have to get going to pick up the paper, but one last interesting fact. In Assalam Wa Aleikum, the ending 'kum' is plural, for when you say it to someone you’re actually having peace being sent upon them three times instead of one. Arabic is an awesome language, well us Arab's think so at least.

Kithab--Assalam Wa Aleikum.

-Amir Habib.