Chapter XLIII
Trudy let go of my arm and waved to someone. I turned to see a Nasrani holy man in brown robes coming towards us and waving back: a moment later I recognised him as Brother Hildebrandt.
"Salaam aleikum, brother," I gasped in surprise.
"Aleikum asalaama, Fuad," he laughed at my astonishment. "Trudy said that she would try to bring you today and I came to make sure that there is no problem."
"Problem?" I raised my eyebrows.
Brother Hildebrandt nodded towards the men guarding the doorway.
"It is possible that they might be narrow-minded enough to object to a follower of the Prophet entering the tomb of Christ."
"But we also respect Jesus, peace be upon him," I protested.
"I know," Brother Hildebrandt nodded vigorously. "You, like us, are 'am al-kitab' - people of the book - but you see, we believe that Jesus is God and you believe that He is only a prophet. Some ignorant ones feel that that is enough to separate you from God. I'm sorry for this."
I shrugged but had nothing to say. Trudy took hold of my arm again and stretched up to whisper in my ear.
"We know better, you and I."
She smiled at me and what could I do? I smiled back into her green eyes and Brother Hildebrandt smiled at both of us. We were at peace together, a monk, a Muslim and a woman. Al-hamdu-lillah.
It was as well that Brother Hildebrandt was with us, for one of the guardians, a tall man in black robes and with a high cylindrical hat on his head, stared at me very suspiciously but with Trudy crossing herself on one side of me and Brother Hildebrandt crossing himself on the other side of me and both holding my arms, he could say nothing. Together we squeezed through the narrow doorway and into a small, dark room.
"Slowly, slowly," Brother Hildebrandt whispered.
The room was crowded with people standing around waiting for their turn to go through another low doorway into an even smaller room where I could see pilgrims kneeling in front of a raised shelf of stone. One of them stood up and pushed his way out and we advanced a pace.
"In there," Brother Hildebrandt spoke quietly into my ear, "is the actual tomb of Christ. That stone shelf is where His body was laid on the day He was killed, which was a Friday. Early on the Sunday morning women came to weep at the tomb and found that it was open. When they looked in Jesus was not there, only the sheet in which His body had been wrapped was lying on the shelf."
The man in front of us ducked through the doorway and immediately knelt in front of the shelf, crossing himself repeatedly while he muttered prayers. He bent foward and kissed the stone then prayed some more and crossed himself again.
The man next to him stood up and came out and Trudy let go of my arm and slipped into the tomb. She knelt down and kissed the stone, then crossed herself, kissed the stone again and then stood up and came out, beckoning to me to enter in her place.
I bent my head and stepped into the tomb, then stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. After a while I remembered that when our family visited the shrine of the Tomb of Musa, we touched the tomb with our fingers and then kissed them, and I thought that it would do no harm to act in the same way here, for Jesus, peace be upon him, was truly a prophet of Allah. I ran my fingers lightly over the smooth stone of the shelf and then touched them to my lips.
"Bismillah," I muttered. "Bismillah."
Now that I had settled how I should show reverence for the prophet Isa I was free to look about me. There were some silver lamps hanging from the ceiling, a couple of the pictures that the Greeks call "icons", the other pilgrims and myself; that was all. I remembered Brother Hildebrandt telling me, "Jesus rose from the dead. God raised Him up. That is why His body is not there."
"Wallah!" I thought to myself. "It is true. The tomb is empty!"
I stood for a moment longer and then turned and came out. To my surprise Brother Hildebrandt simply crossed himself and bowed his head towards the inner room, then he took my arm and conducted me out into the main part of the church.
As soon as we were well away from the tomb and its black-robed guardians I turned to Brother Hildebrandt. "You were right, brother," I told him excitedly. "The tomb is empty!"
Brother Hildebrandt smiled. "Of course. That is why we are Christians. Jesus rose from the dead, showing that He has authority even over death itself. He offers to exercise that same authority for us, to free us from death. All we have to do is believe in Him and make Him our lord."
"What is the Nasrani shahada?" I asked, suddenly curious.
Brother Hildebrandt shook his head. "There is no shahada among us. People come to faith in many different ways, so how can there be one single profession of faith? All you need to do is say - or even think - something like, 'I believe that Jesus is the Saviour of the world' or 'I believe that Jesus is my Saviour'."
"That is all?" I was surprised.
"Certainly. If you believe that, you are a Christian."
"But don't I have to believe in your Trinity?" I demanded.
Brother Hildebrandt shook his head. "No, for there are those who do not believe it or who do not believe it exactly as we do. They are mistaken, but I do not think that their mistake is such as to condemn them to the Fire."
I was silent, remembering Dame Katarina and Papa Makarios and how they disagreed over the nature of the Trinity, yet considered themselves Christians. I was roused from my thoughts by Trudy taking hold of my arm.
"We'd better go now," she said. "Thanks for coming, Brother Hildebrandt." She knelt before him, sliding her hand down to mine as she did so.
"Bless you, my child," he said, making the Nasrani sign on her forehead. He turned to me. "Fuad, this may be the last time we meet, for I am summoned to return to my duties in France. May I bless you, also?"
Remembering Harun and Dame Melisende I thought it no wrong to permit it or even to kneel down before him. I heard Trudy gasp as I did so and then she squeezed my hand and shifted a little closer to me so that we knelt side by side and hand in hand as Brother Hildebrandt made the Christian sign over us.
"Bless you both, my children. May God bless and prosper you in all your ways."
