Madah-Sartre

Act Four: Second Attempt at Conversion

Second Attempt at Conversion scene 1 Saturday morning. Center stage. madah is back, smiling and very happy. He is wearing a new gandoura, gray, opened. Under it, he wears a black suit with a white shirt, with no tie and no hat. madah: Bonjour, Monsieur Sartre. Did you have a good weekend? Did you enjoy your reading? Do you need anything? sartre: No, thanks. madah: Have you read the Book? sartre: Yes I have. madah: So? . . . (waits, hoping) sartre: I learned that God created Adam and Eve. The garden, the snake and the apple. I know that Abraham is Ibrahim. Moses is Moussa. Jesus is Aissa. That Ibrahim, Moussa, and Aissa are very common first names in North Africa. The Koran is a continuation of the Bible, the same source. It all depends on the interpretation you give to the text. madah: You’re right for Moses and Jesus. But you forget the last prophet after them, Mohamed. We believe in your prophets Moses and Jesus, but you don’t believe in ours. It only goes one way. There is no reciprocity. 33 34 [act four ] sartre: Perhaps, perhaps. But you . . . you can go to the West, preach and convert people. Can a Christian or a Jew go to your country and preach? The answer is negative. You do not allow others to preach in your country. madah: (silent . . . tense) sartre: You . . . you can go to France, Europe, the United States, open a mosque, pray, and convert my people to your religion. Will you allow me to open up a church and talk about Jesus? No. You won’t. I do know that you have assassinated four Catholic priests in Kabylie, two nuns in Algiers, seven monks in Méd éa, a bishop in Oran, and it’s not finished yet. Muslims who change religion or who just have a different interpretation are called “apostates.” You forbid your women from marrying Christians, Jews, or Blacks, on the pretext that they do not believe as you do. You see that there is no free exchange in (pointing at him) “your” religion. Can I, atheist Sartre, go to your land and preach my existentialism? madah: No, you are a kaffre, a heretic. We want to give you the chance to save your soul, not to corrupt others. Your file is already heavy. sartre: If I wanted to burn in hell, would I have the liberty to make this choice? madah: Why do you want to burn in hell with Others ? Why make a bad choice? Sartre shouldn’t think he is the character in one of his plays. Why become a Hugo Garcin, spending eternity with two criminals, when you can have virgins from heaven? Why do you want to make such a bad choice when you can redeem yourself, despite a life spent in fornication and scandals? You do know that Simone had lovers, don’t you? She cheated on you many times. You must wash away this affront with blood, by sacrificing this infidel woman. sartre: You want to kill Simone? madah: (silent . . . pauses before speaking) She is the devil in the flesh, the essence of evil. Our feminists look up to her. They have studied her books, they emulate her actions, instead of staying at home and making good Muslim children. They want to relegate man to a secondary position. In the U.S., Lush Rambaugh calls her disciples “feminazies.” Lush is right. We want to save her. You can start by making her wear the hidjab, the Islamic veil. sartre: You don’t want a Simone but rather a Sinone .1 See-mone? No! See-nun? Oui. madah: You surprise me Jean-Paul . . . (cynical laugh) humor . . . Beauvoir is more dangerous than Kahina,2 a redheaded Berber Jewish woman, who fought my Arab ancestors. sartre: Why do you hate Jews? Aren’t Arabs Semites ? You are also children of Abraham, aren’t you? madah: They hate Arabs. They have colonized Jerusalem . sartre: Hate has been taught to you. It is learned 1. Simone de Beauvoir is considered the mother of French feminism . 2. In the eighth century, when Arab invaders arrived in North Africa, they met fierce resistance from a young Berber woman named Kahina. She succeeded in uniting various tribes to fight against the new colonizers. [ scene 1 ] 35 36 [act four ] from one’s parents, one’s family, one’s friends, in one...