CROSS IN THE WORLD OF THE CRESCENT MOON

(Excerpts from the book)

Moscow, Blago Publ., 2006

From the author

When I learned that the newborn daughter of an editor I knew was named Katya, I cheerfully advised them to visit the monastery of the heavenly patroness of the baby – St. Catherine – sometime on Sinai. Under the piercing blue Egyptian sky, on the spurs of the biblical Mount Jebel Musa (Moses), an ancient monastery made of dusty granite blocks clings to it. A cross and a crescent moon peek out from behind the high walls. They are crowned with two identical stone domes - bell towers and mosques. But the main value of the monastery is a gnarled tree with knotty branches, dotted with toothed green leaves like nettles. This is the Burning Bush, the thorn bush in the flames of which God spoke to Moses. The holy place is deeply symbolic for representatives of three world religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Cyclopean fortifications with round towers and narrow loopholes give out in the structure not so much a cloister as an impregnable fortress. Unfortunately, the protective letter of the Prophet Muhammad – "ahtinama", sealed with his own "signature" – a handprint and adorning the monastery wall, could not always tame the greed and "holy wrath" of the warlike Bedouin nomads and the rulers of Muslim Egypt. As the tragedies of Beslan, Nord-Ost, September 11, the resort cities of Taba, Eilat and Sharm el-Sheikh show, the tradition of trampling on the opinion of the founder of Islam about a tolerant attitude towards the "people of the book" – Christians and Jews – has taken root. Judging by the murders of monks that contradict the Koran and Sunnah, but often occurred after the Muslim conquest of Sinai, the practice of false jihad dates back almost to the founding of Islam. Therefore, having placed the "akhtiname" in a carved frame and hung it in the most prominent place, the monks did not forget to regularly renovate the mighty walls of the monastery. As a result, the monastery fortifications have practically not deteriorated for one and a half thousand years. It's somehow calmer this way...

And nearby, the folded giant of Jebel Musa is piled up. It is also an amazing monument to the absurdity of the enmity between three related monotheistic religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The biblical Moses once climbed the mountain barefoot to receive the tablets of the Covenant from God. The lawgiver Musa, as the Arabs call the legendary Jewish leader, is revered by Muslims no less than by Jews and Christians. Of course, because through him the Almighty gave people the first commandments. Among them, as you know, "thou shalt not kill." But what do extremists care about the laws of Musa? After all, calling themselves "warriors of Allah", they trample on even their own holy book – the Koran – with their crimes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice that my soft-spoken story about the beauties of Sinai did not touch a single muscle on the editor's face. According to rumors, his forte is a vacation in civilized Europe. I increase the pressure. As if in passing, I add that if you are so lazy to climb the steep of Moses on foot, then you can always come to an agreement with the Bedouins. They will take the pilgrim to the top on a camel for a reasonable fee. The chief maintains an impenetrable expression on his face, worthy of a granite block of Jebel Musa. And I expected that, under the impression of a trip to Egypt, he would order a bunch of articles from me about this fabulous country...

But where did ours not disappear? "I can recommend," I confidentially inform him, "an excellent inexpensive hotel in the Red Sea Sharm. An air-conditioned bus runs from it to the Monastery of St. Catherine. Plus, they bring it to the restaurant, feed it with a free lunch. The sea, the sun - beauty!" But even this information does not cause the slightest surge of enthusiasm in the interlocutor. Finally, the mystery of the allergy to Egypt was revealed. "Not so long ago," he says, "a relative of mine was on vacation in Sharm el-Sheikh. I also praised one hotel. The same one that was blown up by the Islamists the other day." We parted on the fact that I promised to give him a piece of red granite from the biblical mountain as a souvenir, and a paper icon of St. Catherine from the monastery shop.

Yes, it is not safe to travel in the Middle East these days. But in Moscow, London, New York, it is quite possible to fall under the explosion of a suicide bomber. The classics of Marxism, although with a beard to the navel, were mistaken - instead of a world class war, the all-devouring flame of world jihad flared up. It is enough to turn on the TV or open the newspaper, as the roar of explosions, the crackle of machine gun bursts burst from there to the invariable accompaniment: "Allahu Akbar"! A "holy war" from the sands of Mauritania, war-ravaged Iraq, and the pristine jungles of Indonesia to foggy Albion, the mountains of Chechnya and distant Australia on the opposite side of the planet.

What is the reason, and is there a way out of the suicidal religious conflict that has broken out in our days? The question is far from idle. The survival of mankind in the 21st century depends on whether representatives of religions, which unite more than half of the world's inhabitants, will be able to find answers to these questions. Indeed, we live not only in an era of conflict of civilizations, but also when these same civilizations have already armed themselves with weapons of mass destruction. Following the superpowers – Russia, the United States, and China – Islamic countries also gained access to nuclear technology at the turn of the millennium. Pakistan has already tested and adopted the atomic bomb. Iran, through the mouth of its president, which threatened to "wipe Israel off the map of the world" is on the way to its creation. And this is not counting the deadly arsenals of the "weapons of the poor" - chemical and bacteriological weapons, which some crescent countries are rapidly accumulating. Including those who support international terrorism.