Psychopath

He told me he was Chechen, which was unusual as most of them would hardly talk to me (or to anyone other than their own).  He was actually from Kazakhstan.  I never got the details, but I remembered having once learned that, during the time of Stalin’s reign, some Chechens had been deported from their native homeland.

I first met this Chechen from Kazakhstan in a private library in Jordan and noticed that his spoken Arabic was not great (despite him studying in the Faculty of Literature).  So I took it with a pinch of salt when he told me that he knew an awesome centre in Alexandria.  However, I started to like him due to the fact he tried to speak in Arabic and we shared a common nostalgia regarding Alexandria.

Guess we became friends after I went through a crisis at the language centre, UJLC.  He had suggested I talk to the president of the centre and so I did.  By that time, the Chechen had studied Arabic for three years (including one year at the Faculty of Literature) and his spoken skills were impressive.  I even had arguments with him about politics and religion in Arabic (with great difficulty).

Things became really complicated when he made a big issue of a friendship I had with a 65 year old woman in London.  According to him, this is forbidden in religion.  I was puzzled by his argument.  How could it be like this when he had become busy hanging out with a Russian lady at the language centre (who had been briefed before departure from her country that she could count on him)?  I challenged him on this point and the Chechen said that he could conceivably develop feelings for her and therefore it was wrong, (but strangely he would continue his friendship with her).  So I asked why that was an issue when he could simply marry her.  Why prefer to stay single when he could marry a girl he trusts?  However, his response was that he would never marry a Russian after how they destroyed his homeland.

In fact, on the basis of this debate we were having, his teenage flat-mate (also Chechen and actually from Chechnya) told me that they are good Muslims and I am a bad Muslim (while shouting at me in the street).  He then explained that at least they admit it is haraam.  However, the truth is (according to ibn Taymiyya* as I understand it) faith is not simply words, but it is also actions, which is why God says in the Quran ‘those who believe and do righteous deeds’ or ‘believe and establish the prayer’ (for example).

Explaining this to them made no difference, just as explaining to them that in religion they can not make something forbidden unless there is a textual evidence for it (with regard to matters other than those relating directly with God or in other words – the worldly life, i.e. transacting with the creation).

Eventually, I suggested we go to the Faculty of Religion in the University of Jordan to ask one of the experts about the issue.  He did not like this idea and said that Jordan is not the place for learning religion.

This guy’s opinions made no sense to me. For instance, on one hand, he scolded me for a friendship with a 65-year old woman in London, but on the other hand, he was obsessed with which girls were enrolling at the language centres. Once after Friday prayer, he called me to invite me to join him at a café to check out the Chinese girls.  Eventually, I started to avoid him.

He also had a habit to exaggerate or to even lie.  He claimed that the language centre of the university was rubbish, yet he chose to study there for a whole year.
He boasted about an apparently excellent centre in Alexandria (where he studied before traveling to Jordan) and that he studied there for a whole year (completing their entire Classical Arabic programme), yet he was struggling in the faculty of Arts (Literature).
He tried to convince me to stay in Jordan, but later it was clear that he was totally bored with Jordan.
He claimed to live in a 2-bedroon flat costing 250 dinars a month (and I double-checked with him), but in reality, he lived in a one-bed flat with two beds (eventually I did visit the apartment).  In actuality a 2-bed flat, in his area, would have cost 350 dinars.

He once said I was too hung up on the small haraams (those things that are forbidden in religion) and neglecting the big haraams, but I thought he was joking (and may be he was).

I also found that he did not practice what he preached and often did his prayers late.  Furthermore, I started to sense a feeling of contempt for me on his side, but, even so, he wanted me to drink tea and eat with him everyday.  He even tried to scare me into not returning to Egypt and convinced me to enroll in a sub-standard centre in Jordan, which he never studied in himself.

The first time I introduced him to a colleague (over lunch), they started to have an argument.  When that stopped, I found myself arguing with him too, but then I thought it was a mis-understanding (as he clarified his opinion a second time).
Later I realized that he was probably surprised to learn that not all British Muslims are ignorant; nor are they all easily swayed by extremist talk or propaganda.
Somehow he had been thinking otherwise (perhaps through his dealings with British people in the past).  Or perhaps he was so use to talking rubbish to his juvenile flat-mate that he left his guard down when talking with other foreigners.

Regarding his flat-mate, when we were in Aqaba, he went ballistic after being told that he was under-age for some of the rides.  Looking back, I reckon if he had a bomb with him, he would have blown it there and then (joke)!

After his flat-mate left Jordan (for Chechnya I thought or possibly Turkey (see below) as a colleague later reckoned), I thought relations might improve between the Chechen and myself, but that was a naïve assumption.

After about six months of hanging out with him I was finally fed-up with him and the retarded conversations (I was also tired of the food in the restaurants and started to cook more at home).  So I avoided him altogether for one month.

Then one day I heard he had been arrested!  I could not believe what I was hearing and did not sleep well that night.  Would they come for me next?

A Turkish colleague explained the context to me, for example, the Chechen’s holiday plan to Turkey was actually an attempt to link up with the al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria (QSIS).  Had he gone ahead with his plan, my colleague would have reported him immediately to the Turkish authorities.  QSIS or the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were actively killing people in Turkey and elsewhere, and my friend would not think twice about reporting him.

My Turkish friend also assured me that I had nothing to fear since the Jordan Intelligence were smart and they had probably been watching him for a while.  Apparently he had not been attending classes or had not even enrolled for the new term and spent most his evenings outside the mini-restaurant talking rubbish with locals and any foreigners who gave him the time.  Alternatively, he would be playing Counter Strike at the Internet café (no relation to his extreme beliefs I am sure, but he was certainly bored).

Perhaps he needed to increase his level of serotonin.

Looking back, I could not believe how much time I had wasted with him.  How could I have been so blind!  He somewhat gave the game away when he exclaimed over lunch that so-and-so had been proclaimed the Prince of the Believers (or caliph).  Apparently I was also present that day, but it was a large group.  We were saying goodbye to a colleague from Taiwan.  The news might have passed me by as I was not really interested (and never thought he was seriously interested either) or perhaps as I was not very familiar with the names nor knew much about them at the time.

Near the beginning of the civil war, I had heard of the Free Syria Army (FSA), but before I left London, on Radio 4, I had heard that jabal al-Nusra were the new rebels on the block.  I’d only learned about the existence of ISIL (or Daish or ISIS) during an Arabic class in Jordan when we were studying a newspaper article.  Our teacher once asked, ‘why do they join ISIL…’ is it in order to get married?

The news was confirmed when I saw his new flatmate.  He told me that the police had arrived to their home and, without giving a reason, had arrested him.  Five days later, he had been deported.  Now he was safe at home with his family in Kazakhstan.

Most of us started to suspect something was wrong with him, but regarding the so-called Dawla Islaameya fe Eraq wa Shaam (Daesh) I had thought it was just mere interest on his part.  For example, once when we were all at the Haashim restaurant in central Amman drinking tea (or more like sugar with tea), he mentioned that the Russian rouble was continually becoming weaker (relative to the dollar) and his tuition fees (at the university) were in USD.  I suggested he buy a load of dollars in case the Rouble goes down further.  His response was that one day the dollar note would be used as toilet paper.

He then referred me to a video he had seen about finance or coinage released by Daesh.  I ignored him as I did not think the information would be anything new to me (since I had already learned about ‘Islamic Finance’ in the past) and I certainly did not like Daesh.

Unfortunately, we had some fun times too.  For instance, we went to Aqaba for a swim, where he fell off a ride and lost his cap and sunglasses, to the deep sea.

Now, all the memories are dark and depressing.

*Sahl ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Tustani said:  “Iman (faith) is a saying, a work, an intent, and a Sunnah (prophetic tradition).”  For if Iman is a saying without works, it will be considered unbelief; if it is a saying and a work but without an intent, it will be considered hypocrisy; and if it is a saying, a work, and an intent but without Sunnah, it will be considered innovation (Kitab al-Iman [Book of Faith]).