The Imam

Currently Shia Islam has many sects, and legend also has it that the current Imam is represented by an open and visible leader, or bavasaab. This story puts such a relationship between the current underground Imam and his visible representative into modern context. The Imam is a fictitious account of the events preceding the Twelfth Imam's rebirth and the life he lives afterwards.

Fatima inspected her swollen belly in the creases of sunlight which glowed through her small hovel. She had been told by Mama Khadija that she carried a child. Through the tender months of feeding herself extra rice borrowed from her friends, she sometimes stopped her cleaning work and took walks above the slum area. She imagined living in a household with servants of her own and giving her child, be it male or female, a place and home on the hills. She knew the key to this arrangement rested with the father of the child. Even though she banged on the gate of the Drakni Drive home for a week straight, Shrika would not let her in. Her belly grew, and she cursed the father and how he rolled on top of her in the middle of the night and imposed what she never wanted to offer.