Abdul-Malik

Prologue- The Man With a Kufi

     16 year old Aasia Danial, clad in a blue hijab and abaya*, was walking home from school in the Richard Oak's neighborhood. She usually never took this route when returning from school but she was in a bit of hurry today. She never really liked going home alone, she usually took a friend or two with her. Today, however, was a different day. Her family had an important event to attend and she could not be late or miss it. The route going through the Richard Oak's neighborhood was about twenty minutes faster but it was also rumored to be home to thugs and gangsters who engaged in just about every sin in her religion.
     She began picking up her pace as she took a quick glance at her watch. 3:25! I'm gonna be late! She thought to herself. Aasia turned the corner to see six men sitting on some steps in front of one of the townhouses a few feet down the street. She took a deep breath and started to walk in a more fast pace. Please don't say anything to me. Please don't say anything to me! She thought to herself.

     The first big tall man got up suddenly and blocked her path. "Yo shawty what you in a hurry for?" He said with a wink to his friends near him. Aasia yelped from the sudden confrontation. The young girl had almost fell on the floor as she took a step back. She kept her gaze low and tried to walk to the side of the man, however, another man blocked her path. He held a cigarette in his hand, along with no shirt on. He smirked at her. "Yeaa what's the rush. You should take off that scarf and give us a sneak peak mami. Ain't that right Lil B." As he spoke the man's gaze went down to Aasia's breasts.
Lil B who was besides him nudged his friend. "I bet she looks sexy under all them covers Ace."
     The girl was getting terrified, these men were trouble and she knew it. She turned back to leave but almost bumped into the other four men who had almost formed a circle around her. She was trapped. The sudden realization made her start to shake a bit. She had heard stories of evil things happening to people at her age and she didn't want this to be her. One of the men grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "Come on let's go inside mami, I have some things I'd like to show you." She couldn't even move or struggle. What was the point even if she could? There were six against one. She couldn't even fathom this was happening to her. Every possible scenario that played out in her head just made tears flow from her eyes. "P-please just let me go." She whimpered slowly. Lil B smirked. "Hey mami don't cry. We just gonna have some fun then you can go home." He said putting a hand on her shoulder as if to comfort her. They slowly began dragging her towards the townhouse. Allah help me please!
    "Did you know the Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him said: "The best of you are those who are best to the women."?" A mysterious man wearing a kufi** on his head walked up slowly and stopped about two feet in front of them as he finished his quote. "Why don't you let the little girl go? She has better things to do this afternoon I'm sure."
    All the thugs that were pushing her into the townhouse stopped. They all wore a puzzled expression on their faces for a second then Lil B stepped up to the strange man and got near his face. "And who the fuck are you nigga?" He said glaring at him. Ace came up besides him with a laugh. "Listen pops, you should keep walking. This could be yo last convo...nigga." Ace had put a lot of emphasis in his last word.
    The man with a kufi sighed and in a flash he kicked Lil B's knee, breaking it completely. He followed that up with a quick punch to his eye. Ace tried to punch the new opponent but the man caught his fist, twisted and poked his two fingers into Ace's eyes then gave Ace a powerful uppercut which knocked him to the floor with a loud thud.
    The other four thugs threw Aasia to the side. "Come on let's fuck this nigga up." One said picking up a crowbar, the other two picked up knives and a machete, and the final one equipped himself with two brass knuckles.
    The man with the kufi still seemed calm as if he was taking another stroll down the street. They came at him all together, one tried to slash while the others tried to hit him. He stepped back from the first few attacks then he struck. The first knife wielding thug slashed a bit to close and the man with the kufi used a quick strike to his throat and grabbed him in front of him suddenly to take the hit of the man with a crowbar, which knocked the previously abled knife thug to the floor. He grabbed his knife and threw it at the the man with the brass knuckles. The brass knuckled thug screamed in pain as the knife lodged in his shoulder.  The man with a kufi grabbed his forearm and twisted him over his back throwing him on the other knife holding thug. The man with the crowbar came at him, swinging wildly in anger. The man with the kufi used his step back techniques to efficiently dodge every attack.
"The strong man," The man with the kufi spoke quietly as he stepped in close using the Wing-Chun fighting style and took his crowbar then slammed it upwards into the man's throat. "Is not he who is a wrestler," He then used a quick punch to knock the man off his feet. The knife thug whom had just received his fellow thug on him, got up and tried to slash from behind. The man with the kufi turned suddenly, he proceeded to dodge yet another frenzy of attacks then quickly he gave a quick strike to the last thug's heart which was a technique to stop the opponents heart for a second. The man dropped his knife in surprise as he felt the pain of not taking a breath. When he recovered on the next three seconds, the man with the kufi had already delivered five quick punches to his face. The thug fell to the floor with a bloodied face. "But he who controls himself when angry." He finished with a small breath.
    The thug he had thrown was getting up slowly, trying to take the knife out his arm. The man who had just defeated his five peers went over and kicked the thug's face hard knocking him out on the floor with a broken nose to be added to his collection of injuries.
    Aasia looked around at all the six knocked out men, still shaking. She turned to the man who had just defeated six men on his own walk up to her. He gave her a small sympathetic smile. "Are you ok?" He said to her in his soothing soft voice.
She nodded slightly getting up.
The man nodded to her. "Let me walk you home alright?" He looked to a kid who was standing there, his jaw was still open in awe of what he had just done. "Hey kid, call the police. These men need medical attention." The kid nodded and ran in his house.
    As they walked Aasia finally spoke. "T-thank you sir. I was so scared." She said shaking tests threatning to fall more. "Who are you?"
The man smiled lightly. "Alhamdullilah your safe now. A lot of people call me the man with a kufi around here." She looked at him with a puzzled look.
He took a small breath and smiled. "My name's Abdul-Malik."

*Abaya is a long robe like dress which Muslim women wear to modestly cover their bodies.

**Kufi is an Islamic head covering worn by Muslim men.