Ashhadu [I Attest]

Ashhadu (I Attest) begins on September 11, 2001, with the attack on, and destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. It ends on May 2, 2011, with the execution of Osama Bin-Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Shams Ad-Din Mohammad is an Iranian Mojtahed (Islamic law judge) who had immigrated to the United States with his wife, Ha'ideh. She is killed in the September 11th attack. His story begins with that event. In the pursuit of justice for Ha'ideh, he once again finds himself entangled in the chaos of the Middle East, telling us of their life together, giving his reasons for charging the conspirators under Islamic law with murder and terrorism, and his pursuit of them. He concludes by recounting their apprehension, the sentences he imposed, and the imposition thereof. It is a story of devotion to duty, adventure, and romance, in the course of which he, inter alia, compares American history, society, and law with that of Iran and the Canon Law of Islam.