The Submission

Mo visits the God Box, which houses a Muslim organization, a Jewish organization, and several kinds of Christian associations, both mainline and evangelical. He goes to meet the Muslim personality he’d seen on TV, Issam Malik. Malik heads the Muslim American Coordinating Council, also known as MACC. Mo hopes to get Malik’s help in defending his winning entry.

Mo is instantly taken into a meeting with a group of very varied Muslims—South Asians, African Americans, several women wearing the hijab, and one woman with her head uncovered wearing a purple suit. The conversation turns toward the American rejection of Muslims, but when one man mentions how so many more Muslim Afghan children have died due to US sanctions than US citizens died in 9/11, Mo redirects the conversation, saying he wants to build an American memorial—other countries could build their own. Finally, the group votes by two-thirds majority to assist Mo in his cause. Laila, the Iranian woman in the purple suit and an attorney, suggests they might wield the most leverage by implying there could be a lawsuit. They decide that Laila will field any questions when Mo appears in public.

The week the committee learns the name of the project winner, Claire’s little boy William has a nightmare that his father couldn’t find his way home. A spur-of-the-moment decision leads Claire to let the children have a day off from school. They go out, building small mounds of rocks leading from Ground Zero to their home. The small piles are cairns, or groups of stones intended to be a memorial or landmark. Once, on a hiking trip, Cal had explained that cairns would help them find their way home if they ever got lost. Finally, Claire returns to her routine by taking calls, all from relatives of victims who want to weigh in on the selection of the memorial.

On a stage in front of a group of victims’ families, mostly those of firefighters, Claire is greeted by Sean, whom Claire has cultivated as a friend to garner favor for the garden. He is the representative of the greater community. They are surprised by the arrival of the governor. Claire promises to represent them well but doesn’t say she will abandon the winning design. The raucous crowd yells out against Muslims and the memorial design. Claire sidesteps their demands by asking if they like gardens, and they all do. She assures them that the committee will make the best decision, hinting only slightly that the winner will still be the winner. After the speeches, Claire is confronted by a bitter older woman who turns out to be Mrs. Gallagher, Sean’s mother. She tries to gouge the truth from Claire, but Claire concedes only in a roundabout way.

Just as Claire is heading for the restroom, she hears Alyssa Spier demanding the name of the Muslim designer. Claire dives into her car and slams the door, barely missing the reporter’s fingers.

When the press conference at MACC with Mohammed Khan finally arrives, Claire is surprised by his normal, well-dressed, and self-assured appearance. Mo holds up the newspaper depicting the stereotypical terrorist and says he supposes that it is supposed to be him. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. He shares his true background: He was born in Virginia and lived most of his adult life in New York. Mo says he designed the memorial to be a special place where people could grieve. He reveals that he’s been asked to withdraw or not to take personal credit. He refuses to do that. To do so would be to deny the country’s credo of being open to people of all sects and creeds.

After describing the garden design, he yields the floor to Laila Fathi, the attorney from the MACC meeting. She indicates that the plans for the memorial must go forward as planned.

The reporters go wild, and Alyssa Spier is hit hard on the back several times by cameramen rushing forward for photographs. When she goes home and searches Khan’s name, she gets an enormous number of hits, what with Mohammed Khan being the “John Smith” of the Arab world. Finally, she discovers he is in a partnership with his best friend—Thomas Kroll—and Alyssa immediately goes barreling to Kroll’s house. She quickly learns that Mo submitted the entry alone, behind Kroll’s back, a betrayal. Hurt but still loyal, Kroll gives Alyssa some mostly positive information about Mo’s character. As she rushes out the door, she puts the other reporters off the trail.