During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the CIA places Sergeant Burns, who is also a professor of religious studies in civilian life, on special assignment to decipher a pendant that belonged to the Prophet Muhammad's wife, A'isha. Competing Islamic factions, each led by fanatical clerics, pursue Burns across the Middle East as he uses the clues found on the pendant to search for a forbidden Hadith; writings about Muhammad that threaten to tear Islam apart. The clerics resort to kidnapping Burns' daughter while she vacations in France and plan to exchange her for the Hadith. The CIA learns that Burns now plans to exchange the Hadith for his daughter, which they cannot allow. The Lost Hādīth is loosely based on actual event during Operation Iraqi Freedom.