Guests of the Sheik

“I couldn’t decide whether I felt like a debutante being presented at court or Joan of Arc going to the stake.” 

Elizabeth is apprehensive about having lunch at the home of the sheik and being alone with the women of the sheik’s household. Though she wants to help Bob with his work, especially since he is unable to access this segment of society, she is apprehensive about being a subject of curiosity in the town. 

“[S]he was now neither widow, virgin, nor divorcee, and hence had no future. Yet she was intelligent and industrious and her advice was much sought after by other women and girls…She helped keep the family alive.” 

Elizabeth describes Mohammed’s sister Sherifa. On one hand, her social status is diminished by the fact that she has no clear role as a woman, neither as a wife or a mother. On the other hand, she is still respected and sought after by other women in the society, and she contributes greatly to the family, complicating our idea of women in this society. 

“I admired and liked the two teachers and enjoyed their company. They were intelligent enough to have some grasp of why we were there…when I was depressed I would put on my abayah and walk across the bridge to Sitt Aliyah’s house…It was comforting to know that even in El Nahra there were women who cared about such things, who worked subtly to improve conditions around the, but always from a position of strength and acceptance in their own community.” 

Through her descriptions of the women of the town whom she admires, Elizabeth reveals much about her own preoccupations, preconceived notions about women, and prejudices. Though she admires the school teachers, she only thinks that they are “intelligent enough.” Still, Elizabeth is surprised that there are progressive women in a remote Iraqi village. 

“I remember the proud, gay procession we had seen along the road, the drums, the pipes, the flashing eyes of the women as they jingled their bracelets and swished their bright-colored petticoats. I was glad Khadija had not come with us.” 

At the end of this chapter, Elizabeth reflects on the differences between her two encounters with the Roma troupe that passes through the province. When she first encounters them, she is delighted and entertained. When she encounters them in a more intimate fashion the second time, she notices the poverty, exhaustion, and malnourishment among them.

“If you will open your gate, we will come in and show you how to cook rice so your husband will be pleased with your food…We don’t want your husband to beat you…After all, you are here alone without your mother.” 

In this chapter, Elizabeth struggles to make friends and fit in with the women of the tribe. Just when she feels that she has utterly failed, a group of women visit her and offer to help her in a kind yet somewhat misguided way.

“Jabbar was a passionate believer in the need for Iraqi national reform, like many young, first-generation educated men and women who knew from personal experience that conditions were deteriorating in the rural areas. Bob met many of these young men, and they all believed firmly that the Nuri Said government would soon be overthrown. Diplomats and foreigners, seeing only Baghdad’s economic boom, pooh-poohed such talk when we met them at parties. The revolution, when it did come one year later, appeared to surprise almost every embassy in Iraq.” 

Elizabeth describes the great Iraqi and global political context of the 1950s that informs events in the country and in El Nahra. She showcases the disparity between urban Baghdad and the rest of rural and impoverished Iraq.

“I cannot say exactly what I had expected this man to be like, whose lineage was one of the oldest and purest in southern Arabia and whose position had become synonymous in my world with romance, wanderlust, and mystery. But I didn’t expect him to be quite so solid and dignified, exuding an air of middle-aged respectability and authority.” 

Having spent her first few months in El Nahra completely secluded from the men of the tribe, Elizabeth is left to wonder what the sheik, the most important man of the tribe, is like. She reveals here that her first image of him was quite romanticized and Orientalized because, in reality, he is a respectable and dignified leader.

“The women began to stream out, smiling and chattering, drawing their veils over their faces and bidding each other good night…Fadhila led me over to our hostess, where we sat down for a final chat and cigarette before departing. It was hard to believe that these decorous and dignified ladies were the same women who, five minutes ago, had thrown themselves into a ritual of sorrow for the martyr. I was quite overcome by the episode and found it difficult to respond easily to the conversational overtures being made by my hostess.” 

Elizabeth is very moved when she witnesses her first kraya, a women-only religious reading during the holy month of Ramadan. Though she retains some of her reservations and prejudices, she adopts a more nuanced and appreciative view of the women of El Nahra as well as women within Islamic culture.

“‘Oh, that is an old poem,’ she said. ‘Elizabeth, great queen Elizabeth, you were always our friend before, why did you desert us in Palestine?’” 

While listening to the tribesmen sing Sheik Hamid’s praises, Elizabeth is convinced that she hears words in English. She asks Laila if this is true, and Laila translates the above passage for her. The passage is likely a reference to Britain’s role in creating the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the twentieth century.

“My partial acceptance into the society of women was a mysterious process, and I have often wondered what marked the turning point…Probably it was a combination of particular circumstances…plus the fact that people were just becoming used to our presence. Also, as my Arabic improved I was able to participate more fully in the half-joking, half-serious teasing with which the women entertained each other.” 

Even though she introduces it as more of a side note, Elizabeth reveals the fundamental importance of communication among the women of El Nahra. Because her Arabic was rudimentary when she first came to the settlement, she could not communicate with them on the level required for social acceptance. Once she became more adept and assimilated linguistically, she was accepted more and more by the women.

“The groom’s smiles meant that indeed everything was all right; the girl was a virgin, the man and his mother were satisfied. If they had not been, the groom had the right to demand that one of her relatives kill the bride on the spot. The right was not often exercised but it had happened within the memory of Laila. In that case the girl had not been killed, but send home in disgrace. Her life was ruined; she might better have been dead, Laila told me.” 

When it comes to family and marriage, a bride’s chastity is of primary importance. Elizabeth reveals that the entire community confirms the fact that a new bride is a virgin, and she explains that the consequences of not being one are dire. Though women are no longer killed for not being virgins on their wedding day, they become outcasts. 

“There was no one for them to marry. Prohibited by the code of their tribe from marrying men other than first cousins or similar close relations, they were trapped by circumstance, by social forces within Iraq which they were powerless to change…These young men had been sent to Baghdad to study in the new coeducational colleges there and they had emerge with Westernized ideas. They wanted to marry educated girls who could be companions as well as wives and mothers. The boys could find such girls…The girls were the ones who suffered, destined to stay year after year, unmarried…An empty and meaningless life, the reasons for which they would never be able to understand.” 

Elizabeth is astute to recognize the ways in which tradition puts the women of El Nahra at a disadvantage, but she inadvertently reveals many of her own preoccupations and biases. One is that these women cannot find any fulfillment or happiness beyond marriage. However, in the same chapter, Laila recognizes that getting married would mean that she would have significantly more work to do, and she hopes to go to school instead.

“‘But,’ came the inevitable argument, ‘isn’t our way better? Mr. Bob can divorce you and then you have no home. But if the sheik were to take another wife…he would still have to take care of all his present wives and children. Which is better?’ And before I could reply they would chorus, ‘Our way is better,’ nodding their heads to each other in agreement.” 

This comical exchange between Elizabeth and the women of the sheik’s household indicates that both parties perceive points at which their cultures clash and want to discuss them. Ultimately, however, the women of the sheik’s household conclude that their culture is superior. 

“‘In Iraq in summer the days are very hot, but the nights are very beautiful,’ ran one of the phrases we had learned in our colloquial Arabic course at Georgetown University. I have often wondered about the homesick Iraqi who was the author of the phrase, writing about the marvelous summer nights in Iraq from his desk in the steaming humidity of a Washington, D.C., summer.” 

We see Elizabeth connect the past, present, and future with this quote. She reflects on the time before she and Bob came to Iraq and when they were just learning Arabic in the United States. She reflects on the present summer she is spending in Iraq, but the quote hints that she actually composes this work after reflecting on her time in Iraq. 

“There was no doubt, however, as to Hussein’s pride in his lineage and his clan. He could give us from memory, his entire family tree going back five generations, when one Jassim and his brother Shebib had settled in the valley. This is what it meant to have a sense of the past…” 

Hussein, Elizabeth and Bob’s armed guard, is from a nearby impoverished clan. Despite the clan’s poverty and near bankruptcy due to soil salination and their reliance on Haji Hamid, men like Hussein are ever-aware of the prestige and importance of their lineage.

“And then you will go home to America and lecture and tell everyone that all Iraqis are backward, uneducated, superstitious people.” 

Jabbar shows some irritation when Bob insists on seeing Shia customs such as self-flagellations during the mourning month of Muharram. He worries that Bob and Elizabeth will tell other Americans that Iraqis are backward, showing his peculiar perspective on their work in El Nahra as a self-conscious Iraqi with a Western education. His thoughts on the matter reflect an internalization as well as a criticism of colonialism and neo-colonialism in the Middle East.

“All the apocryphal stories of Shiite fanaticism rose before me, and I had a few bad moments imagining a Grade B extravaganza in which I was unveiled as an infidel and an impostor in the middle of the night by excited crowds and borne a lot to the mosque where I was presented to the mullah to do with as he wished. I knew I was being silly, that my friends were with me, and that even sleeping in the street would not be a catastrophe, but by now I felt panicky.” 

Elizabeth’s preoccupations reveal the extent to which she looked at Iraq and Karbala through the eyes of an Orientalist. She writes it off as simple silliness, but her comments reveal assumptions about Shia Muslims and Iraqis despite her close familiarity with this culture.

“A man might be a devote father or brother or a loving husband, but in El Nahra, he was seldom, if ever, a companion. I never heard a woman discussion her emotional attitude toward her husband or father or brother, but long hours were spent in debates about the fidelity or indifference of women friends.” 

Elizabeth comes to recognize the importance of female friendships in this culture. Women depend on one another for emotional support, among other things, and they are possessive of these relationships. As Selma reminds Elizabeth, she may be friendly with many women, but she is only Laila’s friend.

“But I began to realize that Bob and I would never be other than foreigners, even though our efforts to conform to the local customs might prove ingratiating. No one would seriously blame us for our lapses, but we had to recognize our responsibility when, on our account, other people were exposed to blame or shame or worse.” 

Elizabeth begins to understand the gravity of her decision to join Aziza and Laila on a trip to the countryside with Aziza’s rakish male cousin. Though the blame is only partially hers, she becomes aware of her role in this mistake and that Laila could suffer as a consequence. 

“Someone had once told me that in this society loneliness was one of the greatest misfortunes, for it meant that your family had deserted you, and you had no one sufficiently concerned for your welfare to stay with you. Where I felt I needed solitude to recover from an illness, my friends in El Nahra believed just the opposite.” 

Elizabeth describes another cultural clash between Iraq and the United States. While she prizes her privacy and solitude as she recovers from the flu and bronchitis, friends like Laila demand that they get to be by her side and keep her company while she recovers.

“By the end of the week Abdul Razzak’s family had agreed, but the girl, also infected with the new progressive ideas she had picked up in school, had said that she wanted to meet Jabbar before she personally would consent.” 

Despite the fact that marriage negotiations are truly a family affair in Iraqi culture, this quote demonstrates that the bride-to-be is consulted. In this particular case, the modern-educated bride insists on meeting her potential future husband. During the meeting, both she and her potential husband realize that they do not like each other.

“She broke down, and the women covered their heads again and wept with her. This time I did, too, covering my head with my abayah and sobbing without restraint. I felt sorry for Um Saad, sorry for her mother, sorry for myself even, far from home and my own mother.” 

This is a rare instance in which Elizabeth shares true emotion with the women of El Nahra. Though she is surprised by Um Saad’s open mourning for her mother, Elizabeth ends up overtaken by emotion and joins in the mourning herself.

“That night I sat in my kitchen and wondered at the changes in me. We were scheduled to leave El Nahra within a month, and I found I was avoiding the thought. During the last year and a half my life had slowly but surely become intertwined with the lives of my women friends, and I was surprised at the depth of my feelings.” 

Elizabeth shows more emotion as her departure from El Nahra nears. She is surprised by how deeply she has connected with the women of the settlement and at the fact that she dreads leaving them.