Finding Nouf Read Online Free PDF Page B

of him, the Shrawi brothers formed a dignified crowd. Nayir was the only non–family member in the group—at least among the men—and this distinction pleased him almost too much on so grim an occasion. Behind them the women stood in a cluster. From the corner of his eyes, Nayir noticed that some were not veiled completely—their eyes were showing—and he kept his gaze firmly on the men.
    Suddenly the imam put his hands to his ears and invoked one of the ninety-nine names of Allah: Al-Haseeb, the Reckoner. As his prayers began, all the members of the congregation placed their hands on their bellies, right over left, and began to whisper their own versions of the prayer. As the prayer expanded, the chanting grew fiercer and the women grew louder, some even breaking from traditional prayers to utter spontaneous pleas. Above the ruckus Nayir heard Nusra repeating the prayer "Oh Allah, make the end of my life the best of my life, and the best of my deeds their conclusion, and the best of my days the day on which I shall meet Thee." Her voice was so powerful that the men began to hush. It reverberated through the open room and overcame the crashing waves on the rocks below.
    When she was finished, she called out one last thing, her voice rising to the roof like a scurrilous wind: "Works are accomplished according to intentions. A man receives only what he intends."
    It was not clear why she uttered this phrase; surely Nusra would never send her daughter to the gates of Paradise with a thought as cynical as that one. It must have been meant for somebody else. Unable to turn around and look at her face without humiliating himself, Nayir made assumptions about her meaning by studying the faces of her sons, who stood nearby in a militant row. Even from the side they projected the same anger that had shocked Nayir in their mother's voice, and in that precise moment he realized that the family must know that someone killed Nouf and that the killer was still at large.
    Othman caught his eye, and Nayir quickly returned to his prayers. Once they were finished, he followed the procession out to the burial grounds. Nouf was the first Shrawi to be laid in the earth on that Red Sea isle, but the family had constructed a spacious graveyard fenced by a black stone wall. A thick layer of cedar chips covered the earth except where the diggers had opened her grave.
    After the diggers laid the body in the hole and climbed back up to join the living, the family lined up to pay their final respects. From the back of the hand, each person tossed a portion of sand onto her body, which was still wrapped in the
kafan.
A coffin would be vanity.
    From a white ceramic bowl, Nayir scooped out a teaspoon of sand and spread it on the back of his hand. It was a very finegrained sand, a shade lighter than his skin. The diggers must have carried it up from the beach. The sand's touch brought back memories of the desert when he'd still believed that Nouf was alive, when he imagined she might be in hiding.
    Reaching the grave, he noticed something odd. The sand had not obscured the position of the body. She was wrapped completely in the
kafan,
but a slight bend in the knees indicated which way she was facing. He tossed his sand into the hole and fumbled in his pocket for his compass. A quick glance at it determined that he was right: Nouf's back was turned to Mecca. Not her feet, but her
back.
He mumbled a blessing and turned away.
    The image disturbed him. If what he suspected was true, why hadn't Miss Hijazi told him?
    A family buries a woman with her back to Mecca only when she carries a baby in her belly, a baby whose face, in death, must be turned in the direction of the Holy Mosque.

4
    N AYIR ENTERED the men's sitting room and stood for a moment facing the courtyard. A network of hand-carved mahogany screens laced the room, and through their geometric web flowed the sound of gurgling fountains. In the center of each screen was a religious phrase carved in