The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf Read Online Free PDF Page B

prostration. No flopping elbows on the floor, because that's a dog posture and Muslims don't do dog. Humility yes, dog no. Seven surfaces only touch the mat during sajda: Palm, palm, knee, knee, foot, foot, forehead. There, after three subhanas, you whispered your private prayers, nose brushing the bumpity carpet. You left room for a baby. If Khadra's brother Jihad was lying there, say, she should be able to make the sajda over him. (And maybe give him a little belly tickle along the way).
    When the portly Uncle Abdulla imamed, his curly-haired little girl Sabriya giggled and threw herself on the round mound of his back and clambered up for a piggyback ride. He let her play, just like the Prophet Muhammad let his granddaughter play on his back when he led the entire Muslim umma in Medina. Khadra sneaked a peek to see why the sajda was so long. Uncle Abdulla waited until the girl had a good grip on his neck, then said allahu akbar" in a slightly choked voice, and rose, lifting her up-up-up on his back. She squealed with such delight that some people in the prayer lines tried to suppress smiles and think of God. Others managed to smile and think of God at the same time.

    American converts found the juloos posture hard. You sat with legs folded under you, thighs pressed against calves. "Americans hardly ever sit on the floor," Khadra's mother observed. "Their bodies forget how to pray after sitting up stiffly at tables and desks, working to gain the wealth and glitter of this world."
    "You forgot to fold your hands, Auntie Dilshad. Mama, why did Auntie Dilshad forget to fold her hands?" Khadra had never seen anyone put their hands down by their sides after the first allahu akbar. "And why is there a piece of rock in front of her?"
    Her mother said "Hush."
    Dilshad Haqiqat salaamd out of prayer mode and said, `It's okay, beti, it's how Shias pray."
    The Shia members of the congregation were the Haqiqat family from Hyderabad, Uncle Zeeshan and Auntie Dilshad and their girls, Insaf and Nilofar. "The rock is from Karbala," she went on. "Where the evil caliph of Syria killed the grandson of the Prophet."
    Her mother steered Khadra away. "We need to go get our shoes," she said.
    All the Sunnis knew the Shias had wrong beliefs but tried to be polite and not talk about it. At least, not in front of them.

    For Sunday school each class took a corner of the mosque and sat on the floor around the teacher. The children were taught by a rotating roster of aunties and uncles anchored by Uncle Taher, who was black and round and immense, with a large, mournful face. He was like a mountain that moved. Khadra used to be scared of him when she was a very little girl, newly arrived, and would run to her seat, heart pounding, when he lumbered around the corner.
    Uncle Taher taught them the Five Pillars. "Tawhid, " he said on the first day. "One God. La ilaha ila allah. That's it. That's Islamlearning to surrender to Oneness. Learn that and you can go home." Tawhid took up half the year. Even after the Tawhid unit, it seemed like every other lesson went back to Tawhid some way or another.
    "God don't look at your skin color. How come?"
    Hakim's hand shot up out of his heavy parka. "Because it's only one God created everyone, so all men are equal."
    "That's right," Uncle Taber said. He blew on his fingers and rubbed his hands together. Outside, the snow was falling. The mosque heater was on the fritz. Four portable space heaters glowed red in the masallah.
    Tayiba raised a mittened hand. "What about women?"
    "`Man' include women," Uncle Taher said. "It's just the way we talk."
    "So men and women are equal too?" she said.
    "God don't care whether you a man or woman, anymore than He look at black or white," Uncle Taher said. "The Quran says, `God don't suffer the reward of anyone's deeds to be lost, male or female.' None of that matters with God."
    Tayiba slid back onto her bottom, satisfied.

    "And who was the first Muslim?" Uncle Taher went on.
    "Abu