God Dies by the Nile and Other Novels by Nawal El Saadawi Page A

atmosphere around her smell like a latrine which was never washed down. She did not know exactly what it was that was wrong with her, but ever since her childhood she had felt there was something impure about her, that something in her body was unclean and bad. Then one day Om Saber came to their house, and she was told that the old woman was going to cut the bad, unclean part off. She was overcome by a feeling of overwhelming happiness. She was only six years old at the time.
    After having done what she was supposed to do, Om Saber went away leaving a small wound between her thighs. It continued to bleed for several days. But even after it healed she was still left with something unclean in her body which used to bleed for several days at a time. Each time she had her periods the people around her would have a changed expression in their eyes when they looked at her, or they would avoid her as though there was something corrupt or bad about her.
    Later, when she married Sheikh Hamzawi, he too would shy away from her whenever she had her periods, and treat her as though she was a leper. If his hand inadvertently touched her shoulder, or her arm, he would exhort Allah to protect him from the evil Satan. Then he would go to the water closet, wash himself five times and do his ablutions again if he had already done them. In addition she was not allowed to readthe Koran or to listen to it being read or recited. But once her periods were over, and she had taken a bath, and cleansed herself thoroughly, he allowed her to pray, and to recite passages from the Koran.
    Every night before she went to bed Sheikh Hamzawi made her sit on a carpet opposite him, and showed her how to pray. She did not understand what the words he recited meant, they were difficult words and she kept asking him to explain their meaning to her. But he used to respond in a very discouraging and rough way, insisting that the words of Allah and the rituals of prayer were supposed to be learnt by heart and not understood. So Fatheya tried to memorize them as best she could. The instructions of Sheikh Hamzawi kept echoing in her ears.
    â€˜Prayer is built on certain well defined movements of the body, namely: kneeling, prostrating yourself twice each time you kneel, and then sitting up with your feet under the body to recite the testimonial. In addition, there are certain conditions which must be strictly adhered to. In males the body must be covered from the waist downwards to a point below the knees. In females, the whole body should be covered with the exception of the palms of the hands, and the face. At the beginning of the prayer you must stand upright with the face looking straight in front of you, and the feet kept straight on the ground. In the case of males the hands should be lifted and held in line with the ears when declaiming the All Powerfulnessand Almightiness of Allah. In females the hands should be held in line with the shoulder bone. The next movement in males is to put the right hand over the left hand and cover the belly below the waist with both the hands, whereas in females the hands are to be placed over the chest.
    â€˜Whenever you kneel or prostrate yourself you must do it completely. When you kneel repeat, “I praise thee O Almighty God” three times. And when you prostrate yourself repeat, “I praise thee O highest of all gods” three times. Your prayers become null and void if you say anything extraneous to the words of the prayer, or laugh or soil your cleanliness after ablutions in any way, particularly if you let out wind from the back passage.’
    So every evening Fatheya would sit on the prayer carpet and repeat the same ritual. Then she would recite the holy verse of ‘The Seat’, and perhaps other verses. Her lids would feel heavy, and quite often she fell asleep while kneeling. In her ears echoed the words of Allah and between her thighs crept the hand of Sheikh Hamzawi. She abandoned herself to