In contrast to my parents’ newfound leniency, Nasir had begun to police my behaviour. One of the ways he did so was to closely examine the books I borrowed from the library and piled high on my nightstand. Nasir wanted to make sure that nothing was polluting my mind, encouraging me to be a kaafir, a disbeliever. He was threatened by my education and its potential to create a power imbalance between us. Literature in English made him particularly wary, as it might instill in my head ideas he had no control over. Unlike my mom, he didn’t see any benefit in my getting an education, and he made
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