Like the formerly imprisoned, who are happy to be released from captivity but unaware and afraid of how the world has changed, we interacted cautiously and rarely with people who hadn’t experienced the Community. Ummi said they were all kafirs, non-Muslims, and not as connected to God as we were. When I asked her if that meant my grandmother and Ninie were kafirs also, she said yes. “They might be our family, but they are different from us,” Ummi told me. She was teaching me the lessons she had learned from the Community. As we had done in the Community, we didn’t discuss our feelings but
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