Mornings in Jenin

by Susan Abulhawa

“Should we say the Fatiha for my great-teta Basima?” “Of course,” Ari said. “Will you teach it to me? The Fatiha?” David finally asked. “Of course.”

though I was capable of great cruelty, so am I of great love.

. . . Love, Ismael

For I’ll keep my humanity, though I did not keep my promises. . . . and Love shall not be wrested from my veins.

“Allaho akbar” is used in nearly every conceivable context among Arabs, and always as a humbling reminder that God is bigger than any event or circumstance and therefore faith in Him is the answer.

Suggested reading Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns; Sandy Tolan, The Lemon Tree; Jean Said Makdisi, Teta, Mother, and Me: Three Generations of Arab Women; Edward Said, Out of Place: A Memoir; Ibtisam Barakat, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood; Sari Nusseibeh, Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life; Rajah Shehadeh, Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape; Ghada Karmi, In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story; Mourid Barghouti, I Saw Ramallah; Elizabeth Laird, A Little Piece of Ground.