Free Zeina by Nawal El Saadawi

have they all gone on a pilgrimage to wash their sins? Or have they become infected with the HIV virus as a punishment from God?
    He moved his head toward the window and looked up at the sky. He watched her come through the door as though heaven had answered his prayers. She came into the garden with her tall erect gait, looking more like a young woman than a little girl of nine. Because she had no parents, Nanny Zeinat took her on and treated her like a daughter. Miss Mariam paid her expenses and predicted a rosy future for her in music and singing. His daughter, Mageeda, looked after her like a sister, and his wife, Bodour, was as kind to her as she was to orphans and illegitimate children. As he opened the door for her, her cheerful voice came to him like the chirping of a bird.
    “Is Mageeda here, Uncle?” “
    Yes, sweetie. Do come in.”
    It was Friday. Through the loudspeakers came the noise of cheers, prayers, and the pronouncements of “There is no god but Allah” repeated a thousand times. The deafening sounds filtered through the various layers of earth and sky, audible to the gods, the angels and the demons, as well as to the living creatures on earth. Even cats reiterated it. They listened to the sounds without understanding the meaning of the words. Like street children, however, the cats picked up the rhythm and repeated it, thinking it was a lullaby a mother sang to her child at bedtime, a poem recited by little girls at school, or the cadence of a dance performed by children on the pavement or on stage.
    Zeina Bint Zeinat went into the large study whose walls were lined with bookshelves. She gasped with childish wonder, “So many books, Uncle!”
    “Yes, sweetie.”
    “You read them all?”
    “Of course, sweetie!”
    On top of the elegant desk stood a plate on which the statement “God guides whom He wills and leaves astray whom He wills” was engraved in an Islamic calligraphic style.
    It was Zakariah al-Khartiti’s motto in life. Guidance came from God and so did transgression. But transgression held a much greater fascination for him than obedience. Sinful joys flowed through his body as warmly as the blood in his veins. The blood accumulated beneath his belly and crept underneath the pubic hair toward the Devil’s gland and the center of temptation.
    Zeina Bint Zeinat walked around the room, tall and graceful, looking at the paintings, vases, and antiques. In the corner of the room sat Zakariah al-Khartiti on a sofa made of soft luxurious leather. He held the statuette of Nefertiti’s head.
    “Come, sweetie, have a look at this statue!”
    “Oh! How lovely! Who’s this woman?”
    “Queen Nefertiti.”
    “Was she a real queen?”
    “Of course! Do you like the statue?”
    “Very much, Uncle”
    “Take it, then, it’s a gift from me to you!”
    She wrapped her long, slender fingers around the statuette and held it firmly. Zakariah al-Khartiti cast a furtive glance at her profile. She held up her nose proudly and her little unformed breasts with their tiny nipples throbbed underneath the white dress. As his finger reached out to touch them, the blood boiled in his veins with the power of an electric shock running through his entire being. He started, panting heavily as if possessed by a mighty force.
    She leapt off the sofa, dashing the statuette to the floor. Her fingers clutched the doorknob to open it, but the door was locked and Zakariah al-Khartiti had the key in his pocket. Unlike girls from good families, she had training in self-defense gained from living on the streets. She had lost her virginity long ago, when her mother left her on the pavement. Though only nine, she wasn’t afraid of thieves or highway robbers. He was fifty-one years her senior, a man whose male urges had suddenly erupted. According to the words of a holy man, when men were in the grip of erotic urges, they lost two thirds of their minds. A battle therefore broke out in the study, a conflict between a man