Celestial Bodies

Salima reveals that two men (sons of Emigrant Issa) want to marry Asma and Khawla. Asma agrees to think about it; Khawla instantly rejects the proposal and locks herself in the bedroom. Asma continues to perform her household chores and, in an offhand manner, accepts the proposal from “this Khalid boy” (76).

Azzan hurries home from the Bedouins, thinking about Najiya and how she has “taught him his own body” (77). They meet each night out in the sand, where they share “a free relationship” (78). Azzan has since found himself caught up in the relationship, bound into a “most violent sort of slavery” (78). He arrives home to find his family waiting; they tell him that Khawla has locked herself in her room, so he ventures to find her. In Khawla’s room, she accuses her father of betraying her and her late uncle. She talks incessantly and threatens to kill herself. She believes that she is betrothed still to her cousin. Azzan listens carefully to his 16-year-old daughter and tells her not to worry. He speaks to no one that night and lays awake until morning.

Abdallah’s uncle’s wife shouts at Abdallah about his daughter’s name. Abdallah suppresses a laugh while his cousin Marwan watches silently.