Between Two Moons by Aisha Abdel Gawad EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Aisha Abdel Gawad
- Language: English
- Genre: American Literature
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 5.5 MB
- Price: Free
I MAM GHOZZI, eighty-six years old, deaf in one ear, cataracts clouding his
gray eyes, was leaving the Islamic Center after Asr prayers. It was no
longer his mosque, and he still wasn’t quite used to shuffling in and out of the
main entrance just like any other worshipper. Back when he had the keys,
he’d used the back entrance, which led to his own personal office. He’d leave
his shoes there, and not have to riffle through the piles of shoes that crowded
the public entrances. It was a dignified thing, to be the imam of a mosque in
America. Back in Tunis, there were so many mosques and so many imams
that no one paid him much mind.
But here, he’d been the imam of the busiest
mosque in Bay Ridge. Here, everyone knew and respected him. New
immigrants always came to him first—he was like the gatekeeper of Bay
Ridge—and he’d take them to the Arab Center next door to get them a
caseworker, and then he’d invite them over to dinner with his wife. So it
pained him when the board of directors at the masjid gently suggested that it
was time for him to retire. Yes, he’d fallen asleep during a sermon, but it only
happened once. And, yes, he couldn’t really see or hear so well anymore, but
that didn’t mean he couldn’t talk to people—they just had to sit a little closer,
talk a little louder.
He was prepared to put up a fight, but then his wife, the
wisest person he knew, told him the truth, flat out, no sugar coating. “Go out
with dignity,” she had said. “Don’t wait until you’re a joke.” So Imam Ghozzi
ceded his position with grace, giving the keys to his office and to the back
door to that young, flashy imam from New Jersey who always wore those
ridiculous sneakers. But the kids—especially the teenage boys—loved Imam
Tariq and came to prayers far more frequently than they ever had when Imam
Ghozzi was in charge, and how could a man of God complain about that?
It took him a long time to find his slippers among the messy pile of shoes
at the men’s entrance. He found the right slipper but needed to enlist the help
of a boy to find the left one. The boy rolled his eyes—even the cataracts
couldn’t hide that—but searched diligently through the pile until he found the
missing shoe.
Two soft leather sandals on his feet, Imam Ghozzi emerged
into the brutal mid-afternoon sun and started to make his way home. His
wife, Aziza, was cooking liver for supper, and his mouth watered at the
thought of sunset. Distracted, he lifted the hem of his thobe just in time to
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