Aref woke up from his customary afternoon nap and shouted at his wife in a demanding voice, “O Raifa, where’s the coffee?”
Raifa came speedily into the bedroom and put in front of him a hot cup of coffee from which steam was rising. She told him his mother had called while he slept to let him know his father had a cold and was suffering from a severe cough.
“I hope it turns out well,” he said.
He started drinking his coffee slowly and silently. Suddenly he said to Raifa, “Here, tell me what you want. Your eyes betray you when you want to ask for something.”
Raifa laughed and asked him to teach her how to drive. His face turned red and he refused her request on the pretext of saving her from unforeseen dangers that threatened her life. She tried to argue but he said in a cutting voice, “Forget the subject. I don’t want to hear about it again.”
With a scowl on his face, he dressed and left his ninthfloor apartment. He got into his car and drove to his parents’ house, where he found his father sleeping and his mother darning old socks. He sat opposite her in silence. When she asked him what the matter was, he told her what Raifa had asked for. “Why the anger?” asked the mother, surprised. “You have a car, and Raifa is smart. She’ll learn quickly.”
Aref looked at his mother disapprovingly and said, “It’s a fact that women have half a brain. A kid does not deceive a billygoat. Today she takes the car and drives it, and tomorrow she’ll drive me.”
He rushed out of his parent’s home and headed for the coffee house without waiting for his father to wake up. He sat with his friends, and, as usual, they started to vie with each other in defaming their wives. He told them what his wife had asked for, and they praised his alert and cautious course of action. But they welcomed warmly the thought of having women less ugly than their wives ride them on their backs.
When Aref became hungry and bored with his friends, he went back home and found his wife turning over the pages of a women’s magazine. He snatched it away from her hands and tore it up angrily, saying that magazines like this only spread loose morals and shameless behavior. There was no purpose behind them except to corrupt the wives and daughters of Muslims. Raifa said not a word but rose and reached for the television set. Aref said to her reprovingly, “Don’t break the agreement we made the day we bought it. We agreed that it would be turned on only for the news and religious programs, and for recitations from the holy Qur’an. Now they’re showing foreign films and local serials. Films are forbidden. Watching the immorality that goes on in them is prohibited, and serials are trivial and do more harm than good.”
“How do I entertain myself then?” asked Raifa in a choking voice.
Aref answered, as if amazed, “You can entertain yourself by cleaning the house, washing and ironing clothes, and mopping the floor. Sport and cleanliness at the same time. Didn’t I advise you to memorize the holy Qur’an because it would make you feel good, but you only memorized the opening sura. The house is full of books about the lives of saintly men. I’ll shave my mustache if you touched any of them even once. God protect us from the women of this age!”
Raifa rushed to the balcony in an attempt to throw herself down from the ninth floor, but Aref stopped her. He reproached her, saying that killing oneself is forbidden by God. She then rushed into the bedroom and threw herself on the bed. He tried to take her hand, but she moved away from him as from a stranger. He reproached her again, and said that God and his Prophet abhorred a woman who did not satisfy her husband’s legitimate needs. Raifa then lay on the bed with her legs wide open, feeling certain she would be attempting suicide again.