Chapter 15

THE LETTER

11th of Jumaada al-THanny 1417

(October 24, 1996)

“Dear Mother,” wrote Rashida.

“I’m sorry for not writing for so long, and I hope you are in the best of health and in the best of spirits. Many things I want to tell you, and I hope your reaction will be calm and collected. All of this has a very happy ending. I would never write anything to alarm or disturb you. I am perfectly safe, and I am doing well.

“I’ve recently left the university. I was expelled for apostasy and disobedience towards the administrators. So far I’ve been out for close to three weeks. The expulsion hit me hard, and I never want any part of that university again. I am much better off. I am free to live without the influence of the clerics. It’s actually better for me. All the while I saw injustice after injustice towards women carried out day after day. The way we treat women is terrible, and the condition is so bad that such oppression is even institutionalized. The sexism is more subtle. Actually I am lucky. I have found another life with a man who has left the university with me.