Sheikh Zaid was by the water skins. They were made of goat skins and quivered obscenely on the sand like giant bloated leeches. Zaid was washing his face, hands and feet before prayer. Iffat gave Nick a twig to brush his teeth with. He watched as the men of the tribe smoothed the sand with their hands and lined up their prayer rugs and bowed their foreheads to the ground, reciting the dawn prayer in unison:

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Youssef came over and translated for Nick. Allah was God, he said. Allah was God’s name just as his name was Nick or “little Scorpion.” You made a ruku bow when you prayed. Formal prayer was called salat. You performed salat five times a day. First at dawn, then at noon. The noon salat was called zuhr. In the afternoon, salat was called ashr. The dusk salat was maghrib and the night salat was isha. Salat was one of the five pillars of Islam, Youssef explained. The others were the shahadah, the confession that there is only one God and no other and that Mohammed is the Prophet of God; the zakat, which is the giving of charity; the siyam, which is the fasting during the holy month of Ramadan; and the hajj, which is the pilgrimage to the holy Ka’aba in Mecca.

As the blazing sun rose into the sky empty of clouds, the women pounded coffee beans in a brass mortar, the pestle ringing against the mortar like a bell. Breakfast was pita bread and goat cheese with sweet tea called shay. Nick was still hungry after breakfast. Yet he noticed that even though the others must have been hungry they refused seconds. Later, he learned that food was often scarce and that the feast of the previous night was a celebration of their victory over the Saar and to honor him because he was a stranger. A guest must always be offered hospitality, even if he is an enemy and you have to slaughter your last camel to feed him.

After tea, Faraj’s wife Jawhara, a fat woman wearing a black milfa veil over her face, served a very thick black coffee spiced with cardamon called ahwa. Each man was served in turn in order of precedence. Nick being the youngest was served last. Jawhara poured a thimbleful into a tiny cup. Each man slurped loudly as he drank. It was bad manners to drink more than three cups. Also, you were supposed to belch after you had eaten. Nick laughed at that, picturing Gran’s horror at all the burping.