Guests of the Sheik

Bob Fernea is Elizabeth’s husband. To obtain his doctorate in social anthropology, he chooses to study a Shia Muslim tribe living in the southern Iraqi village of El Nahra. Bob is nervous about how Elizabeth will be received by the people of El Nahra. He tries his best to make jokes and stay positive in order to bolster Elizabeth’s spirits, but sometimes he is irritated by her and snaps at her.

Bob encourages Elizabeth to don the abayah cloak in order to acculturate, to be more comfortable, and to help him with his work. He relies on Elizabeth to gather research on the women of the tribe because he has no access to them. Bob tells Elizabeth not to worry about bonding with the women, reminding her that they are there to observe. Bob often tells Elizabeth about the men of the tribe, explaining who has a reputation and why. Their research is complementary.

Bob is devoted to his work and insists on maintaining a good reputation in El Nahra. He is sad about leaving El Nahra, and he is surprised to find that Elizabeth feels the same way, showing that his preoccupation with work distances him from Elizabeth.

Mohammed is a kind young man who has been assigned to serve Elizabeth and Bob by Haji Hamid. He shops for Elizabeth and helps her maintain the household, but he begs her and Bob not to tell anyone because he does not want to be ridiculed “for doing women’s work” (17). Elizabeth notes early on that both she and Mohammed seem scared of one another, which puts her at ease. She appreciates that Mohammed never laughs at her or Bob, politely advises them on how to act, and refuses to gossip about them to curious outsiders.

Elizabeth describes Mohammed as a gentleman. He helps the Ferneas for wages but also because they are “his special responsibility” (15). In fact, he is later referred to as part of their family. When Laila, Aziza, and Elizabeth take a trip to the country with Aziza’s rakish male cousin, Mohammed is the first to alert Elizabeth of the potential danger of the trip. He does everything he can to rectify the situation, including lying. The incident proves how loyal he is.

Sheik Haji Hamid is the chief of the El Eshadda tribe. He invites Elizabeth and Bob to El Nahra as his honored guests, and he provides a mud house and a walled garden for them. Throughout the book, Bob and Elizabeth are considered his protected guests, and he is an excellent and generous host. He allows Bob to ride his prized horses, and he assigns Elizabeth a watchwoman while Bob is away on a trip. When Sheik Hamza tries to visit Elizabeth when she is observing the custom of seclusion, Haji Hamid sends Mohammed to help her.

Elizabeth describes Haji Hamid as dignified, sincere, fatherly, and quite the opposite of the garrulous Sheik Hamza. Haji Hamid makes sure that Elizabeth and Bob know that they are welcome in his home and can ask him for anything.

When Elizabeth realizes that Haji Hamid gave his favorite summer garden to her and Bob, she understands what a hospitable host he is. However, Haji Hamid reveals some of his prejudices when he explains that he once tried to be adventurous by vacationing in Cyprus: He was struck by the image of “strange men and women” interacting freely and decided instead to vacation in Lebanon where the culture was more familiar to him.

Haji Hamid cares for all of the people and farmers under his command, and everyone attests to this. When his son comes down with typhoid fever, he ensures that the entire village is inoculated. He also gives food to poorer families and tries to find employment for them when he can. He is revered as a kind steward.

Selma is Haji Hamid’s youngest and favorite wife. Elizabeth describes her as being very beautiful and voluptuous. She is immediately drawn to Selma’s authority, intelligence, and beauty. When Elizabeth visits Haji Hamid’s home, Selma is the wife that she spends the most time with. She also shows Elizabeth around and has lunch with her despite local customs that prohibit the host from doing so. Selma seems aware of the fact that she is the sheik’s favorite wife, and this fact seems to put her at odds with the sheik’s oldest wife, Kulthum.

Selma is very proud of the immense amount of gold that she owns, but she is less proud of her figure and believes that she is too fat. Elizabeth comments on Selma’s kindness in helping the local schoolteacher bring more of the village’s girls to school. Though Selma does not go out of her way to help Elizabeth make friends, she does intercede on Elizabeth’s behalf during conversations and visits. Elizabeth notes that Selma is uncomfortable talking about polygamy because of her strained relationship with the sheik’s other wives and her fear of being superseded. Some of the women in the village speculate that Selma used magic to secure her hold on Haji Hamid and lured him away from his other two wives.

Kulthum is Haji Hamid’s oldest wife. She is the first woman whom Elizabeth meets when she visits the sheik’s home for lunch. Kulthum is very kind and motherly toward Elizabeth, assuring her that she is like her own daughter. She has a strained relationship with Selma, the sheik’s youngest and favorite wife. As the sheik’s oldest wife, Kulthum organizes and supervises an annual, post-fast, three-day feast. Elizabeth notes that though the feast’s preparations exhaust Kulthum, she is triumphant and proud of her work. Because “she was past forty and no longer bearing children for Hamid; her oldest son was in disfavor with her father,” she has to find fulfillment in other things such as the three-day feast (123). When women from the tribe seek shelter at the sheik’s harem, Kulthum counsels them along with the other wives of the sheik. 

Sherifa is Mohammed’s sister. Elizabeth explains that though she is “only forty-five, […] she looked seventy” (42). Despite her aged physical appearance, Elizabeth notes that she carries herself regally and that she is very well-respected in society. Women consult and visit her constantly. Because of her family’s poverty, her husband works in another village and is rarely at home. Elizabeth notes that this situation puts her in an interesting position in El Nahra’s society because “she was now neither widow, virgin, nor divorcee, and hence had no future” (42). Nevertheless, she is a respected figure because she is influential among the women and contributes financially to her household. In the winter, we find out that Sherifa likely has tuberculosis, which flares up during cold weather. Elizabeth notes that the “normally cheerful and always polite Sherifa” suffered greatly during the winter (272). 

Khadija is the sister of Jabbar, an engineer. She lives with her brother on the “right” side of town (51). Elizabeth notes that she is neither attractive nor intelligent. She also reveals that Khadija lacks the necessary talents for wifely duties and that “she feared more the burden of cooking, child-rearing and entertaining in a white-collar household, activities at which she seemed bound to prove inadequate” (52). Khadija makes constant demands on Elizabeth’s time and wishes to spend every single day with her. Though Elizabeth portrays Khadija as narrow-minded, we see glimpses of her adventurous side, like her fascination with and desire to see the Roma troupe that passes through El Nahra. However, her respect for tradition keeps her from becoming too progressive. She is troubled by the plan that Jabbar and his fiancée have to eschew the abayah cloak while living in El Nahra.

Jabbar is Khadija’s brother. He is an engineer who has received a modern, European education, and he is considered to be a white-collar gentleman, or an effendi. He occasionally advises Elizabeth and Bob on matters of cultural protocol. Elizabeth is very fond of Jabbar and notes that he is “admired and respected in El Nahra, a real achievement in an area where the representatives of the central government were always viewed with some distrust and suspicion” (281).

Politically, he favors modernization and revolutionary change in Iraq. He respects Haji Hamid, but he believes that tribal chiefs are an element of the past and must be done away with. Jabbar is also a proponent of socialism and Pan-Arabism. When Bob expresses a desire to see some of the Shia customs during the month of Muharram, Jabbar is displeased because he worries that Bob will view them as “primitive and uncivilized” (195). He sees himself as set apart from “the ignorant people,” and he worries that Bob will tell other Americans that Iraqis are “backward, uneducated, superstitious people” (195). His worries have a political tinge because he believes that the British encourage such customs to keep Sunni and Shia Muslims and Arabs disunited. He notes that “when the revolution comes, all this will change” (196).

Jabbar is intent on finding a wife who will be an educated companion with modern ideals, but he is faced with a conundrum when he has to choose between a bride from a politically conservative family and the sister of a close friend. In the end, he chooses the more traditional bride. However, he is very taken with his fiancée and refers to her as a daughter of modern Iraq. They plan for her to refuse to wear the abayah cloak in El Nahra. Bob and Elizabeth think that this plan is an act of rebellion that Jabbar has been longing to make. 

Um Saad is the wife of El Nahra’s mayor. Elizabeth notes that she is highly educated and comes from “a wealthy and ancient Baghdadi Shiite family” (54). Um Saad has a good sense of style and is well-versed in Arabic poetry. She has a happy marriage with her husband aside from the fact that he, despite “his own rational convictions,” does not allow her to remove her abayah or live outside of seclusion. Elizabeth notes that though Um Saad is a devoted wife and mother, “she was quietly disappointed…” (55). Despite the fact that Um Saad is a modern woman who has a lot in common with Elizabeth, she still respects and appreciates tradition. When her mother dies, Um Saad mourns with other women in her community, upholding a draining but cathartic mourning tradition. She tells Elizabeth that though the mourning was exhausting, she thinks it was necessary for her to be able to truly move on and “be ready to return to work, to everyday things” (293).

Hamza is the sheik of a neighboring tribe. Unlike Haji Hamid, he has a reputation for being oppressive and for abusing the peasants who live under his stewardship. He is fixated on seeing Elizabeth outside of seclusion, and he tricks her into allowing him to do so at his home. Elizabeth describes his home as vulgar and garish, and she describes him as voyeuristic and laughable.

Laila is one of the nine daughters of Moussa, one of Haji Hamid’s estranged brothers. Elizabeth notes that Moussa is often ridiculed by the local men for having no male heir, but the women of his household are revered for their industriousness and good reputations. Each woman excels at a particular skill, from medicine, to crocheting, to embroidery, to raising animals. Therefore, they inspire “a grudging admiration and respect” among the rest of the tribe (129). Laila chooses to befriend Elizabeth, and their friendship makes Elizabeth more acceptable to the other women.

Elizabeth reveals that Laila is eighteen, “a member of the younger generation,” but she looks older because she works constantly in her sewing room. She does not wear the traditional garments of the older generation and opts for an abayah and a veil instead. Elizabeth becomes very fond of her, noting that she is “gay, mischievous, hopeful” (128). Laila is troubled by the fact that she will never marry because there are not enough men in the tribe, and she cannot fathom marrying outside of it. Though this troubles her, she ultimately concludes that marriage would be more work for her, noting that “In our house, we share the work. If I got married, I would have to do it all” (160). She hopes that her father will send her to school instead.