The Rope by Kanan Makiya

Author:Kanan Makiya
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

Aftermath

So I lied. I had to. How simple it was; so authentic and natural, I almost believed in it myself. It seemed to me at the time there was more shame in telling the truth. I would not abandon my friend; I would not betray him. I lied not only because the consequences of telling the truth were so grave for Haider, but also because my honor as his brother in arms, and in life, was at stake. Grandfather understood, which is why he intervened, incurring Abu Haider’s wrath. Perhaps that is why he insisted on being there. This was a new side of Grandfather, one I did not then understand. He, after all, had lost his best friend, Haider’s grandfather, over a political dispute—how trifling in retrospect! That was Grandfather’s irredeemable moment, all those decades of hate and bitterness Saddam brought upon two best friends, both sworn enemies of the Baʻth. Perhaps it bothered him, and he did not wish it upon Haider and myself.

Abu Haider had arrived looking for answers, convinced that our House contained them. Answers were not forthcoming; there was bitterness in that. Najmaldin was a kinsman, not by blood to be sure, but his kinsman all the same. Worse, he had lived in Abu Haider’s house, under his protection. Therein lay a whole other set of obligations. Abu Haider’s home, Najmaldin’s sanctuary, was his bond, and the seat of his honor; all had been violated. There was shame for Abu Haider in that, as there would have been for me had I betrayed my friend. The world had contracted to the sharper of two choices: his shame or mine. It was no choice at all.

Blood calls for new blood. Those are the rules, as the poet sang:

With the sword will I wash my shame away,

Let God’s doom bring on me what it may!

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