Word: muntaha
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...rare to find both an ardent Islamist and a committed Ba'athist living under the same roof. Zaki could scarcely be more different from Muntaha. He speaks without a sense of bravado, and smiles wanly when his sister interrupts him with some pro-Saddam sloganeering. There's little in his bearing to suggest that he is patriarch of a family of 20, including three widowed sisters and 12 children. He is a calligrapher by trade and makes around 75,000 dinars a month. "I am poor in money," he says, shyly, "but thanks to God, I am rich in family...
...deeply religious Shia Muslim, Zaki bears the mark of the devout - the top of his forehead, just below his lace prayer cap, is darkened from repeated rubbing on the ground. Piety is the key to his influence over the extended household: with the exception of Muntaha, all the adult women wear traditional Islamic clothing, complete with tightly drawn headscarves. Even the token portrait of the president on the living room wall depicts Saddam deep in prayer...
...contrast to Muntaha, Zaki is visibly uncomfortable discussing politics, and prefers to quote scripture rather than Saddam. But if the family were required to put up resistance to an invading force, he will have the first right to the AK-47. Not only is he the patriarch, he's also a war veteran: as a medic during the Gulf War, Zaki saw active duty in Kuwait. "I know how to use a gun very well," he says, without a trace of bravado. "You won't find an Iraqi man of my age who hasn't experienced...
...Keen to show that the family women, too, know their way around an assault rifle, Muntaha arranges a demonstration at her office. Pulling some strings at the local Ba'ath Party office, she has two AK-47s brought to her office. She and her daughter, Sabreen, dress for the occasion in olive green military uniforms and black veils pulled across their faces to form masks. They then run through some basic drills they learned at rifle training two years ago. This includes dismantling and reassembling the rifles...
...Muntaha, rusty from lack of practice, runs into some trouble: taking her rifle apart is easy enough, but she's forgotten how to put it back together. "I used to be able to do this in two minutes," she says, with an embarrassed smile. An instructor who arrived with the rifles gives her a few clues, and she soon remembers which parts go where. She goes through the drill again: It's closer to 10 minutes than two, but her confidence is returning. "When the Americans come," she says, her lips pressed in determination, "I will be ready for them...