Chicago, Alaa Aswany [first e reader .TXT] 📗

of the Mugamma building in Tahrir Square or the old court building in Bab al-Khalq. Danana sat at the head of the table, watching the students as they came into the meeting room. They greeted him with respect and took their places around the table while he took time, in a ponderously royal manner, before he returned their greetings in a hoarse voice and a tone somewhere between standoffish and welcoming, knitting his brow and assuming the pose of a high-ranking state official, busy with grave matters that couldn’t be postponed or divulged. Danana looked at the students sitting around the table, then he struck the table with his hand, whereupon all the whispering ended and a profound silence fell. He broke that silence by clearing his throat, an act that usually preceded his speaking and usually ended with a fit of coughing as a result of his excessive smoking. He extended his hand and turned on the tape recorder in front of him. Then his hoarse voice reverberated clearly and strongly in the room: “In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate, and prayers and peace on the noblest of creation, our master, the Messenger of God, the one chosen by God, peace be upon him. I welcome you to the Egyptian Student Union in America, Chicago chapter. We are all present today with the exception of Shaymaa Muhammadi and Tariq Haseeb. Shaymaa had a big problem this morning.”

The students looked at him inquisitively. He took a drag on his cigarette and said in obvious relish, “Sister Shaymaa was cooking and almost started a big fire had not God intervened, and our brother Tariq, may God recompense him well, is now standing behind her to console her.”

He uttered that last part of the sentence in a tone full of insinuation, then laughed loudly. The others felt puzzled and awkward and fell silent.

That was one of Danana’s various methods of exercising control over the students: to surprise them by finding out their innermost secrets then making sly comments that could have different interpretations. He extended his large head forward and clasped his arms on the table and said, “I have good news for you, news that will gladden you all, God willing. Yesterday the City of Chicago agreed to designate a four-story building in the fanciest part of town on Michigan Avenue as a mosque and Islamic center, God willing. His Excellency the ambassador has written to Egypt to send over an imam from al-Azhar. In two months at the most we will pray together, God permitting, in the new mosque.”

There were murmurs of approval and appreciation and one student cried enthusiastically, “May God recompense you well, Doctor!”

Danana totally ignored him and went on. “Approving the establishment of a mosque in this place was almost impossible, but God Almighty willed us to be successful.”

The same student shouted flatteringly, “Thank you, Dr. Danana, for this great effort you’re exerting for us!”

Danana fixed him with a disapproving glance and said, feigning anger, “And who told you I am doing that for you? I only expect reward from God Almighty.”

“Praise the Lord, sir!”

The other students felt they had to take part in the praise, and murmurs of thanks filled the room, but Danana ignored them and bowed his head in silence, like an actor bowing before his audience and wishing the applause would never stop. Then he said, “Another very important subject: some students are not attending their classes regularly. Yesterday I reviewed rates of absenteeism and found them to be too high. I am not going to mention them by name so as not to embarrass them. They know themselves.”

He took a long drag on his cigarette then exhaled hard and said, “Forgive me, folks. I am not going to cover for anyone or intercede for anyone. I’ve overworked myself a lot for you. If you don’t help yourselves, I cannot help you. Anyone exceeding acceptable absence rates I’ll report to the educational bureau and they’d take it from there in accordance with the rules.”

A tense silence prevailed and Danana kept scrutinizing the students with his fierce stare. Then he announced moving on to the agenda, which, as usual, was filled with various requests from the students: facilitating travel to Egypt, getting discounted tickets or getting free transit cards, and other issues. One student was complaining that his adviser was biased against him; another had exceeded the upper limit for the scholarship; a female student wanted to change her housing arrangement because her American roommate was receiving her lover in the apartment they shared. Danana would listen attentively to each problem, ask for clarification of some details, take a drag on his cigarette and look pensive, then announce the solution simply and confidently. Thereupon the student would look grateful and thank Danana, who would ignore him as if he were not there. He liked, at such moments, to have a rough joke at the student’s expense or to insult him, this way tightening his psychological control over him, by saying for instance, “What matters is for you to study and pass, dummy.”

Or by wondering sarcastically, “And what would I do with ‘thank you’? Which bank can I cash it at? You’re such a loser!”

The suddenly humiliated student, weakened by need and silenced by gratitude, would have no choice but to ignore the insult or laugh nervously or fall silent and turn his face away as if he had heard nothing.

“We finished all items on the agenda. Any new business?” Danana asked. No one spoke except a bearded student who said, “Dr. Danana, the Palestinian butcher from whom we bought halal meat has unfortunately closed his store and left Chicago. You know, sir, that meat in ordinary stores is not slaughtered in the Islamic way—”

Danana interrupted him with a gesture of his hand as if saying it wasn’t a big deal, then turned around and pulled from the bookcase behind him a sheet of paper that he handed to him, saying, “Here,