American Dervish

Mina maintains her distance from Hayat in the ensuing months. Hayat anguishes over the awkwardness between them. He attempts both to forget and to change the memory of intruding upon her, but to no avail. Hayat concludes that looking at anyone’s naked body, including his own, is wrong. He continues memorizing the Quran and finally resumes his religious studies with Mina. 

Mina proposes throwing a barbecue on a weekend. Naveed resists the idea, but his wife prods him to participate and invite other Pakistani families. Naveed dislikes these families’ conservatism, particularly that of prominent pharmacist Ghaleb Chatha. Muneer flatters Naveed to convince him to invite these guests and asks Mina to invite her colleagues from the hair salon. 

One of the guests is Nathan Wolfsohn, Naveed’s colleague and close friend, whose “warmth and expansiveness” (83) doesn’t fit his short stature. When Hayat was younger, he heard his father brag about their work at the forefront of MRI technology, but Nathan was skeptical and humble. Naveed also told an old joke about Jewish people, making Nathan groan then laugh. This comedic interplay was part of their relationship. Naveed jeers at Nathan for reading and claims never to have read a book.