Guests of the Sheikh

In this book Elizabeth Warnock Fernea writes from a first hand perspective of her travels in rural Iraq, and her daily experiences with the people that she there encountered. Living alongside her husband, an anthropologist, Fernea’s main focus was the lifestyles of the various women of the village.

The author’s natural curiosity, as well as that of the villagers, led her to observe a variety of important activities in the life of an Iraqi Shiite Muslim.
Adept at catching the nuances of the people’s custom’s, she begins by describing the abayah; the nuisance of not only adapting to the custom, but donning the garment at every male’s approach. She also highlights the advantages it provided that the West seldom took into consideration.

From there she moved on to the natural mannerisms and attitudes of the people and how these either shaped her personal view or that of the person she was interacting with at the time. Her first example is in the character of the family’s servant, Mohammed, who is a Sayid and the author’s only male contact throughout the day, with the exception of her husband. Fernea described Mohammed as a socially responsible person who took pride not only in his ancestry, but in his guidance of local customs through directives in both body language and gentle coaxing.
One of Fernea’s main themes throughout the book is that of the difference in gender roles that commonly lend the wrong impression to those from the West. While it is more common for a woman to have a more hidden role in the community; that does not mean she does not have powerful influence over the men around her.
Through experience’s with the sheikh’s wives, Mohammed’s mother and many other women during her stay Fernea learned to not only properly act herself, but also the importance of these customs in each individual’s life, regardless of their sex.

A woman would commonly be in charge of insuring guests of every importance received the proper welcome for their status; the correct raising of children; attending to the needs of the husband, and thus ensuring happiness and peace in the home; preparations for the holy days; and the marriage of sons and daughters alike, regardless of age or whether it was a first or second wife for her son.

Along with these great responsibilities there were certain stigmas, rules, and regulations tied to the sex. While the younger generations were more “liberal” in their dress and choice of traditional vanities, all women carried a considerable load with the combination of tradition and work.

Usually seen as the soul cause of infertility or the lack of male heirs, women who were not “blessed” with one or more sons were often worn down both physically and emotionally by multiple pregnancies, miscarriages, and still births, and they could also be socially ostracized to varying degrees depending on their initial community status and that or her husband. These women ran the risk of being divorced, abandoned, or replaced by second wives that were seen as being more fertile than the first.

Women were also expected to accept the difficulties of a marriage as their lot in life regardless of whether they were happy or safe in these circumstances. Removed from society by tradition women were allowed to gather in large groups only during major holy fests where is was their right to request to either attend or hold a kraya. These events lead by female spiritual leaders called, mullahs, were passionate a re-telling of the murder of the martyr Hussein and could be followed by a reading from the Koran if the hostess had been taught to read, but more often they would officially end after the mullah had read her required readings from her book of krayas. These events served as much anticipated and needed social outlets for women that devoted their life to the welfare of their family.

Fernea showed through her visitations to sheikhs, different wive’s recounting their husbands lives, and her own observations, as well as that of her husbands that women were not alone in possessing large work loads. Men were frequently tied to the will of the land and a difficult growing season or harvest could bring more difficult work with little profit to show for the effort. These men would be forced o find jobs in cities to provide for their often large extended families. This could cause harsh living conditions for a man who out of tradition and affection shoulders the responsibility of his extended family. Men who have to travel to distant cities for work may not be able to return for many months and only send the cash back to the family he had to leave behind.

There were special filial responsibilities to Sheiks and other traditional rulers that expect to be paid homage during holidays each year. They were also expected to deal with guests and businessmen as the head of the family’s household. At times standing to gain or lose depending on the situation and who was being attended to as a guest.

On the other hand their more open role in society allowed them the benefit of being freely accepted and they had the comfort of their home to return to after a trying day, where women would have previously prepared and readied the household in preparation for his return. Possessing this role allowed men to more freely choose for themselves, though tradition and family were very likely to play a major role in any decision making.

In the end, both genders held heavy responsibilities, and while one may have looked weighty in one light the other may have the same quality ay a certain given time. The prescribed details and patterns of life flowed into a daily routine of joy and sorrow, just as it does for the rest of the world.

Looking into the social circumstances of those who lived this rural life it is easy to catch the relationships that exist between cause and effect, and how such circumstances exist in more than just this part of the world. Using my own culture as an example it is simple to name off the rural Midwestern people who are religious and live their life conservatively; the women existing for the home and family and the men living each day in their job longing for the moment when they can return home to the comfort of familiarity and warmth.