Monthly Archives: September 2025
The Woman Behind the Veil
When I ask my mother why she decided to wear the niqab, she looks at me, puzzled. “Decide?” she repeats, as if I’d asked why she “decided” to speak Arabic. She manages her own stock portfolio entirely in Arabic… she notes that “wars slow things down, yet when there are wars, gold goes up.” When asked what she thinks of interest, she explains that interest has multiple meanings. When someone is desperate or helpless and needs a loan with interest, that is unacceptable — it exploits the needy. But interest on her own deposits? That is her money “working” to bring more money.
