An old man dwelt in a distant desert and he had a female relative who had wanted for many years to meet him. She arose and set out for the desert. Meeting a camel caravan, she penetrated the desert with it. Now she was drawn to the devil…
-Anonymous, Apophthegmata Patrum Aegyptiorum
This fear of women of a Rāhib, Desert Monk, from the verb Rahiba, To be Frightened, is not how Hāmid heard Hanan al-Bulubulu’s, the Nightingale’s, love song Zurni Marra, Visit Me Sometime, when we listened at the campfire on my tape player. It was he, not she, drawn to the Shaytān, Devil.