Leila Aboulela is a Sudanese-born writer who lives in Scotland and writes in English. Her work often explores the challenges and nuances of identity and faith for Muslims in the West.
Leila Aboulela
Minaret
Bloomsbury, 2005
I had been pushing Mai on the swing and he appeared with his rucksack as if it is natural for him on his way home to look in on us in Regent's Park...Mai walks over to the sandpit. I help her take off her shoes and she starts playing with a little boy. His Sri Lankan nanny sits on the edge of the sandpit holding a Tupperware box of rice in one hand, a spoon in the other. She feeds him while he scoops sand with a spade...Tamer moves away from the swing and sits on a nearby bench.
The narrator, Najwa, is working as a nanny for a Sudanese family and a romance is developing with Tamer, Mai's youthful uncle.
It starts to rain, a few drops that look dark on the red safety tiles under the see-saw. Tamer looks up at the sky. He seems more relaxed than the other day when we met in the street. He might not know it but it is safe for us in playgrounds, safe among children. There are other places in London that aren't safe, where our very presence irks people.
On a later visit to the park Tamer proposes marriage – "It's not very Islamic for a man and woman to be friends" – but walks off in a huff when the shock of it makes her laugh.