chapter 8

THE MOMENT SHE HEARD THE DOGS, AISHA KNEW IT FOR AN omen. The sound

itself was familiar enough; howls often rang through the
desert night as wolves and hyenas and jackals prowled in
the dark. It was where they were howling that unnerved
her so: the very place Muhammad had warned her of.

As her army ɹled into the small oasis midway between
Mecca and the distant lowlands of Iraq, it had seemed a
welcome stop for the night, but when the howling
began, she’d asked: “What is this place?” And when
she’d heard the answer—“the waters of Hawab”—a
terrible fear possessed her.

“We belong to God and to Him we shall return,” she
screamed—the Islamic formula recited in the face of
death. People crowded around her in alarm. “Don’t you
see?” she pleaded. “I am the one they are howling at. I
heard the Prophet say darkly to his wives, ‘I wish I knew
which one of you the dogs of Hawab would howl at.’ I
am the one! Take me back! Take me back!”

What    had she done?   What    had she set in  motion? For