All 50 Uses of
mullah
in
A Thousand Splendid Suns
- But Mariam's favorite, other than Jalil of course, was Mullah Faizullah, the elderly village Koran tutor, its akhund.
p. 16.1mullah = a Muslim religious teacher or leader
- It was Mullah Faizullah who had taught Mariam to read, who had patiently looked over her shoulder as her lips worked the words soundlessly, her index finger lingering beneath each word, pressing until the nail bed went white, as though she could squeeze the meaning out of the symbols.
p. 16.2
- It was Mullah Faizullah who had held her hand, guided the pencil in it along the rise of each alef, the curve of each beh, the three dots of each seh.
p. 16.4
- When he showed up at the kolba, Mariam kissed Mullah Faizullah's hand-which felt like kissing a set of twigs covered with a thin layer of skin-and he kissed the top of her brow before they sat inside for the day's lesson.
p. 16.6
- Mullah Faizullah twirled the beads of his tasbeh rosary as they strolled, and, in his quivering voice, told Mariam stories of all the things he'd seen in his youth, like the two-headed snake he'd found in Iran, on Isfahan's Thirty-three Arch Bridge, or the watermelon he had split once outside the Blue Mosque in Mazar, to find the seeds forming the words Allah on one half, Akbar on the other.
p. 16.8
- Mullah Faizullah admitted to Mariam that, at times, he did not understand the meaning of the Koran's words.
p. 17.0
- "God's words will never betray you, my girl" Mullah Faizullah listened to stories as well as he told them.
p. 17.3
- It was easy to tell Mullah Faizullah things that Mariam didn't dare tell Nana.
p. 17.4
- Mullah Faizullah stopped.
p. 17.6
- Mullah Faizullah said, looking at her with his soft, watery eyes, his hands behind his stooping back, the shadow of his turban falling on a patch of bristling buttercups.
p. 17.9
- Learn what, Mullah sahib?
p. 18.4
- "You should not speak like this to her, my child," Mullah Faizullah said.
p. 18.7
- Mullah Faizullah began.
p. 19.6
- The village arbab and his gifts, Bibi jo and her aching hip and endless gossiping, and, of course, Mullah Faizullah.
p. 20.2
- Mariam had told Mullah Faizullah all about this film.
p. 26.2
- It was an old hand-wound clock with black numbers on a mint green face, a present from Mullah Faizullah.
p. 29.4
- She wished Mullah Faizullah could see her now.
p. 31.1
- She wished Mullah Faizullah were here so she could put her head on his lap and let him comfort her.
p. 35.9
- Mariam stood beside Bibi jo, with the women, as Mullah Faizullah recited prayers at the graveside and the men lowered Nana's shrouded body into the ground-Afterward, Jalil walked Mariam to the kolba, where, in front of the villagers who accompanied them, he made a great show of tending to Mariam.
p. 37.1
- "I want Mullah Faizullah," Mariam said.
p. 37.7
- It was when Mullah Faizullah's slight, stooping figure appeared in the kolba's doorway that Mariam cried for the first time that day.
p. 37.9
- All she could do was cry and cry and let her tears fall on the spotted, paper-thin skin of Mullah Faizullah's hands.
p. 38.4
- The next morning, Mullah Faizullah came to visit her.
p. 42.8
- You know I don't need lessons anymore, Mullah sahib.
p. 43.1
- Mullah Faizullah put his hand on her knee.
p. 43.5
- "I'll live with Mullah Faizullah," she said.
p. 48.3
- Two men Mariam had never seen before-witnesses, she presumed-and a mullah she did not recognize were already seated at the table.
p. 51.5
- The mullah motioned toward the veil, and Nargis arranged it on Mariam's head before taking a seat.
p. 51.8
- The mullah welcomed them.
p. 52.4
- The mullah gave a few blessings, said a few words about the importance of marriage.
p. 52.5
- Then the mullah asked Rasheed if he indeed wished to enter into a marriage contract with Mariam.
p. 52.6
- "Actually," the mullah said, "she herself has to answer."
p. 52.8
- "All that remains now is the signing of the contract," the mullah said.
p. 54.1
- The next time Mariam signed her name to a document, twenty-seven years later, a mullah would again be present.
p. 54.2
- "You are now husband and wife," the mullah said.
p. 54.3
- You didn't even have the decency to give me the time to say good-bye to Mullah Faizullah.
p. 55.6
- Pangs of longing bore into her, for Nana, for Mullah Faizullah, for her old life.
p. 59.3
- She missed the winter afternoons of reading in the kolba with Mullah Faizullah, the clink of icicles falling on her roof from the trees, the crows cawing outside from snow-burdened branches.
p. 63.6
- The three of them would sit for tea and then Jalil would excuse himself "Off to celebrate Eid with his real family," Nana would say as he crossed the stream and waved-Mullah Faizullah would come too.
p. 79.4
- Perched on a high branch, she would eat Mullah Faizullah's chocolates and drop the foil wrappers until they lay scattered about the trunk of the tree like silver blossoms.
p. 79.6
- She missed sitting with Mullah Faizullah outside the kolba, watching the fireworks explode over Herat in the distance, the sudden bursts of color reflected in her tutor's soft, cataract-riddled eyes.
p. 80.9
- She remembered a verse from the Koran that Mullah Faizullah had taught her: And Allah is the East and the West, therefore wherever you turn there is Allah's purpose… She laid down her prayer rug and did namaz.
p. 89.6
- That's what a mullah is supposed to say.†
p. 91.0
- Mullah Faizullah's words whispered in her head: Blessed is He in Whose hand is the kingdom, and He Who has power over all things, Who created death and life that He may try you.†
p. 94.3
- I think Mullah Giti here has a crush on Tariq.†
p. 115.7
- He began to say more, about going to a mosque, finding a mullah, a pair of witnesses, a quick nikka... But Laila was thinking of Mammy, as obstinate and uncompromising as the Mujahideen, the air around her choked with rancor and despair, and she was thinking of Babi, who had long surrendered, who made such a sad, pathetic opponent to Mammy.†
p. 184.1 *
- Mariam remembered the day they'd buried Nana and how little comfort she had found when Mullah Faizullah had quoted the Koran for her.†
p. 202.8
- Mariam wondered if there was fighting like this in Herat too, and, if so, how Mullah Faizullah was coping, if he was still alive, and Bibi jo too, with all her sons, brides, and grandchildren.†
p. 253.8
- Mariam told her about Bibi jo, Mullah Faizullah, the humiliating trek to Jalil's house, Nana's suicide.†
p. 255.6
- Two new flowers had unexpectedly sprouted in her life, and, as Mariam watched the snow coming down, she pictured Mullah Faizullah twirling his tasbeh beads, leaning in and whispering to her in his soft, tremulous voice, But it is God Who has planted them, Mariam jo.†
p. 256.8