Alif the Unseen

Alif leaves the alley in a rush to meet Intisar. Intisar doesn’t show, and state agents recognize Alif. Alif runs and takes refuge in a mosque overseen by Sheikh Bilal. The sheikh covers for Alif but insists Alif clean the dirt he tracked through the mosque. He explains that prayer requires a clean floor: “When you pray all your actions must fit together like gears in a great machine—like one of your computers” (189). In a discussion of religion that follows, the sheikh likens god’s plan to a computer schematic.

Later, Dina, the convert, and Vikram come to the mosque. The sheikh is wary of allowing Vikram inside but does so anyway. Dina and Alif argue. Dina is angry at him for leaving her and was terrified when he didn’t come back. Alif storms away and falls asleep. He is woken later by Vikram, who says a woman is there to see him but that Alif mustn’t let her in because “she is being followed by something terrible” (210). The woman is Intisar.