Love in the time of ISIS
Mustafa Sofyan met Rosol Abd al Karim for the first time on a bright morning in the spring of 2014. ‘Met’ might actually be too strong a word for it. In the religiously conservative world of Mosul, a boy does not ‘meet’ a girl. He sees her across a field in a crowded park. He […]Adnan R. Khan writes for Maclean's:
Mustafa Sofyan met Rosol Abd al Karim for the first time on a bright morning in the spring of 2014. ‘Met’ might actually be too strong a word for it. In the religiously conservative world of Mosul, a boy does not ‘meet’ a girl. He sees her across a field in a crowded park. He catches a glimpse of her hazel, almond shaped eyes. He is struck by her red lips as they part into a radiant smile.
It was unusual in more ways than one. Mosul in early 2014 was not a place that inspired love stories. The apoplectic city of nearly two million exhausted inhabitants had lived through Iraq’s brutal insurgency, led by religious fanatics whose idea of love was sacrificing yourself for the glory of God. For them, teenage love was dangerous.
But for Mustafa, the fear of fanatics was a pittance compared to his fear of never properly meeting Rosol. He mustered the courage to pass on his cellphone number to her through a mutual friend. To his delight, she called him, if at first only to tell him to stop staring at her all the time. A poet at heart, it didn’t take him long to win her over.
