Mufi meets the Sufis

Fatima bin Laden was starting to panic. One of the two TVs mounted on dressing room walls showed men in HPD and FBI windbreakers leading eight Asian men in cuffs and ankle chains from a police van into jail as the anchor said "HPD and the FBI just announced they've busted a Chinese spy ring, the first known breaching of the infamous -- and until now some thought mythical -- Te-Wu." She recognized one as Uncle Osama's Chinaman, the one he said would meet her. So she was all alone. Her new friend Jennifer Hira was her only hope at the moment.

At that moment the other TV showed a closed-circuit image of Jen, dancing upstairs to pulsing music, wearing nothing but 5-inch platform heels, a thong panty that looked very uncomfortable and a bikini top with two fabric patches about the size of dinars.

And Fatima, Jen said, was next.

But Fatima, 21, was a devout Muslim girl. She loved to dance, but had only danced with other women when she was at home in Saudi Arabia and later Pakistan. So just minutes from her debut, Fatima was still sitting there in her black velour track suit, staring at Jen, fascinated and revulsed. Then she noticed something else. Men, half a dozen of them seated around Jen's stage. Fatima was raised believing that the veil gave a woman power and freedom. Yet clearly it was the nearly naked Jen who had power over these men -- they called to her, practically prostrating themselves, and waved paper money, which she allowed them to tuck into her panty waistband. Suddenly one of them, clearly intoxicated, reached for her breasts. She slapped his hand and he retreated. It was a revelation, and in Fatima's estimation Jen was instantly elevated to a kind of female folk hero.

Nevertheless, Muslim law forbade women from dancing for non-family men. Dancing for foreigners was an even greater sin. Fatima was standing in front of a large closet filled with colorful costumes, trying to figure some way to dance and maintain her virtue, when the news anchor said something else that caught her attention.

"Mayor Mufi Hannemann today hosted a group of Sufi musicians and dancers at City Hall." The screen showed a tall, brown-skinned man smiling and greeting what she knew were Turkish Sufis in white robes and tall white hats. "Also known as Whirling Dervishes, the Sufis are Muslim mystics who preach compassion and peace, and meditate on the love of God as they dance." The screen showed Mayor Mufi spinning in place with the Sufis, but it was a handsome young man in the background who caught her eye. Something in his face told her that he was Arab, and his heart pure. In her mind's eye, she would dance for him.

"Hey," Mama Hanna barked in her rasp, "you're on in three minutes!"

"I need two handkerchiefs. Thin ones."