Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

Unable to stand the rowdiness of her children and their cousins at the height of summer vacation, Razia arranges for all the male children in the family to undergo khatna (Islamic circumcision). She spares no expense in preparing for the ceremony, acquiring several meters of red cloth to fashion the lungis (men’s skirts) that the boys will wear after they have been circumcised. Since there is so much leftover cloth, Razia expands the ceremony to allow the boys from poor families to join the khatna for free. Many come to register their sons. The lungis meant for Razia’s family members are heavily decorated while the surplus lungis remain simple and unadorned.

The khatna is held after the afternoon prayer in the madrasa near the mosque. A professional circumciser and part-time barber named Ibrahim comes to conduct the procedures. He is reputed to be so skilled that the wound heals instantly after the removal of the foreskin. One of his assistants, the educated Abbas, meekly suggests sterilizing the knife. Ibrahim and his other assistants laugh him off for his naivety.

The first boy to be circumcised is a young teen named Arif. He is older than usual for khatna because his mother couldn’t afford the procedure in the past.