ABSTRACT
In 2014 the 8-year-old daughter of Amal, one of my close informants, was kidnapped by the child’s father and taken to Jordan.1 The girl’s father, Talal, insinuated that Amal was “too Danish” and bringing up their daughter in a way too “free”—letting her wear dresses, watch Disney Channel series with dancing and romances going on, etc. This event demonstrated, in the most disconcerting way, where divergent ideas about modesty and immodesty, virtuousness, and expectations between man and wife can lead. Prior to the kidnapping, the marriage had already been an unhappy one. One night, Amal told me, she had asked God for help in her endeavor to improve the marriage by making a du’a (prayer)2 before going to sleep. Several times that night, she woke up bathed in sweat from horrible nightmares. She told me about this the following day over the phone, very affected by what she saw as a bad sign for the future.
