Faux pas 2: Bag of coal

Got a ride home today from the head of the SCI house, Abu Mumtaz. A no-nonsense kinda guy from Baba Amr, a rough neighborhood in the Syrian city of Homs that was completely destroyed last year in a long and difficult siege.

I hand out gum to everyone in the car, and Abu Mumtaz asks for a second piece for his wife. As I hand it over, I get to thinking that in the past month, his wife hasn't come by the SCI house. So I say to him, "we haven't met your wife yet."

He explodes - "mumnou'a!" - Forbidden!

Everyone in the car is laughing. Its an absurd concept to want to meet his wife, it seems. Half jokingly, half in his no-nonsense kinda manner he says:

"Hea kiis fahm (كيس فحم)" - she is a bag of coal.

It took an explanation from someone else to learn that when leaving the house his wife dresses in all black, head to toe. Black robe, black hijab, black veil. I've seen plenty of women dressed this way, especially when I lived in Muhajariin, a conservative area of Damascus. But I didn't know this style of dress was known as a bag of coal.