She is beginning to see: All who are here are Muslim, but some are more Muslim than others
Bilhah stands outside the physicians’ rooms, staring at the Arabic phrase rendered on the wall in green and white mosaic. She can identify one or two of the letters: an elif and a zay. She squints. It would be clearer if it were written in ink on parchment, not out of tiny fractured tiles.
The door opens, and a girl emerges, book under her arm. She doesn’t look like the newcomers but walks with a calm confidence. She watches Bilhah looking at the mosaic and turns and translates the passage:
Take advantage of five before five: your youth before old age; your health before sickness; your wealth before poverty; your free time before you become occupied; and your life before your death.
“Eloquent, is it not, for the entrance of the physicians’ rooms?”
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