The Map of Salt and Stars

Rawiya, disguised as Rami, accompanies al-Idrisi on a Mediterranean voyage to Palermo. The journey takes more than three weeks. When al-Idrisi joins Rawiya on the deck, he tells her to be cautious of stories, as overexposure to others’ words drowns out one’s own voice. The voyage is a time of reflection for Rawiya, who contemplates the loss of her beloved father. She also thinks of her brother Salim who is away on a merchant’s ship.

On the way home from the market, Nour’s oldest sister Huda defends Zahra from Nour’s accusations of shallow cruelty. She claims that Zahra is essentially a good person, but that she is lost in the “little things, the stuff the world says is important” (29). In contrast, Huda, who has begun wearing a hijab since her father’s death, has turned inwards—to spirituality and God—to find herself. She warns Nour that not knowing who you are and not listening to your own voice can lead one astray. There is unrest in the streets as they journey home.

Nour reflects on how, after her father’s funeral in New York, no one is keen to discuss him or dance to his music. She complains that her mother does not tell the story of Rawiya and al-Idrisi as well as Baba did, but her mother reminds her how “even Baba said that no two people tell a story quite the same” (28). Later that night, Nour notices the salt-ridges of her mother’s tears making “outlines of oceans I had never known before, countries I had never seen” (28).

When they get home from the market, their mother is painting her maps. She tells Nour that “you have to weave two stories together to tell them both right […] like two hands” (34).

Rawiya and al-Idrisi stay in the palace of King Roger of Palermo. In Palermo, they also meet Bakr, the son of a wealthy merchant. Bakr tells Rawiya that al-Idrisi descends from nobility, potentially traced back to the prophet Muhammed. At night, after eating a rich meal at the palace, Rawiya goes exploring and stumbles into King Roger in his library. He tells her of his project with al-Idrisi: making a map of the whole world—a grand undertaking when the known world only reaches the Mediterranean.

Neither Nour’s family nor Abu Sayeed can eat until sundown because Abu Sayeed and Huda are fasting for Ramadan. Abu Sayeed is a learned geologist and tells Nour about a stone that is “unique in all the earth […] the rarest and most precious gem, so incredible it lacks a name” (42). The stone came into common knowledge through spirits called jinn. Nour spends the summer searching for the stone, without success. Abu Sayeed insists that the jinn are real, and while Nour’s sisters are skeptical, Nour trusts him.

At dinner, they eat in the dark. The power is out, and explosives’ sounds terrify Nour. Meanwhile, her mother tells the story of meeting her father at the University of Cordoba, while she studied cartography and he engineering.

Rawiya joins al-Idrisi and Bakr on an expedition from Palermo to map the lands between Anatolia, Turkey, and King Roger’s territories in Ifriquia. They travel by day and spend the nights in roadside castles. They head toward Syria and al-Idrisi announces that they will travel through the night until reaching Hama.

Not only Nour’s house but her whole neighborhood is razed by shells. While her family survive, she and Huda are badly injured, with Huda unconscious and Nour bleeding from the head. As the family prepare to leave, Nour’s mother laments their forced departure when their lives have already been so disrupted.

Rawiya proves her bravery and intelligence on the expedition, intuiting how to read an astrolabe, aiding in their navigation. She also recognizes the roc—a ferocious bird—and uses her father’s sling to attack it between its eyes, so that it does not harm them. Rawiya’s father told her about the roc, “a selfish, bloodthirsty creature with no love for songs or beautiful things” who “kills what he pleases” (65).

Nour’s neighborhood is dark, and her mother stresses the urgency of their continued passage. They progress towards Abu Sayeed’s house. While it feels like an adventure to her, Nour is intimidated, because the stars aren’t visible and she would not be able to read an astrolabe (a skill her mother taught her). Huda is still unable to walk or speak. When they reach the house, they find it leveled. New maps are needed, for the world has changed.

Rawiya’s expedition comes to the Syrian city of Homs. Rawiya warns al-Idrisi that the roc followed them and that “he won’t let us go without a fight” (75). Al-Idrisi, however, wants to reach ash-Sham as quickly as possible, as their task is “to create a more complete map than has ever existed before” (74). On the road, al-Idrisi tells Rawiya and Bakr about the stars and says that he intends their return home to Ceuta once his adventure is complete.

Nour’s family search for a hospital for Huda, who is still unconscious; however, all hospitals in Damascus are overcrowded, and many turn them away. Both Huda and Nour are bleeding.

In a waiting room, Abu Sayeed tells Nour how her father’s parents took him in when his own died. He shows her a lapis lazuli from his pocket and teaches her that beauty can still be found in things that are not whole or shiny. Nour misses her home in Homs “with an angry hunger, even though home is an imaginary place now” (82).

On the expedition from Homs to ash-Sham, Rawiya and her crew encounter a man who limps and calls himself Khaldun. Rawiya is struck by his beauty. The man tells them that he was once a poet for the emir Nur ad-Din, and he would entertain the ruler with songs of heroic deeds. The emir’s favorite story was that of the roc. However, when the roc threatened the province, the emir asked Khaldun to slay the roc, believing that Khaldun’s knowledge of the roc equipped him to do so. When Khaldun complained that he was unqualified, the emir threatened that if he didn’t succeed within 40 days, he would be put to death. Khaldun’s mother and sister were imprisoned until his return. As Khaldun doubts his own ability, he despairs. Al-Idrisi says the expedition can help, and Rawiya is confident that she can vanquish the roc.

In the hospital, Nour remembers Baba’s death and how she went with her mother to the funeral home and saw the corpse. Nour seeks reassurance from her mother about going home, but her mother confesses her uncertainty, saying “you can’t draw a map of a place you’ve never seen” (94). Nour asks about Abu Sayeed. Her mother reveals that Abu Sayeed’s son Sayeed was also a keen geologist, who shared his father’s passion. The real reason for his disappearance is that he ran away from home after a fight.

Rawiya’s expedition sets off for Damascus, with Khaldun riding on the back of Rawiya’s camel. Her attraction to him makes her flush. On the journey, they can see the roc waiting for them. Rawiya, who knows of the roc’s ways from her father, hatches a plan. She asks Khaldun to distract the roc with his song, lulling him asleep, and then she will shoot him in the eye—and the plan succeeds. Rawiya holds the roc’s eye in her hand, and it transforms into a stone that glitters like an emerald. The injured roc vows revenge. While the emir richly rewards Khaldun and the expedition, Khaldun vows that he will forever follow Rawiya.

Huda is in hospital for five days. Afterwards, the family head to Jordan, seeking the American embassy. They still hope to return home. As they near the Jordanian border, they meet a woman named Umm Yusuf and her daughter Rahila, who wears a pair of earmuffs out of season. Beneath the earmuffs, Rahila’s ear is missing, blown off by a shell. They also meet a storyteller whose former workplace (a café in Damascus) was shelled. When the family and Abu Sayeed show their papers at the border, the police allow their passage. The storyteller has no papers and cannot continue with them. Nour’s mother reveals that they cannot go home.