ting the saliva of the prophet Muhammad into the child (pers. comm., December 2003). He then pronounced the baby's name: Aazim al-Adib, plus the surname--not provided here, on request. Aazim means "determined" in Arabic. Adib (the father's given name) means "educated" (pers. comm., March 2003). The cleric gave the baby to the father, who gave him to the mother. The father put another envelope on the other side of the scale with the hair--a contribution to the mosque. Historically, the custom was to give gold or silver weighing the same as the baby's hair (pers. comm., December 2003).
That ended the ceremony, after which everybody applauded and embraced. The mother briefly showed the baby around to the women relatives and then gave him to the nanny to put him to bed. The cleric and his wife left as everybody sat down to a rather lavish catered dinner: leg of lamb and trimmings, the traditional dish for a naming ceremony. Before anyone was actually served, three maids went around to each man at the tables--the oldest first--with a cruet of water and a bowl, plus
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