Throughout Sinan Antoon’s I’jaam, taking part in basic human necessities becomes an act of rebellion. In the regime Furat lives under, every interaction one has can be monitored and used against them, and in Furat’s case it has - many things he’s done can be considered even slightly anti-government, putting something so mundane as a sarcastic comment on the same level as criminal activity. One of the ways Furat rebels against his government is willfully participating in fairly simple human interactions that generally involve the association of human needs, such as food, with small-scale traitorous acts.
An excellent example of this is the scene beginning on page 27, during which Furat speaks to the warden during his stay in prison. “We do know how to be hospitable”, (Antoon 28) he tells Furat when he offers him a drink, despite much evidence to the contrary. The two enter a conversation about poetry which essentially turns into a verbal battle, with the warden trying to convince Furat that “This modern poetry of [his], and especially the so-called ‘prose poem,’ is pure nonsense” (Antoon 31). On a wider scale, the warden is telling him that the government demands civility. Furat doesn’t react like one would expect him to given the context of his imprisonment, however. The offer of tea allows a degree of intimacy and safety in the interaction, even if only imagined, allowing Furat to feel comfortable enough to approach his true views despite the danger he may face in doing so.
An offer of food leading to government-betraying intimacy is a trope used often in I’jaam. Furat and Areej eat together while watching an interview of al-Jawahiri in Areej’s home while her family is away - already a litany of violations. “There was an unacknowledged interdiction against [al-Jawahiri] because of his position against the war … some of his poems were smuggled in on cassette tapes that we would trade secretly in school” (Antoon 69). Beyond simply consuming anti-war content, the two were also guilty of spending time together as an unmarried man and woman, made even worse due to their lack of supervision. One could certainly argue that this supervision was needed if they were to maintain their decorum and civility - once the video was over, they elected to have sex despite being an unmarried couple, a distinctly anti-government practice.
Any kind of intimacy, be it platonic, familial, romantic, or even just in the context of basic hospitality, invites the exact kind of trust that can be extremely dangerous to any strict regime. These simple conversations that can happen over tea or a meal can be the foundations for insurrection on any scale, and as such nipping it in the bud by making any of these interactions inherently taboo is a great benefit to the government at hand. Furat pays little to no mind to the consequences of the views he expresses over food, committing near-criminal acts every time he so much as has a sip of tea.