Aging Disgracefully

ZARQA, Jordan, June 9 — There were no tears today, no somber remembrances, just a few angry speeches declaring that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was selected by God to fight for Islam, but also one request: His family would like his body returned so it can be buried in the family plot here.

Small children ran around the dusty streets shouting "Infidels deserve to die," and "He's a hero, a martyr," as men gathered beneath a tent and women met inside a small house during the azza, or traditional gathering that takes place after a death.

Mr. Zarqawi's brothers and sisters insisted this was not a mourning ceremony, but a celebration for a loved one they deeply admired. "Welcome to the celebration of the martyr, the hero, Abu Musab Zarqawi," read a hand painted banner hanging from the tent set up for men who came to pay their respects.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been the most wanted terrorist in Iraq — a man said to have personally decapitated two men, held responsible for killing thousands of Iraqis and taking credit for sending suicide bombers into three hotels in Amman, Jordan.

But here in Zarqa he was the hometown boy, the local hero who went off into the world and made his family and neighbors proud — at least that is what people were saying as they came to offer their respects at the memorial tent.

Mr. Zarqawi's older brother, Sael Fadal el-Khalailah, left his place greeting visitors to introduce himself and to ask that his family's wishes be conveyed to the Americans. He asked an English-speaking friend to translate: "They want the body back," the friend said, as Mr. Khalailah invited a visitor to take a seat beneath the tent. "They are not sad." the friend continued. "He fought and then he was killed. Our belief is he is going to paradise. He was a fighter and he was fighting against those he believes were his enemies."

Jordanian officials seemed determined not to give the Zarqa crowd a platform to spread their vision of reality. Police officers patrolled the area and blocked some journalists from broadcasting the views of the family members.

For that reason it seemed unlikely the authorities would ever allow his body to be buried in Zarqa, where it might become a pilgrimage site for like-minded people.

But the family was determined to try to retrieve him.

"We are going to ask to have his body and bury him here," said one of Mr. Zarqawi's sisters, Intissar. "They probably won't agree to this because he is not liked by them. They see him as a symbol for terrorism, as a criminal, but they are the enemies of religion."

The tent went up early this morning on the street opposite Mr. Zarqawi's family home, beneath barren desert cliffs at the edge of Zarqa, a city of about three quarters of a million people. At sunset, his two brothers, along with some cousins sat on plastic chairs greeting a steady stream of friends and relatives in a ritual that typically lasts three days.

Occasionally, someone would get up and give a speech.

"God is the one who chooses these martyrs, said Muhammad Abu Faris, who identified himself as a member of the Jordanian Parliament and the Islamic Participation Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. He drove up in an older red Mercedes Benz, dressed in traditional while robes, and in a loud, angry voice said: "There is no security for us and no path or way for us to liberate our land in Afghanistan, in Palestine, in Iraq — except with blood."

The family members, cousins and brothers, stood up every time people arrived. The men kissed three times, once on one cheek, twice on the second, and then took their seats. One relative, Khalid, dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt served small cups of Arabic coffee to the guests. Young boys poured sweetened fruit juice from a large cooler.

"We would like his body," Khalid said. "If we do not receive him, that is God's will."

In this ultrareligious corner of Zarqa, where men boast of having fought in Afghanistan, the women gathered across the street, in the walled-in courtyard of the Zarqawi family home. Inside the small living room of the house, women were praying and glorifying the self-declared leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

"May God make the Muslims victorious — Amen," the women recited together.

"May God make the Muslims prosper —- Amen," they chanted.

Mr. Zarqawi's sister, Intissar, 35, sat on a step, inside the house.

"We are happy and we are sad," she said. "We are sad that he left us, but we are happy because he became a martyr."

The family actually found comfort in the photograph of Mr. Zarqawi after he died, his sister said, because it appeared as if "his face was illuminated, as if he was alive."

But there was another reason his sister said she found solace in his death, and she offered what was repeated independently by many others who were there: "God sent Abu Musab, and he will send others."

The men who filed into the tent and the women in the courtyard were for the most part quiet: a few smoked cigarettes, while others ate the honey- soaked pastry that was passed around.

But the children were wild — and there were many — dashing in the streets, under the tent, and in and out of the courtyard where the women gathered, throwing rocks and chanting.

"We will seek revenge for Abu Musab Zarqawi and we will continue on the same path that was laid out by our brother Osama bin Laden," declared Moath Muhammad, 10, who said that his father met Mr. Zarqawi training in Afghanistan.