Isma's sister, not quite nineteen, with her law student brain, who knew everything about her rights and nothing about the fragility of her place in the world.
-- Isma re: Aneeka (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote is the reader's introduction to Aneeka, who Isma recalls helping her prepare for potential interrogations from authorities. Aneeka knows intellectually about the hardships faced by Muslims, but she does not yet know what these hardships are like on a personal level. This quote foreshadows the terrible ordeal Aneeka will undergo after Parvaiz's death when the authorities refuse to allow his body to return to England.

Aneeka must learn to think of him as lost forever. It was possible to do this with someone you loved, Isma had learned that early on. But you could learn it only if there was a complete vacuum where the other person had been.
-- Isma (chapter 1)

Importance: Isma believes that with Parvaiz gone to Raqqa, Aneeka should forget about...