Rashid

Rashid is a human wizard, and member of the White Council. He first appears in Summer Knight.

Description
Rashid is a mysterious individual. A Muslim, he serves in Senior Council and covers the position of Gatekeeper. (ref?) He is the quietest of the wizards on the Council, stays out of most of the partisan politics and has only been straight with Harry Dresden. Even if it is unclear where some of his knowledge comes from, the Merlin shows him much respect.

He has a rich deep laugh, like his speaking voice, but somehow more—filled with warmth and purity and seemed to well up from "some untapped source of concentrated, unrestrained joy". Rashid has more of a sense of humor than some of his contemporaries on the Senior Council, and appears willing to go behind their backs to some extent if he feels it necessary.

Queen Mab refers to Rashid as "that old desert fox" suggesting a previous encounter that left her with a degree of respect for the Gatekeeper.

He has a long face with sharp features that are weathered like old leather, short beard with silver running through it, and short, stiff, brush of silver hair. One eye was dark, the other had a pair of horrible old silver scars running through it from hairline to jaw. The injured eye was replaced with a silver ball bearing. He wears a dark purple robe.

He typically dresses in a cloak that covers him from head to toe with a hood that hides his face in deep shadows. (ref?) He wears the purple stole of the Senior Council.

He is very tall, more so than Harry Dresden. He has a terrible burn scar down the side of his face, similar to Harry's left hand. He is described as being Middle Eastern, but with elements of a British accent, suggesting he was either an Arab immigrant to England, or lived during the British control of Iraq and Palestine under their League mandate. (ref?)

Rashid has a steel eye, which he apparently can use to track possible future outcomes. The false eye is made from the same crystal material as the Outer Gates, and is tied to his detection abilities; when not at the battlefield at the Gates, he disguises it with a veil or glamour to make it appear as the steel ball.

His raw power is less than de facto strongest wizard on the White Council the Merlin's, but his use of his magic shows an exceeding finesse and skill. He only reluctantly expends his power and never wastes any of it.(ref?)

In Proven Guilty, his title generally being used in place of his name. It is strongly suggested that he has the capability to view future events in some manner; however, he can only reveal this to others in the vaguest terms, to prevent any possible violation of the Sixth Law of Magic.

Rashid says he dare not step foot on Demonreach, since it bears a grudge against him. Harry Dresden thought of the limp the island's manifest spirit had.

In Cold Days, Rashid told Harry Dresden that he knew his mother, Margaret LeFay. They both spent a great deal of time walking the Ways, and, according to Rashid, those that do tend to develop a camaraderie. Rashid and Maggie would occasionally have dinner and exchange notes on their walks through them. He also told Harry that he took it upon himself, along with some other friends of Ebenezar McCoy's, to watch over her—hinting that he knew Maggie was Ebenezar's Daughter, something that few know about. This led Harry to believe that Ebenezar trusts him.

Summer Knight
In Summer Knight, the vote comes down to Rashid, but he stalls then decides to use his vote for a trial by task for Harry to complete, which will be to fulfill Mab's request and secure right of passage on the Ways through Winter territory.

He comes to Harry when he's stuck in a tree and tells him how to get himself out of the tree. Rashid tells Harry that he fulfilled his part of the mission for the Winter Queen, Mab, and she will keep her bargain to grant the Council safe passage. Harry could step away and go home. Harry is dead tired, but decides that too many people are in trouble and he set some of it loose, he will stick it out. Rashid says that he will not vote against Harry and if he had chosen to leave, Rashid would have killed Harry himself. Then he gives Harry a small bag containing two items: a small piece of the Stone Table on fine jewelry thread to lead Harry to it and some gel for the eyes to enable him to see through glamour and veils of the Sidhe.

Proven Guilty
In Proven Guilty, Rashid sends a note for Harry's eyes only via Ebenezer asking Harry to look into some Black magic happening in Chicago. Later, he stalls the vote in Molly's trial. It turns out that it bought time for the rest of the Senior Council to get there from battle, allowing for a fair vote for Molly.

Turn Coat
In Turn Coat, he meets Harry at the dock on Demonreach. Rashid wants Harry to surrender saying its "not yet your hour." And what he's about to do will cost lives including Harry's life. Harry says he's not going to let the Black Council get away with killing an innocent man, Morgan, so they can do it again later. He's willing to conceed Harry has good intentions but believes he will fail. Rashid tells Harry that the source of the ley line is the island, it wells up from it, not pass through it. Rashid warns Harry not to tap into the islands power. And he advises that should the traitor die, there will be no proof and both Morgan and Harry will be executed.

After Morgan's trial, Rashid visits Harry in the infirmiry at Headquarters sealing them inside a sonic shield. He's mainly there to get Harry's help with Ana Luccio's recovery from Peabody's psychic manipulation which he says is severe. Harry tells him that Morgan was covering for Luccio who was forced to kill LaFortier. He lets Harry know that, though she is fond of Harry, she was pushed into it by Peabody to keep tabs on him and perhaps to kill Harry if he got too close to the truth.

Cold Days
In Cold Days, Harry finds out the truth of Rashid's position and duties when Mother Summer took him to the Outer Gates. Rashid helps guard the literal crystal Outer Gates of the world from an unending assault of Outsiders, with the bulk of the fighting being done by the Winter Court's forces. Rashid is aware of the contaminating force spreading across the world, called Nemesis, and he can, to a degree, detect its presence. He agreed that the Outer Gates are a kind of "spiritual CAT scanner". Rashid warned Harry that he attracted attention because he "danced about the edge of life." He told Harry that the way to help in the fight against the Adversary is to keep being himself. Rashid promised to help Harry with his paperwork with the White Council to reestablish his official identity.

Trivia

 * Al-Rashid or Ar-Rashid is one of the 99 names of Allah, translated as "The Guide, Infallible Teacher and Knower".

Word of Butcher

 * Jim Butcher has said that you get to the Gatekeeper's domain by walking across the surface of the moon.

Quotes

 * "There is always a price to pay for knowledge. Always."


 * "Sometimes what the Council does not know does not hurt it."