Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia

and is scorned by
all who know him.
    His new wife could not live with him in the
United States, of course, but rather would live in Father’s villa,
carefully guarded by Omar and the other servants. Ali said he must
be free to enjoy the relaxed morals of America. His only
requirement for his wife—other than virginity, of course—was that
she be young, no more than seventeen years of age, exceptionally
beautiful, and obedient. Within two weeks, Ali was engaged to a
royal cousin; a wedding date was set for December, when he would
have more than a month between school terms.
    Observing my brother, I recognized my good
fortune in having wed a man like Kareem. Doubtless, my husband was
far removed from perfection, but Ali was a typical Saudi male; to
have such a one as him as your master would make life a grinding
affair.
    Prior to Ali’s return to the States, our
family gathered at our villa in Jeddah. One evening, the men had
too much to drink and became argumentative. After dinner, the
volatile issue of whether women should drive automobiles came out
into the open for debate. Kareem and Asad joined Sara and me in our
push for a change in the silly custom that had no basis whatsoever
in Islam.
    We brought up the example of women piloting
planes in industrial nations while we were not allowed to drive an
automobile! Many Saudi families could not afford more than one
driver, and where did that leave the family when he was on an
errand? What would happen if a medical emergency occurred when the
driver was unavailable? Did Saudi men think so little of their
women’s abilities that they would rather twelve- and
thirteen-year-old boys drive (which is common in Saudi Arabia) than
adult women?
    Ali, Father, and Ahmed thought the very topic
maddening. Ali declared that women and men would be meeting in the
deserts for sexual misadventures! Ahmed worried about the veil’s
hindrance to visibility. Father brought up the possibility of car
accidents, and the vulnerability of the female on the street while
awaiting the traffic officer. Father looked around the room for
confirmation from his other sons-in-law that a woman behind the
wheel of an automobile would endanger herself and others in the
process. My other sisters’ husbands busied themselves refreshing
their drinks or going to the bathroom.
    Finally, with brash confidence, as if he had
the one bright idea that would win the argument, Ali said that
since women are more easily influenced than men, they would imitate
the youth of our land, who raced their cars through the streets.
Naturally, the women would have no thoughts except to emulate them
and this would, as a result, cause our already soaring accident
rate to climb.
    My brother still infuriated me! Ali
mistakenly believed that I had left my youthful impulses behind,
but his smug look gave rise to my temper. To everyone’s complete
surprise, I leaped at Ali, grabbed a handful of his hair, and began
to pull as hard as I could. It took both Kareem and Father to force
me to release my grasp. My sisters’ loud laughter rang throughout
the room while their husbands stared at me with a combination of
awe and fear.
    Ali tried to make peace with me the following
day before he departed for the States. My hate was so reckless that
I purposely maneuvered him into a conversation about marriage and
the insistence of our men that their wives be virgins while they,
themselves, tried to sample as many women as possible. Ali took the
conversation seriously and proceeded to quote the Koran and
enlighten me on the absolute necessity of the virginity of females.
The old Sultana of many sly tricks came back to me with ease.
    I shook my head sadly and sighed a deep sigh.
Ali asked what was in my heart. I told him that for once he had
convinced me. I agreed with him that all females should be virgins
when they wed. I added, with a hidden malice he did not see, that
the nature of our young girls had so changed that rarely was a real
virgin to be found among them. At Ali’s questioning look, I said
that certainly there was little misconduct from Saudi women while
in Arabia, for what woman wants to lose her life? But when our
females traveled, I asserted, they sought out sexual partners and
gave their most precious gift to strangers.
    Ali became enraged at the thought of any man
other than himself, a Saudi, deflowering a Saudi virgin! He
inquired, with great agitation, as to where I had learned such
information. With a look of appeal on