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

Middle East
    Madinah: The second holiest city of
Islam, called “the city of the Prophet,” and burial place of
Prophet Mohammed
    Makkah: The holiest city of Islam,
where God revealed his will to Prophet Mohammed. It is the
destination of millions of Muslim pilgrims each year.
    Malaz: A residential section of Riyadh
popular with wealthy Saudis
    Manama: The capital city of Bahrain,
an island nation connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway
    Mena House: A popular hotel in Cairo
frequented by tourists
    Mismaak: The fortress in Riyadh used
by the Rasheed clan in the battle of 1902 that returned the Al
Sa’uds to power
    Mutawa: The morals police of Islam
    Najd: The traditional name for central
Arabia. Riyadh is located in this region. The inhabitants are
generally known for their conservative behavior. The Al Sa’ud
family are Najdis.
    Nasiriyah: A residential section of
Riyadh inhabited by members of the Royal Family and exceptionally
wealthy Saudis
    Qisas: A crime committed against a
person. The victim or the victim’s family can retaliate against the
one convicted of such a crime.
    Qiyas: The method of agreement of new
legal principles in Islam Ramadan The Islamic month of fasting when
Muslims worldwide celebrate God’s gift of the Koran to man
    Riyadh: The capital of Saudi
Arabia
    Riyal: The Saudi riyal is the currency
for Saudi Arabia
    Shari’a: The law of God for those
belonging to the Islamic faith
    Shiite: The branch of Islam that split
from the Sunni majority over the issue of Prophet Mohammed’s
successor
    Souq: The native marketplace or
bazaar
    Sunna: The traditions of the Islamic
faith as addressed by Prophet Mohammed
    Sunni: The majority orthodox branch of
Islam. Saudi Arabia is 95 percent Sunni.
    Suras: The chapters of the Koran.
There are 114 Suras.
    Taif: A mountain resort village in
Saudi Arabia located near Makkah
    Tazir: Crimes of misdemeanor under
Islamic law
    Thobe: A long shirt-like garment worn
by Saudi men. Traditionally, the thobe is made of white cotton, but
during the cool winter months men often wear a thobe of a heavier
fabric and a darker color. (As soon as male children can walk, they
are dressed in tiny thobes and headdresses, identical to their
fathers’.)
    Ulema: Islamic religious scholars who
regulate religious life in Saudi Arabia
    Yemen: A country located in the
southwest corner of the Arabian peninsula. In the past, many
Yemenis provided much of Saudi Arabia’s manual labor force. When
the government of Yemen remained loyal to Saddam Hussein during the
Gulf War, most Yemeni laborers were expelled from the kingdom.
     

Author Jean Sasson Speaks   
    Why do I care so much about the plight
of women of the world?  The answer is simple:  I can't
help it.  
    I grew up in the United States, in a tiny
town down South.  In my daily experience, women enjoyed
full freedom to do as they pleased.  It was beyond my
imagining that women might be discriminated against. 
  
    But from my earliest days, I noticed
mankind’s occasional unthinking mistreatment of “lesser” animals.
Such cruelty broke my heart, and I took aggressive – sometimes
perhaps even bizarre – action to aid animals in need. 
Mischievous boys who thought it amusing to tie a bag of rocks
to a cat's tail soon learned to avoid me.  I cared for a
number of animals of my own, including some rather eccentric ones,
such as a pet chicken name Prissy that I taught to walk on a
lead.  Another pet chicken, named Ducky, accompanied me like
my little shadow and brought me endless joy.  I had a
number of cats and, when I grew older, I got my first doggie, a
black cocker spaniel named, yes, Blackie!  Others – Frisky,
Doby, and a Peke named GooBoo – soon followed.  
    As I grew older, it seemed that all the
homeless dogs and cats in my little town “knew” to gather in our
yard, sensing that I could not turn a single one away.
    An impulse to save needy animals carried on
throughout my entire life, and I was willing to pursue eccentric
efforts to save a chained or mistreated animal.  After I
moved to Saudi Arabia, our villa in a Saudi neighborhood
quickly filled with abandoned dogs, cats, birds, rabbits,
and even ducks!  
    Friends who stayed overnight in our Saudi
home were often confronted with the challenge of sharing their bed
with a couple of cats, of being roused by the morning song of caged
birds, or of arranging their evening ablutions alongside a surprise
in the guest bathroom: a bathtub filled