Princess Sultana's Circle

slowly
developed, I came to know a woman of great strength of will and
character. Although her judgment and conduct is often clouded with
passion, frequently creating emotional situations unexpected among
adults, it is easy to overlook such behavior, for Sultana is
selfless, caring and sensitive when it comes to other women. When
Sultana discovers any injustice against another woman she springs
into action, regardless of any personal danger to
herself.
    When Sultana confided to me
that she had conceived many plans to make the tragic stories of
Saudi women known to the world, but had never been free to do so
because of the danger it would attract to her immediate family and
herself, I agreed to help her make her wish come true. Together, we
would bring these horrifying and unbelievable true stories to the
world’s attention.
    And so, protecting her
anonymity, I became the voice for a princess.
    In the book, Princess , the world first
learned of Sultana’s life as an unwanted daughter of a cruel man in
an unforgiving society that places little value on females.
Sultana’s most beloved sister, Sara, was married against her will
to a much older man whom she did not know nor love. From the time
of her wedding, Sara was subjected to terrible sexual assaults by
her husband. Only after Sara attempted suicide would her father
allow her to seek a divorce and return home.
    Sultana’s own unhappy
childhood experiences caused her to become a rebellious teenager.
But she learned in a most horrifying manner that rebellion against
the harsh system of her country could only lead to disaster when
one of her own friends was executed by her own father, for the
“crime” of sexual misconduct.
    At age sixteen, Sultana was
told by her father that he had arranged for her to marry a cousin,
Kareem. Sultana and Kareem’s betrothal was unlike most Saudi
engagements, for Kareem requested to meet his future bride, and his
request was granted. Upon their first meeting, Kareem and Sultana
were strongly attracted to each other. They quickly fell in love,
and enjoyed a special union of mutual love, so unlike most Saudi
marriages.
    The early years of her
marriage brought Sultana the tranquility she had always desired.
She and Kareem were blessed first with a son, Abdullah, and then
with two daughters, Maha and Amani.
    Sultana and her family
remained in Riyadh during the Gulf War of 1991. The princess was
saddened that this war, rather than helping the status of women in
Saudi Arabia as she had hoped, made their lives even more
difficult. Sultana mourned that when the war ended, “thin veils
thickened, bare ankles were covered, and loosened chains were
tightened.”
    In Princess Sultana’s Daughters , the
princess and I told the world that her immediate family had learned
that she was the princess behind the book ,
Princess , which had become a bestseller in
many countries, but that the secret of her identity had been
maintained as far as the rest of the royal family was
concerned.
    Readers also learned that
despite Sultana’s constant battle against the status quo, and her
own relatively enlightened marriage, her own two daughters did not
escape the pressures of feudal prejudices against women in Saudi
Arabia.
    Sultana’s daughters each
reacted differently to her Saudi heritage. Her eldest daughter,
Maha, hated the life of a woman in Saudi Arabia, and following in
Sultana’s own path, rebelled against the injustices she saw
inflicted on women in her country. She became so unsettled in her
mind that she had to undergo psychiatric treatment in London before
she could resume life in Saudi Arabia.
    Amani, Sultana’s youngest
daughter, reacted in a way which was even more troubling to her
mother. Amani embraced the Islamic faith with a distressing degree
of fanaticism. As Sultana fights against the veil, Amani battles
for the veil.
    In this third book, Sultana
has asked me to be her voice once more. Although she continues to
challenge the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia by letting the
world know that the ongoing abuse of women in her country is both
alarming and routine, Sultana has discovered a new direction for
helping women worldwide, and persists in her gallant crusade for
reform.
    Although readers of this
book will learn that Sultana is far from perfect, and that her
imperfections are often all too human, no one can doubt her
sincerity when it comes to fighting for the rights of
women.
    As a writer, and her
friend, I am proud to tell