Princess Sultana's Circle

child and only son, Abdullah, were in
Kareem’s home office. Amani, our youngest daughter, was in the
garden with her pets, and I was sitting in the living room with our
elder daughter, Maha.
    Suddenly, my sister Sara,
and three of her four daughters, Fadeela, Nashwa, and Sahar, burst
through the door.
    I rose with a smile to
greet my most beloved sister, but I saw the fear shining through
Sara’s eyes. Sara’s dark eyes desperately sought mine as she
clasped my hands. She told me to sit down, that she had appalling
news.
    “ What is wrong,
Sara?”
    Sara’s melodious voice
betrayed a great bitterness. “Sultana, while you were away, Ali
arranged for Munira to be married. The wedding is ten days from
tomorrow.”
    Maha grabbed my hand from
Sara’s, and dug her nails into my palm. “Oh, Mother,
no!”
    I pulled away. My hands
twitched nervously as I spread my fingers across my face. One idea
beat mercilessly into my brain. Another young woman, my own flesh
and blood, to be married against her will.
    Munira was the oldest
daughter of my despised brother, Ali. She was a pretty, though
slight girl, who appeared many years younger than her true age.
Munira had always been an obedient child whose timid demeanor
aroused our sympathies and affection.
    Munira’s mother was Ali’s
first wife, Tammam, the royal cousin my brother had married so many
years before. At the time, Ali had readily boasted that his
marriage to Tammam was for the sole purpose of sexual release when
he came home to our country in between school terms abroad. Love
and affection were never on his agenda. Anyone could have easily
predicted Tammam’s miserable future.
    She had been married while
still a child, and she never had an opportunity to develop
emotionally. Even as a mature woman, Tammam rarely entered into
conversation, and when she did speak, her voice was so low the
listener was forced to lean close to hear her.
    Three years after his
marriage to Tammam, Ali took a second wife. Since Tammam was a most
dutiful wife, Ali was questioned by our eldest sister, Nura, as to
his need for a second spouse. Nura later revealed to us that Ali
had declared that his displeasure was linked to Tammam’s
unhappiness. He was angry and baffled over the fact that his young
bride had become a melancholy wife. With the greatest puzzlement,
Ali claimed that Tammam had not once smiled since the day he had
become her husband!
    Tammam’s union with Ali
produced three children, two daughters and a son. The daughters
were as cheerless as their mother, while the son was a perfect
arrogant duplicate of his father. By now, their ranks had been
swelled by twelve other children, by a total of six women apart
from Tammam.
    Munira had lived a troubled
and unhappy life. As the daughter of a man who cared little for
daughters, Munira had spent her early years striving to win the
love of her father, a man who had no love to give. In that respect,
Munira’s childhood quest for a father’s love resembled my own. But
that is where the similarity ended. At least I had survived the
deprivation of my father’s love with my ability to love intact.
Munira’s thwarted love for her father gradually twisted into open
dislike before turning into a combination of fear and hatred. Those
feelings had now grown to include all men—even those men who were
kind. Five years before, at age sixteen, Munira had told her mother
that she wished to remain celibate.
    And so, unlike most Saudi
girls, who spend much of their youth perfecting methods to keep
their future husbands content, Munira determined a different life
for herself. She trained as a social worker with the intent to
spend her life assisting the handicapped who are so scorned in our
land. Nevertheless, she made it clear that she would only attend to
the female handicapped.
    For a period of time it
appeared that Ali had simply forgotten the fact that his eldest
daughter was unwed. But sadly, he had been reminded of her single
state during a recent family social event. Now Ali was denying his
daughter the one pleasure she sought, which was to be allowed to
remain unmarried.
    The moment a girl is born
in Arab lands, the parent immediately begin to think of an
appropriate marriage. With the idea of future allegiances, suitable
families with eligible sons are studied keenly. While a Saudi girl
remains unmarried, she must stay a virgin. On the other hand,
virginity prolonged is deemed a family disgrace. Now that Munira
had turned