Princess Sultana's Circle

before finally
shouting. “Your mother demands to know!”
    “ All right,” she said, as
if proud of her special knowledge.
    Unspoken ideas were running
through my mind. My daughter is part of a rebellion! Whatever will
Kareem and I do?
    Amani cleared her throat
before she began speaking. “You asked why the professor was willing
to risk everything? The reason is simple, Mother. The professor
grew up in a family which has always questioned our family’s claim
to the throne.”
    Drenched with anxiety for
my daughter, I wiped my forehead and upper lip with a tissue. I
could hold my tongue no longer. “Wait, Amani.” I spoke in a dry
croak. “Are you a member of this banned organization?”
    Stillness hung in the room,
no one spoke.
    “ Amani!” I
shouted.
    My daughter pulled herself
up in the seat and tucked her legs beneath her. She stared boldly
into my eyes, luxuriating in the agony she was inflicting upon her
visibly shaken mother.
    A great sadness gripped my
heart. I could not deny that Amani is a lovely girl. She is
doll-like petite with a perfectly shaped figure. Her skin is the
color of honey, and she has a dainty straight nose, full pink lips,
perfect white teeth, and velvety chocolate eyes widely spaced under
arched, slanting brows. Yet, even though my daughter grows more
beautiful with each passing year, her personality has become more
and more uninviting. As the years have passed, I have become
convinced that internal beauty is more important for living a happy
life than external beauty, therefore, I knew that if I were given
the power, I would dearly like to turn Amani inside out.
    Finally, just as I was
about to grab my child and shake her, she gave me a squinting smirk
and waved her hand in the air.
    “ No, Mother. Don’t worry.”
She narrowed her eyes as she spoke, “Women play no role in the
professor’s movement. I am not wanted.”
    “ Alhamdulilah!” “Praise
God!” For the first time in my life, I was glad to hear that
females were excluded.
    Amani raised her voice. “ I
learned all I know from a friend whose brother distributes
documents and tapes for this organization. The brother is a zealous
supporter of the professor and knows everything about his life. He
told her what I am now telling you.”
    Regaining my composure, I
looked at Maha and said, “We women must remember that our own
family can do more for females in Saudi Arabia than any other
individual. Surely, this man’s talk of fighting for democratic
rights will evaporate in the heat of the desert; in any case, where
women’s rights are concerned, he is obviously a typical Saudi
man.”
    I turned my attention back
to Amani, “The professor’s organization has no use for women. You
said so yourself.”
    In a slow, provoking tone,
Amani asked, “You said you wanted to know about this man. Do you
still?”
    “ I want to know everything
you know about this man, Amani.”
    “ Well,” Amani bit her lip
in concentration, “Where was I?”
    Maha spoke, “The rebel’s
family has always questioned our family’s right to the
throne.”
    “ Oh, yes. Coming from a
family who fostered democracy, the professor was determined to help
create reform. He waited on the government to introduce reform, but
he waited in vain.”
    Although I was beginning to
have some respect for this Al Massari, even agreeing that some
change is in order, I have never wished for my family to lose their
power. And, while Mohammed Al Massari might be a man of brilliant
thoughts, I suspected that he might find it difficult to hold a
country together that had been created decades ago by a warrior
genius.
    The country of Saudi Arabia
is made up of many different factions, including the uneducated
Bedouin class, wealthy business families, and middle-class
professionals. It is difficult enough for our family, which has
been in power since Saudi Arabia’s creation, to keep such a diverse
group of citizens happy, without having to concede democratic
reforms.
    I turned my attention back
to my daughter’s droning voice.
    “ The professor was unable
to convert others to his way of thinking. But, when Iraq invaded
Kuwait, everything changed. We Saudis were stunned to discover that
we could not defend ourselves, and that we needed foreign armies to
come into our country to save us. Suddenly, with the presence of
foreign armies, ordinary Saudis finally became politicized. Many
Saudi Arabians were heard to say that the presence of foreign
armies in their