Princess Sultana's Daughters

mutter to no one in particular, “A
mouse can only give birth to a mouse.”
    In the blink of an eye, Kareem snatched Maha
from Father’s sight and took her squirming and cursing into the
villa to wash out her mouth with soap. Her muffled cries could be
heard in the garden.
    Father left soon after, but not before
announcing to the entire family that my daughters were doomed by my
blood.
    Little Amani, who is too sensitive for such
accusations, collapsed into hysterics.
    My father has not acknowledged the existence
of either daughter since that day.
     
    Maha’s belligerence and hostility did not
prevent her from occasional bouts of kindness and sensitivity, and
her temperament cooled somewhat after the incident in Taif. My
daughter’s angers ebbed and flowed. In addition, Kareem and I
doubled our efforts to assure both our daughters that they were as
loved and esteemed as our son. While this proved fruitful in our
home, Maha could not ignore the fact that she was considered less
worthy than her brother in the world outside our walls. It is a
distressing habit of all Saudi Arabians, including my own family
and Kareem’s, to pour attention and affection on the heads of male
children, while ignoring female children.
    Maha was a bright girl who was hard to
deceive, and the uncompromising facts of Arab life burned into her
consciousness. I had strong premonitions that Maha was a volcano
that would one day erupt.
    Like many a modern parent, I had no clear
notion of how to help my most troubled child.
    *
    Maha was only fifteen during the Gulf War, a
time that no Saudi Arabian is likely to forget. Change was in the
air, and no one was more tempted by the promise of female
liberation than my eldest daughter. When our veiled plight peaked
the curiosity of numerous foreign journalists, many educated women
of my land began to plan for the day when they could burn their
veils, discard their heavy black abaayas, and steer the wheels of
their own automobiles.
    I, myself, was so caught up in the excitement
that I failed to notice that my oldest daughter had become involved
with a teenage girl who took her idea of liberation to the
extreme.
    The first time I met Aisha I was
uncomfortable—and not because she was unrelated to the royal
family, for I, myself, had cherished friends outside the circle of
royalty. Aisha was from a well-known Saudi Arabian family that had
made its fortune importing furniture into the kingdom to sell to
the numerous foreign companies that had to stock large numbers of
villas for the swarm of expatriate workers invading Saudi
Arabia.
    I thought the girl was too old for her years.
Only seventeen, shelooked much more mature, and acted in a tough
manner that smelled of trouble.
    Aisha and Maha were inseparable, with Aisha
spending many hours at our home. Aisha had an unusual amount of
freedom for a Saudi girl. Later, I discovered that she was
virtually ignored by her parents, who seemed not to care about
their daughter’s whereabouts.
    Aisha was the oldest of eleven children, and
her mother, the only legal wife of her father, was embroiled in a
never-ending domestic dispute with her husband over the fact that
he took advantage of a little-used Arab custom called mut’a, which
is a “marriage of pleasure,” or a “temporary marriage.” Such a
marriage can last from one hour to ninety-nine years. When the man
indicates to the woman that the temporary arrangement is over, the
two part company without a divorce ceremony. The Sunni sect of
Islam, which dominates Saudi Arabia, considers such a practice
immoral, condemning the arrangement as nothing more than legalized
prostitution. Still, no legal authority would deny a man the right
to such an arrangement.
    As an Arab woman belonging to the Sunni
Muslim sect, Aisha’smother protested the intrusion of the
temporary, one-night or one-week brides her depraved husband
brought into their lives. The husband, disregarding the challenge
of his wife, claimed validation through a verse in the Koran that
says, “You are permitted to seek out wives with your wealth,
indecorous conduct, but not in fornication, but give them a reward
for what you have enjoyed of them in keeping with your promise.”
While this verse is interpreted by the Shiite sect of the Muslim
faith as endorsement of the practice, these temporary unions are
not common with Sunni Muslims. Aisha’s father was the exception in
our land, rather than the rule, in embracing the freedom to wed
young