Princess Sultana's Daughters

princess from Saudi Arabia and an
American woman from small town America continue to tell the stories
that we hope will provide knowledge to readers, and that this
knowledge will compel people to gather their courage and take
action to bring change to our planet.
    I am proud to be the voice for Princess
Sultana. And, I am proud to present the second book in the Princess
Trilogy: Princess Sultana’s Daughters …
    Jean Sasson, March 2001
    For additional information about Jean Sasson
and her books, including maps, timelines, glossaries, and key facts
about Saudi Arabia, please visit the author’s website: http://www.JeanSasson.com
     

 
PRINCESS SULTANA’S DAUGHTERS

Prologue
    A great rock is not disturbed by the wind;
the mind of a wise man is not disturbed by either honor or
abuse.
    —BUDDHA
    Once, I read that any good pen can stab any
king. As I study the photograph of my uncle, Fahd ibn Abdul Aziz,
the king of Saudi Arabia, I contemplate the fact that I harbor no
desire to stab our king, or even to spark the wrath of a man I know
to be kindly.
    I trace my fingers across his face, calling
to mind the man, Fahd, from the days of my childhood. The
photograph portrays the king in maturity and reveals not a spark of
the youthful figure I remember. The king’s stern brow and strong
jaw belie the charming man I wistfully summon into my mind. My
thoughts wander back in time, remembering the king before he was
crowned. Standing tall and broad-shouldered, with his large hand
outstretched, he had offered a sweet date to a child in awe. That
child had been me. Fahd, like his father before him, was a robust
man, and, to my young eyes, had looked more like the son of a
bedouin warrior he was than like the statesman he would become.
Contrary to my bold character, I had reacted in a timid manner,
reluctantly accepting the desert fruit from his fingers, then
running away to the arms of my mother. I overheard Fahd’s fond
laughter as I tasted the sweetness of the date.
    As is our Saudi custom, I have not been
unveiled in the presence of the king since the age of puberty.
Since that time he has grown into a man of age. Acknowledging that
the king now appears somber, I decide that while the years of
statesmanship have strengthened him, the responsibilities of
leadership have chastened him. And, though massive and regal, our
king cannot be judged handsome. His eyelids droop too heavily over
his bulging eyes; his nose overshadows his upper lip, which tightly
frames a delicate mouth. In the picture so familiar to all Saudis
and visitors to the kingdom, the official photograph that hangs
conspicuously in every business and institution in my country, I
think the king appears to be what I know he is not: forbidding,
insensitive.
    In spite of his unquestioned power and vast
wealth, his position is not to be envied. As absolute sovereign of
one of the wealthiest nations on earth, King Fahd’s rule over the
hot, dreary land of Saudi Arabia is a perpetual struggle between
old and new.
    While most nations maintain themselves by
abandoning or recasting the old ways, growing slowly into newer and
better systems that advance civilization, our king has no such
options. He, a mere mortal, must force into unity and peace four
divided and completely distinct groups of citizens: the religious
fundamentalists, stern, unyielding men of power who demand a return
to the past; the prominent, well-educated middle class who cry out
for release from the old traditions that stifle their lives; the
Bedouin tribes who struggle against enticements to abandon their
roving ways and yield to the lure of the cities; and, finally,
members of the vast royal family who desire nothing more than
wealth, wealth, and more wealth.
    Bridging these four factions is the one group
of natives who have been forgotten, the women of Saudi Arabia, as
diverse in our desires and demands as the individual men who rule
our daily lives.
    Yet, strangely, I, a woman of great
frustrations, have little anger with the king over our plight, for
I know that he must have the loyal backing of ordinary husbands,
fathers, and brothers before moving against the disciplined men of
religion. These clerics claim that they correctly interpret the
historic code of laws to allow men to rule harshly over their
women. Too many ordinary men of Saudi Arabia are content with the
status quo, discovering that it is easier to ignore the complaints
of their women than to follow their king in negotiating