Princess Sultana's Daughters

servants have become quite lax. I fear that the
stain is permanent.”
    Amani, unable to allow me the pleasure of
believing that my small lie had been convincing, spoke to my back.
“Mummy. This carpet is not stained. Those are red roses woven into
the pattern!”
    Maha could not restrain herself, and I heard
her as she began to giggle.
    Amani called out, “Mummy, if you wish to hear
my words, you are most welcome. Please, come into the room where I
am speaking.” The door leading into the garden room slammed with a
thunderous clap.
    Tears formed in my eyes, and I rushed to my
bedroom. I could not bear to look at my beautiful daughter, for
since we had returned from Makkah, she had begun to clothe herself
from head to toe in black, even going so far as to wear thick black
hosiery and long black gloves. In the privacy of our home, only her
face remained uncovered, as my child wrapped her beautiful black
hair in a stiff black head covering that reminded me of something a
goat-herding Yemeni woman might wear. When Amani ventured outside
our palace walls, she added a veil of thick black fabric that
hindered her vision, even though the religious officials of Jeddah
were much more relaxed in pursuing women with unveiled faces than
were those of Riyadh. Our desert capital is known throughout the
Muslim world for its diligent morals committees, which are composed
solely of angry-faced men who harass innocent women on the city
streets.
    Nothing I could say or do could persuade my
daughter to dress more comfortably than in the heavy black cloak,
veil, and head-dress that strike most Muslim believers in other
Islamic lands as nothing less than ridiculous.
    I could not control my sobs. At great risk to
my happiness, I had battled most of my life for my daughters to
have the right to wear the thinnest of veils, and now my dear child
dismissed my small victory as if it had no value.
    And that was not the worst! Not content with
her newfound faith, Amani felt the zeal of the missionary to
convert others to her new way of thinking. Today, Amani had invited
her closest friends, along with four of her younger cousins, to our
home to hear her read from the Koran and speak about her
interpretation of the Prophet’s words, which sounded distressingly
like the interpretation I had so often heard from the government’s
Committee for Commendation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
    The intonation of Amani’s childlike voice was
ringing in my head as I closed the doors to my private quarters and
lay crossways on the bed, wondering how I was going to tackle this
latest crisis of motherhood.
    While eavesdropping, I had overheard Amani as
she read from the holy Koran:
    Do ye build a landmark
    on every high place
    to amuse yourselves?
    And, do ye get for yourselves
    fine buildings in the hope
    of living therein forever?
    and when ye exert
    your strong hand
    do ye do it like men
    of absolute power?
    Now fear God and obey me
    And follow not the bidding
    of those who are extravagant,
    and make mischief in the land,
    and mend not their ways.
    My knees shaking, I had listened in horror as
Amani stressed the Saudi royal family’s similarity to the
ostentatious sinners in the verse of the Koran.
    “Look around you! Witness the wealth of the
home from which I speak! A palace fit for a god could be no finer!
Are we not disregarding the very words of God in embracing the
opulence of costly indulgence that no human eyes are fit to
see?”
    Amani’s voice went soft, as if she were
speaking in a whisper, but I had closed my eyes and leaned closer,
listening with great care. I could barely hear Amani’s words. “Each
of us must banish extravagance from our lives. I will set the first
example. The jewels I have received from the wealth of my family
name, I will give to the poor. If you believe in the God of
Mohammed, you too must follow my example.”
    I did not hear the audience’s response to
their leader’s outlandish demand, for at that moment, my eldest
daughter, Maha, had made my unwelcome presence known.
    Now, remembering Amani’s promise to divest
herself of her jewels, I pushed myself from the bed and hurried to
my daughter’s bedroom. There, I opened the safe she shared with her
sister and removed a large quantity of expensive necklaces,
bracelets, earrings, and rings, locking those items into the safe
in Kareem’s office. I had taken Maha’s jewelry along with Amani’s,
for who knew what offense Amani might commit in her state