Princess Sultana's Daughters

knew that Majed, Ali’s
second son, participated in foreign activities within our country,
attending parties in foreign compounds and dating non-Muslim women
from the hospitals and foreign airlines. This kind of activity was
generally frowned upon by Muslim families, but Ali thought it a
perfect opportunity for his second son to enjoy sexual freedom in a
land where such activities are strictly forbidden between people of
the Muslim religion.
    My heart ached when I saw the seriousness of
Amani’s expression as she explained further. “No, Mummy. You do not
understand. Majed has performed a sexual act without the consent of
the woman.” I had no idea what my daughter was talking about.
“Amani, what do you mean?”
    My daughter began to weep once again. Between
her convulsive sobs, she asked that I go and find her father,
saying that she needed his guidance in her decision about whom to
inform of Majed’s terrible conduct.
    Hurt that Amani desired her father’s opinion
over my own, I nevertheless went through the house, looking for
Kareem. When I finally located him with Abdullah and Maha in the
game room, playing a lively game of pool, I felt a twinge of
jealousy, thinking to myself that all three of my children
preferred their father to their mother. I had to bite my tongue to
avoid blurting out Kareem’s distressing character flaws in an
attempt to redirect my children’s devotion.
    All three members of my family jumped when I
loudly yelled, “Kareem! Amani needs you.”
    “One moment. It is my turn.”
    “Kareem. Your daughter is weeping. Come
now.”
    My husband gave me a filthy look. “What have
you said to her, Sultana?”
    Already testy and now wrongly accused, I used
my hand to knock each of the brightly colored pool balls into the
holes at the sides of the table. I walked away, unconcerned with
the disappointed moans coming from Kareem and Abdullah. “Now,” I
shouted over my shoulder. “The game has ended. You have won. Now
perhaps you can tend to your child.”
    Kareem was on my heels as we entered Amani’s
room. The tears had gone from my daughter’s eyes, and she had the
fixed look of one who has made a decision.
    Kareem spoke first. “Amani? Your mother says
that you need to tell me something?”
    “Father, Majed has to be punished for what he
has done. I have read carefully all that is written of such
matters, and there is no other way. Punishment must be given to my
cousin.”
    Kareem sat on a chair and crossed his legs.
He had a squeezed, funny look on his face, as though for the first
moment he realized that Amani had gone too far in her religious
quest.
    His voice quiet, he asked, “What has Majed
done that is so terrible?”
    Still an innocent girl, Amani’s face turned a
bright red. “I am ashamed of what I have to say.”
    “Just say it,” Kareem prodded.
    Embarrassed at speaking thus in the presence
of a man, even her own father whom she had purposely requested to
share the confidence, Amani stared into her lap. Her face was clear
and innocent as she told us a tale of evil blackness.
    “One evening Majed attended a party at one of
the Western compounds. I believe that it was the compound for
Lockheed employees. While there, he met an American woman who took
an interest in the fact that he was of the royal family. As the
evening went on, Majed became drunk, and the woman thought better
of her promise to go with him to a friend’s apartment. When Majed
understood that he had wasted his evening and that there would be
no sex that night, he left the compound in an angry mood. On the
way to his home, he went to visit a friend, who happened to be in a
hospital with minor injuries from a car accident. While at this
hospital, Majed became angrier, and in his drunken condition, he
slipped from room to room searching for a blonde or foreign woman
whom he could coax or pay to have sex.
    “It was after midnight, and there were few
employees who were not sleeping.”
    Amani’s bottom lip began to tremble, and
Kareem had to persuade her to continue. “And…what happened then,
Amani?”
    The accusation tumbled from my daughter’s
mouth. “Majed had sex with a woman in the hospital who was a
patient, a woman who had been seriously injured and was not
conscious.”
    I could not move. As one who has been turned
to stone, I listened as my daughter and my husband continued to
speak. Kareem shook his head in disbelief. “Amani. Faten told you
that?”
    “Yes, Father. And