Princess Sultana's Daughters

Reema
visitation with her children, my sister would be forever banned
from their presence. There was no court of law that would reverse
the husband’s final decision about the destiny of his children.
    I moaned, thinking of the possibilities we
would know if we had male support. If only the men of her family,
our father and Ali, would stand behind Reema, her position in
negotiating for her children would strengthen. Since our father and
brother thought that a man should be allowed to do as he wished
with the females in his family, they would be of no assistance to
Reema.
    It was a serious moment.
    “Perhaps Saleem will come to his right mind,”
Nura hopefully suggested.
    “Never try to straighten a dog’s tail. In
vain you do,” Tahani muttered to no one in particular.
    After further discussion, my sisters and I
decided that we were needed in Riyadh. We would leave our husbands
in Monte Carlo with our children, and travel back to Saudi Arabia
the following day.
    Later that evening, Kareem tried to lift my
downcast spirit by reminding me that my sister had not died from
her injuries, and where there was life, change might come. He said
that a better day would soon be known, that in his opinion, Saleem
was suffering from nothing more than a male crisis that would
pass.
    Kareem became concerned when I promised him
that Saleem would suffer for his attack on the gentle Reema.
    Trying to ease my murderous rage, he joked,
“Sultana, I do not wish to see you made ready for the executioner’s
sword! You must spare Saleem’s life.”
    My husband continued to speak, but I listened
to his words without hearing, thinking how lamentable it was that
so much ignorance should prevail in a land that is home to a great
religion.
     

 
Home
    “ A girl possesses nothing but a veil and a
tomb .”
    —Saudi Arabian proverb
    Our brother, Ali, met us at the King Khalid
International Airport that is located twenty-two miles from
Riyadh’s city center. Ali seemed preoccupied and curtly informed us
that we would be taken directly to the private clinic to visit our
sister Reema, for she was suffering a particularly bad day and had
been asking for Nura since the early morning.
    The traffic was heavy, and the drive took
more than an hour. Each of us was lost in her thoughts of Reema. At
the beginning of the journey, the conversation was strained and
sparse, with nothing important spoken.
    Ali, tiring of the silence, confided that he,
himself, was involved in a family crisis. With a touch of annoyance
in his voice, my faithless brother said that Reema’s unfortunate
injury could not have occurred at a worse time, and that he had
been greatly inconvenienced by the necessity of becoming involved
in Saleem’s private family affair. In all earnestness, Ali wondered
aloud what Reema had done to bring forth Saleem’s hostility.
    Ali was blaming Reema for Saleem’s unprovoked
attack!
    Sara and Tahani looked quickly at Ali, and I
detected in their evasive glances faint reprimands at his unfeeling
comment.
    I could not restrain my tongue and said,
“Ali, with each day, your ignorance grows while your intelligence
shrinks!”
    I felt a keen urge to slap my brother, but
not wanting to appear less than admirable in front of Nura and
Tahani, I consoled myself with silent criticism. Ali was only a
year older than I, but he looked no less than ten years my senior,
with lines in his face and pouches under his eyes. In his youth,
Ali had been handsome and vain about his looks. In middle age he
had grown a bit stout, and his chin had doubled. Ali’s affluent,
overindulgent lifestyle was clearly evident in his face and form. I
was cheered to see his physical appeal decaying.
    My eldest sister’s face clouded, and in a
voice filled with tenderness and concern, she asked Ali what crisis
there was in his life.
    Out of ten sisters, only Nura truly loves
Ali. The emotions of the remaining nine sisters for their only
brother range from pity, contempt, and envy to open dislike. We do
understand that Nura is protected from acute disapproval of her
only brother by the division of many years, for Nura is the oldest
child of our mother, and Ali is one year from the youngest. Nura
was married with children when Ali was born, and was mercifully
spared his spoiled, overbearing conduct. In addition, Nura
inherited the kindly character of our mother and belonged to that
minority who instinctively make apologies for those around them,
while accepting the most