Princess Sultana's Circle (25 page)

When King Khalid learned
the contents of the film, he was embarrassed and outraged by the
film’s depiction of Saudi royalty. He temporarily severed
diplomatic ties with Great Britain, recalling the Saudi ambassador
to London and sending the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia
packing. More seriously, contracts with British firms worth
millions of pounds were cancelled. The consequence was that many
British jobs were lost.

When the broadcast ended, I
returned to my chair and slowly sipped my drink of cold Laban.
Mohammed Al Massari looked nothing like I had imagined, I mused.
Instead, he looked the scholar he was, not the rebel he had
become.

Maha took the remote
control from my hand and switched to a channel that was showing
music videos. Amani’s face was set like granite as she stared into
nothingness.

I gripped one hand in the
other and murmured out loud, “What caused that man to hate us so?
Why risk his reputation, his liberty, and the well-being of his
family, all for an idea?”

Maha murmured, “I don’t
know, Mother.”

Amani came to life with a
self-satisfied smile as she said, “I know.”

I sat astonished, and
looked dumbly at Maha, who also looked puzzled. “She knows?”
Amani’s words triggered a stream of speculations in my mind. “What
do you know of that man, Amani?”

“
Do you really want to
know?”

Desperate thoughts of Amani
allied to some forbidden political organization sank into my mind
like a dagger. I stared at her without blinking before finally
shouting. “Your mother demands to know!”

“
All right,” she said, as
if proud of her special knowledge.

Unspoken ideas were running
through my mind. My daughter is part of a rebellion! Whatever will
Kareem and I do?

Amani cleared her throat
before she began speaking. “You asked why the professor was willing
to risk everything? The reason is simple, Mother. The professor
grew up in a family which has always questioned our family’s claim
to the throne.”

Drenched with anxiety for
my daughter, I wiped my forehead and upper lip with a tissue. I
could hold my tongue no longer. “Wait, Amani.” I spoke in a dry
croak. “Are you a member of this banned organization?”

Stillness hung in the room,
no one spoke.

“
Amani!” I
shouted.

My daughter pulled herself
up in the seat and tucked her legs beneath her. She stared boldly
into my eyes, luxuriating in the agony she was inflicting upon her
visibly shaken mother.

A great sadness gripped my
heart. I could not deny that Amani is a lovely girl. She is
doll-like petite with a perfectly shaped figure. Her skin is the
color of honey, and she has a dainty straight nose, full pink lips,
perfect white teeth, and velvety chocolate eyes widely spaced under
arched, slanting brows. Yet, even though my daughter grows more
beautiful with each passing year, her personality has become more
and more uninviting. As the years have passed, I have become
convinced that internal beauty is more important for living a happy
life than external beauty, therefore, I knew that if I were given
the power, I would dearly like to turn Amani inside out.

Finally, just as I was
about to grab my child and shake her, she gave me a squinting smirk
and waved her hand in the air.

“
No, Mother. Don’t worry.”
She narrowed her eyes as she spoke, “Women play no role in the
professor’s movement. I am not wanted.”

“
Alhamdulilah!” “Praise
God!” For the first time in my life, I was glad to hear that
females were excluded.

Amani raised her voice. “ I
learned all I know from a friend whose brother distributes
documents and tapes for this organization. The brother is a zealous
supporter of the professor and knows everything about his life. He
told her what I am now telling you.”

Regaining my composure, I
looked at Maha and said, “We women must remember that our own
family can do more for females in Saudi Arabia than any other
individual. Surely, this man’s talk of fighting for democratic
rights will evaporate in the heat of the desert; in any case, where
women’s rights are concerned, he is obviously a typical Saudi
man.”

I turned my attention back
to Amani, “The professor’s organization has no use for women. You
said so yourself.”

In a slow, provoking tone,
Amani asked, “You said you wanted to know about this man. Do you
still?”

“
I want to know everything
you know about this man, Amani.”

“
Well,” Amani bit her lip
in concentration, “Where was I?”

Maha spoke, “The rebel’s
family has always questioned our family’s right to the
throne.”

“
Oh, yes. Coming from a
family who fostered democracy, the professor was determined to help
create reform. He waited on the government to introduce reform, but
he waited in vain.”

Although I was beginning to
have some respect for this Al Massari, even agreeing that some
change is in order, I have never wished for my family to lose their
power. And, while Mohammed Al Massari might be a man of brilliant
thoughts, I suspected that he might find it difficult to hold a
country together that had been created decades ago by a warrior
genius.

The country of Saudi Arabia
is made up of many different factions, including the uneducated
Bedouin class, wealthy business families, and middle-class
professionals. It is difficult enough for our family, which has
been in power since Saudi Arabia’s creation, to keep such a diverse
group of citizens happy, without having to concede democratic
reforms.

I turned my attention back
to my daughter’s droning voice.

“
The professor was unable
to convert others to his way of thinking. But, when Iraq invaded
Kuwait, everything changed. We Saudis were stunned to discover that
we could not defend ourselves, and that we needed foreign armies to
come into our country to save us. Suddenly, with the presence of
foreign armies, ordinary Saudis finally became politicized. Many
Saudi Arabians were heard to say that the presence of foreign
armies in their beloved land was so shameful that it was the final
nail in the coffin of the House of Al Sa’ud.”

With her hands, Amani
pretended to hammer that nail.

“
And so, Uncle Fahd lost
his own people when he embraced the Western enemy.”

“
That’s simply not true,
Amani,” Maha exclaimed in protest. “All Saudis love the
King!”

Amani gave her sister a
condescending smile, but did not bother to argue Maha’s
claim.

Remembering the very real
fear that Saddam Hussein, our Arab neighbor and former friend,
might actually bomb our cities, I quoted an Arab proverb, “Never
forget, Amani, ‘a prudent enemy is safer than a reckless
friend’!”

An increasingly curious
Maha now asked her sister, “And so, what else do you know,
Amani?”

Amani shrugged her small
shoulders. “The rest of the story is known by everyone in Saudi
Arabia. The moment Western armies arrived on our soil, Saudis began
to rise from a long sleep. Intellectuals began to participate in
clandestine meetings, and an opposition group was
formed.”

I sniffed. What Amani said
was true. Every Saudi Arabian knew that a committee of dissidents,
composed of fifty men, including scholars, businessmen, judges, and
religious leaders had written a letter to the King.

This letter called for an
end to oppression, and asked for participation in the running of
the government. Over four hundred prominent Saudi Arabians added
their signatures to the dissidents’ document. When this letter was
presented to the King, it is said he went into shock before
consulting the Council of the Senior Scholars. On orders from the
King, this council had condemned the committee, saying it should be
abolished and members punished. The secret police had arrested the
professor and had jailed him at Al Hayir Prison, located a few
kilometers outside of Riyadh.

Amani spoke once again. “I
do know that for six months Professor Al Massari was kept
imprisoned, partly in solitary confinement.”

Maha clicked her tongue in
sympathy.

I gave her a sharp look.
“Do not forget, Daughter, this man is calling for the downfall of
your own family.”

Maha’s face reddened as she
looked away.

“
I was told by my friends
that this professor was tortured while in prison,” Amani continued.
“While under interrogation, prison guards spit in his face, beat
his feet with a bamboo cane, pulled his beard, and boxed his
ears.”

I stared at my hands
listening, ashamed, knowing that such events are routine in Saudi
prisons.

“
My friend also told me
that the professor was charged with heresy. Of course, when told to
confess, he refused.

“
The High Court could not
agree upon an action. They were obviously dealing with a man of
courage, and the law said they must either behead him, or release
him. Since the court was fearful of creating a martyr, the
professor was given a chance to appeal his case. He was told that
he would be released and given a chance to reflect upon his
actions. If he kept away from political controversy, he might
remain free.”

Such is the way of my
family, I thought. They always hope that problems will simply
vanish. If only all the dilemmas of life were so simple!

“
Well, of course, the
professor is not a man who can be silenced, so immediately on his
release he began to participate in the Committee’s actions
again.

“
A secret source warned the
professor that the capital charge of treason was being prepared
against him. The Committee agreed that the time had come for the
professor to leave Saudi Arabia, and continue his fight from
abroad. An elaborate escape plan was prepared.”

I felt a flutter in my
heart. Was my own daughter privy to secret information about his
escape?

“
The professor and a friend
came up with a ruse to visit an ill friend confined in a hospital.
Inside the hospital, they were met by a third man who bore a
striking physical resemblance to the professor, who changed places
with him. When the two men left, the government agents trailing the
professor followed the wrong man. No longer followed, it was easy
for the professor to get to the Riyadh Airport. With a false
passport, he flew to a small town on the Yemeni border. He waited
for two days for his Yemeni contacts, men who knew a route which
avoided border controls. The small secret group crossed the
Saudi-Yemeni border on foot. In Yemen, there were new contacts
waiting to assist him on his journey to London.”

Amani’s voice came across
low and heavy. “Of course, everyone knows that when the professor
escaped, his own son and brothers were taken as hostages by our
family and imprisoned.” Amani flopped back into the easy chair,
expelling a deep breath. “And, that’s the story of the professor.
Practically everyone under the age of thirty in our country knows
this, and now many, many young people secretly support Professor Al
Massari.”

I moved my head slowly and
heavily. Was this why sit-ins and demonstrations were disrupting
the peace of the land? Soon, I feared, the entire country would
share the professor’s urgent demands for change.

“
We Al Sa’uds are doomed.”
I moaned, as I buried my head in my hands.

Chapter
Fourteen

Kareem’s
Prophecy

At that very moment, Kareem
entered the room.

Concerned, he asked our
daughters, “What is wrong with your mother?” Maha blurted out,
“Mother is worried that Amani is a member of a revolutionary
group.”

Confusion surged in
Kareem’s eyes, and for a short period of time, words flew this way
and that without anyone really understanding what was happening.
Once he realized that Amani had more information than she should
have of the man who was calling for our family’s downfall, Kareem
became a man wildly possessed.

First, he screamed at
Amani, telling her that, “Daughter! Have you lost all good sense?
Are you a follower of this man?”

Amani protested her
innocence, “I am not a follower! I simply reported what I have been
told.” My daughter stared coldly into my face, “Mother insisted
that I tell. It’s her fault!”

“
Forget
what your mother said! You must not be associated
with
anyone
who has taken up the cause of our most vocal enemy! Arrests
are happening every day!” Kareem pounded the wall with his fists,
causing the expensive paintings to vibrate. “You stupid, stupid,
stupid child!”

Alarmed, I watched as Amani
chewed the inside of her mouth.

I was about to comfort my
child when Kareem directed the greater force of his anger toward
me! “Sultana! You have raised your daughters to be rebels! I tell
you, I won’t put up with it a moment longer!”

I was so shocked at
Kareem’s accusation that I could not speak.

Maha slipped from the room,
and Amani tried to leave with her, but Kareem ordered her to
stay.