Princess Sultana's Circle

Saudi
Arabia are forbidden to drive or to participate in public life, or
that newborn females have their spines snapped in India, or the
outrage that men are acquitted for killing women who are raped in
Pakistan, or that young girls are routinely forced into
prostitution in Thailand.
    I spoke with Princess
Sultana during that time and was not surprised when I learned that
she, too, was hoping that the great victory for women in
Afghanistan would magically sweep her world. She, as I, was
disheartened when she saw that the time had not yet come when every
democratic government will do the responsible thing and proclaim
that freedom is just as important for women, as it is for men.
Surely, the world now knows that what imperils women, imperils the
world.
    Tragically, after the
passing of nine years, the situation for women in Afghanistan is
little better. The presence of the American military has done
little to foster humanitarian rights for women. Young girls of age
8 are still wed to men of 30 or 40 years. There has been an
increase in suicides of Afghan girls and women with most choosing
to set themselves on fire. As far as I know, the Afghan government
has not made one effort to help their own women. The future looks
bleak for females in Afghanistan.
    Shame on the American
government and shame on the Afghan government for not making this
most important issue a priority.
    I felt so strongly about
the plight of Afghan women that I took nearly two years out of my
life to write the story of Maryam Khail, an Afghan woman who grew
up in Afghanistan and escaped after the invasion of the Russians.
Sadly, Maryam became a victim of her husband, and in the process
lost her son. Princess Sultana told me that when she read Maryam’s
story that her heart plunged in fear that a thousand years from now
most men will still not care about the plight of women. From now
on, the princess is including Afghan girls in her charity
work.
    The princess and I hope
that readers will read Maryam’s story in
For the Love of a Son: One Afghan Woman’s Quest for her Stolen
Child.
    The princess and I thank
you for your support. I am hopeful that you will learn a lot from
this latest book about Princess Sultana and her family. We would
like to tell you that a full chapter will be added to this book
sometime during the next year, a chapter that will update you on
the life of Princess Sultana, her three children, and now, her two
grandchildren. We also hope that you will join our “Circle of
Women,” an organization finally to be formed in September
2012.
     
    For additional information
about Jean Sasson and her books, and updates on Princess Sultana,
women’s issues, and the Middle East, please visit the author’s
website: www.JeanSasson.com
    You can also check out
Jean’s blog at http://jeansasson.wordpress.com/ or write to Jean Sasson directly at
[email protected].

Preface
    On September 7, 1978, I
traveled to Saudi Arabia with the idea that I would live and work
in the country for only a few years, but I remained in Riyadh, the
capital of that desert kingdom, until the spring of
1992.
    In 1983, I met Sultana Al
Sa’ud, a royal princess. This delightful woman exercised upon me a
fascination that has not left me since.
    I had worked at the King
Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre for four years.
During that time, I had met various members of the large Saudi
royal family and had made the sad discovery that on the whole they
were spoiled and self-absorbed. Most could see no further than the
monarchy and all its trappings.
    However, Sultana was unlike
any royal I had met.
    Sultana was young and
beautiful. Her dark hair fell over her shoulders and her eyes
sparkled with curiosity. Her lips frequently opened wide in
spontaneous laughter. Dressed in expensive clothes and decorated
with eye-catching jewels, Sultana captured the undivided attention
of everyone around her.
    Beyond her obvious beauty
and charm, I had expected this royal to be like every other
princess I had met, but I was both surprised and pleased to learn
that Sultana was a woman with an independent mind who seemed to
hunger to bring change to the lives of women in Saudi Arabia.
Although she had been raised to the privileges of the enormously
wealthy ruling family of Saudi Arabia, she made no effort to
conceal that where issues regarding women were involved, she was in
a rebellion against the traditions and customs of her own
country.
    As our friendship