A glimpse into another world...

COINCIDENCE?
In 1901, a twenty-five year old Muslim by the name of Abdul Aziz fought his way back to his homeland in Saudi Arabia, where he and his family had been driven out when he was still a child. He made himself a king. In order to promote the stability and loyalty of the desert tribes surrounding his newly-won land, Aziz married over three hundred women, and fathered more than fifty sons and eighty daughters. Since then, the sons and grandsons of his favorite wife, Hassa Sudairi, have ruled Saudi Arabia. Today, the descendents of Al Aziz number well over twenty-one thousand people, and approximately one thousand are princes or princess who can trace their line directly back to Al Aziz.

In Princess, Jean P. Sasson recounts the life of one of Al Aziz's descendants, Sultana.The non-fiction account of a royal woman's life in Saudi Arabia is not for the faint-hearted. Females exist merely for pleasure, and Sasson matter-of-factly records scenes of oppression, hate, and suffering. I found it interesting that in the preface of the book, the author and her source both explicitly say it is not their “intention to demean the Islamic religion.”

As I am reading Sultana's story, it seems obvious that Islam, despite what our Western scholars say, is not a religion hospitable to friendship between men and women. It is hostile to individuality, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech. There is a set way to pray, to wash, to dress, and to worship. Men marry four women, and their male children are treated like gods, while their female children are ignored until they are old enough to attract a desirable husband. If a girl inappropriately looks at, talks to, or interacts with a man, she must be killed (TIME Magazine reported a Saudi princess was drowned in a swimming pool for adultery…back in 1978. However, it seems the media generally glosses over abuses in Islamic countries). Decorum from women is heralded as a virtue, yet prostitution, slavery, and brutal punishments for even minor offences are the norm in other areas of Islamic culture.

Is it a coincidence that Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative Islamic societies in the world, is egregiously oppressive to Christians, women, and ethnic minorities?