This week, to celebrate the release of an audiobook version of Girls of the Empty Quarter (also published as Teacher, We Girls!), my memoir set in Najran, I thought I would offer a kind of tasting tray of writing by Saudi women.
- “Be Generous, My Eyes” by Al-Khansā’
Be generous, my eyes, with shedding copious tears
And weep a stream of tears for Sakhr!
I could not sleep and was awake all night;
it was as if my eyes were rubbed with grit.
I watched the stars, though it was not my task to watch;
At times I wrapped myself in my remaining rags.
(trans. Geert Jan Van Gelder)
Al-Khansāʾ means ‘snub-nosed’, an Arabic epithet for the gazelle as the embodiment of beauty. The poet’s real name was quite a mouthful–Tumadir bint Amru al-Harith bint al-Sharid–and she was the most powerful poetess of her age. A contemporary of Muhammad, it is said that he loved hearing her poems. She herself converted to the new religion of Islam and lived to the age of 70, dying in 646.
According to the traditions of her tribe, it was the woman’s job to compose and perform elegies for tribesmen who fell in battle. She gained fame for her elegies for her brothers Sakhr and Mu‘āwiya. You can watch a rendition of her poem “I was Sleepless” here.
Yasmine Seale is currently working on a translation of her poems into English. Watch this space!
- “Butterflies” by Fawziyya Abu Khalid
When you abandoned me,
I didn’t need an elegy
because you had planted
a flight of butterflies in my heart
whose path I follow
like a bedouin who knows
how to perfectly trace the footsteps
of his truant mare.
Khalid (b. 1955) is a poet, novelist and essayist. She has a BA from Lebanon, from Lewis and Clark University in Oregon and an MA from King Saud University where she now lectures in sociology. She has published three books of poetry. Her first collection, Until When will They Go On Raping You On Your Wedding Night? (1974) was banned in her home country. Reading the Secret of the History of Arab Silence (1985) was followed by Mirage Water (1995).
- The Dove’s Necklace by Raja’a Alem
“The only thing you can know for certain in this entire book is where the body was found: the Lane of Many Heads, a narrow alley with many heads.
“The first thing you should know, though, is that it’s not me who’s foolish enough to try to write about a place like the Lane of Many Heads; this is the Lane itself speaking, me and my many heads. I am that narrow alley in Mecca, off the highway where pilgrims make their ablutions and don their white robes to begin the Umrah rituals: the cleansing of the soul, washing away the past year’s sins in preparation for another year of debauchery.”
The Dove’s Necklace, read more of the excerpt here.
Alem writes stories that are anchored in her home town of Mecca. She has published several plays, three novels and a collection of short stories Nahr al-Hayawan (The Animal River, 1994). In 2011 she won the Arabic Booker Prize for The Doves’ Necklace, published in English by The Overlook Press in 2016. One of her short stories, “One Thousand Braids and a Governess” has been translated into English and published in Voices of Change: Short Stories by Saudi Arabian Women Writers.
- “Freedom Writers” by Nimah Ismail Nawwab
The scribe’s spirit lifts
scenting the perfume of promising openness
taking a deep breath of tangy freshness
freedom of speech hailed in surprised jubilation
when the hardened bands of taboos
break, seep through the hardened cracks
of centuries of cemented, walled-up silence
Nawwab’s The Unfurling was the first publication in the United States of a poetry collection by an Arab woman. Read an LA Times feature on her here
- Days of Ignorance by Laila Alijohani
“Was he dead?” That night, as the excitement washed over him, he heard a sound that made him shudder, and when he looked at Malik’s body curled up on the worn asphalt – alone and defenceless, struck down without warning – he knew that all the water on earth would not be enough to wash away the sin he had committed.
Excerpt from Days of Ignorance (trans. Piers Amodia) The book is available in English, translated by Nancy Roberts.
Laila Aljohani writes short stories and novels. She was born in the nort-west city of Tubuk. She is the author of Always Love Will Remain (1995), which won second place at the Abha Prize for Culture, The Barren Paradise (1998), Days of Ignorance (2007) and 40 Fi Ma’ani Ina Akbar (2009). Days of Ignorance is the first of her novels to be translated into English.
- Hend and the Soldiers by Badryah Al-Beshr
“Early one morning, Ammousha told me the story of my grandmother over a cup of coffee. It began with Abdul-Muhsin, my grandfather. He set out on a cold morning looking for his lost she-camel and came upon the slightly open door of Salem al-Dhal’an. He heard the pounding of a pestle breaking roasted coffee beans at the bottom of a mortar. The smell leaked out the door to where Abdul-Muhsin stood, vexed over the loss of his camel and longing for a cup of coffee to brighten his mood. He could not resist the smell, which slipped into every crevice of his mind. He knocked on the door.”
Excerpt from Hend and the Soldiers.
A Riyadh native, Al-Beshr has a Ph.D from the Lebanon University and has published three collections of short stories: Hend and the Soldiers (2005), The Seesaw (2010) and Love Stories on al-Asha Street (2013). She writes regularly for Al Hayat newspaper.
- “The Parting Gift” by Umayma al-Khamis
“The swift winter winds had brought some gray clouds to the sky, but the morning sun was calm and tender, while the air was saturated with the smell of imminent rain.
The schoolyard was filed with young, blossoming girls, whose movements in their school uniforms were lively and nimble, as if they were preparing for a vigorous dance. The shoes were black and smooth, and remained firmly on the ground. The Muslim calendar by the headmistress’s office stated that it was the year 1411 following the Prophet’s emigration from Meca to Medina.”
Excerpt from “The Parting Gift” in Arab Women Writers: An Anthology of Short Stories.
Umaima Abdullah Al-Khamis has a BA in Arabic Literature and worked as a teacher and director of the Department of Educational Media in the Ministry of Education before becoming a full-time writer in 2010. She has published four short-story collections, several children’s books and three novels: The Leafy Tree (2008), Saja’s Visit (2013) and Voyage of the Cranes in the Cities of Agate (2017).
- “Fragments from a Life” by Sharifa al Shamlan
“I laughed a lot as I watched the director. He seemed puffed up, extremely puffed up. The male nurses lined up on either side of him, looking clean and shiny. When the director approached me, the chief doctor whispered audibly in his ear, “She’s dangerous.”
Excerpt from “Fragments from a Life” in Arab Women Writers: An Anthology of Short Stories.
Sharifa Al-Shamlan, who died of complications related to Covid-19 in 2021, was famous in the Arab world both for her newspaper columns as well as her literary writing. She held several government posts related to social work and became the director-general of women’s social supervision in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. She also founded a female human rights office linked to the Saudi Human Rights Commission in the Eastern Province. Her books include Tomorrow Comes (short stories), Last Night and The City of Clouds (short stories).
- “The Revolution of the Heart Spring” (Thawrat al-rabīʻ al-Qalbī) by Hind al Mutairi
Mutairi is an outspoken poet, writer and academic from Taif. She has a Ph.D in Arabic Literature and Criticism and has published two poetry collections as well as critical and literary works.
In 2015 she performed a poem titled “The Revolution of the Heart Spring” to a mixed audience at the Jeddah Book Fair. The work was an impassioned feminist critique of restraints on women within tribal society. Members of the audience complained and tribal men demanded her prosecution and a formal apology. Although she was not prosecuted, she has been banned from participating in other cultural events.
- ‘Saudiwoman’ blog by Eman al-Nafjan
In Saudi Arabia you can tell a lot about a woman by her relationship with her driver. Yes I call it a relationship. Because, unlike anywhere in the world, drivers are a necessity and not a luxury that is used on a whim. A driver here knows his employer’s (or charge, depending on how conservative the family is) every single habit. Is she punctual or late? How social she is and who calls her and whom does she call. And depending on the size of the car, he probably even knows the smell of her morning breath. Her moods, shopping habits and favorite drink are common knowledge to not only her own driver but also to the neighbors’ drivers. Just as an example of how suffocatingly close a driver is, when my husband cannot reach me on my cell phone, he contacts the driver because wherever I am, the driver will of course be there too.
With someone that close, a relationship has to evolve. For some of my friends, it is a nurturing relationship. Just as long ago when people had horses and at stops the first thing they would do is make sure that the horse is put in a stable and provided with nourishment, these friends first make sure that the driver is let in to wait in the little cramped host’s driver room. Some even go as far as to prepare at home before going out tea in a thermos and some snacks for the driver to enjoy while he waits. When I ask them why go to all that trouble? They tell me that they cannot afford another runaway so they’re trying to make the job as pleasurable and easy as possible.
Others have a more master- slave relationship. They scream at their drivers. I’ve personally witnessed a woman hit her driver when he made a wrong turn. And if you try to comment they’ll say he should thank God that I’m willing to give him a job. Ironically, these women always end up with the loyal drivers who stick around for years. The driver that I witnessed being hit stayed with that employer for over 14 years.
And then there are the delusional, who try to ignore the presence of another human being in the car as much as they can. They gab on their phones and get in and out of the car just barely informing the driver of the destination. When they get there, they leave the car with no instructions as though the driver is just another auto part that will be there with the rest of the car when they finish their errand or visit.
No matter what type of relationship it is, the bottom line is pure unadulterated frustration. Why do we have to put up with this? Why do we have to fork out salaries and accommodations? Why do we have to figure out if we should let the driver wait outside or cruise around Riyadh on our gas money every time we reach a destination?
Post “Saudi Women and Their Drivers” from September 12, 2008
Eman Al-Nafjan has a BA in English, a Master’s degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and a PhD in Linguistics from Birmingham University. She started blogging as Saudiwoman in 2008, talking freely about Saudi social and cultural issues with refreshing candor.
She is probably best known as one of the activists involved in the Women to Drive campaign. Their pressure led King Salman to the officially lift the ban on 26 September 2017. In May 2018, Saudi authorities detained al-Nafjan and womens’-rights activists Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, Aisha al-Mana, Madeha al-Ajroush and others. The activists were imprisoned in a maximum-security prison, sexually molested and tortured (electrocuted and flogged). In 2019 she was released on bail.You can follow her on Twitter at @Saudiwoman
If you are interested in Saudi culture and particularly in women’s life in Saudi, consider buying my audiobook, which describes a year teaching in a girls’ school in Najran, near the border with Yemen.
