decided to defend her ambitions.
“So, what am I to say to my eight daughters and granddaughters if they are not allowed to speak their minds in the twenty-first century?” he responded artfully. “More women are getting educations and qualifying themselves to speak, more so than some of the men who speak out unwisely.”
Sheikh Al Naseem admonished, “You may tell your granddaughters to utilize their education and ambitions to speak out when they are
asked
to do so.”
“And when may I ask is that?” Sheikh Al Hassan countered quickly.
As Sheikh Al Rashid prepared to add his own views to their argument, Sheikh Al Hassan’s youngest daughter, Sara Mumia, entered the room, wearing her covered garb and veil, to inform her father in Arabic that she would be on the way to the library.
He responded in Arabic for his daughter to be careful and to take an escort for security. He also told her to call her mother after she arrived.
“Yes, I will,” she promised her father in English.
As soon as his daughter had left the room for her outing to the royal library of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Al Naseem questioned, “Is that basic respect too much to ask of a wife or a daughter? I believe it is
not.”
Sheikh Al Hassan continued to grin while enjoying his meal. He said, “There will come a time when we will be forced to recognize the value of a woman who is much
more
than just a
wife
or a
daughter.
Like
Aishah,
the Prophet Muhammad’s youngest and most gifted wife, there will be women amongst us who will be destined to rule, whether we are prepared to accept it or not.”
Both Sheikh Al Naseem and Sheikh Al Rashid began to laugh out loud.
Sheikh Al Rashid conceded as much as he devoured his fruit and garden salad with light dressing.
“You are probably right, my friend. But at my old age, I may not be around long enough to see it,” he commented. And the
Emirati
council members shared another laugh.
Chapter 6
The same young reporter who had been fortunate enough to interview the honorable
Emirati
wife Hamda Sharifa Hassan, continued to reflect on an opportunity that could have made her famous amongst the Muslim and Arabian women of Dubai. Ramia Farah Aziz dreamed as she watched old footage from a year ago, presenting the grand opening of a downtown hotel where Hamda was allowed to cut the ribbon and congratulate her husband as one of Dubai’s top young developers.
Ramia watched the old footage on a small television set in a cramped apartment room on the man-made island of Palm Deira, where she had moved in with her cousin Basim. And she found herself having a hard time letting the excitement of the unexpected interview go. They had arrived there to find footage of unsafe immigrant worker conditions at various construction sites, not to capture a Muslim icon in a one-on-one interview. But now that the
Emirati
government was onto them, the police pressures had forced their camera crew to lie low for a while, leaving Ramia with idle time and a need to find other work.
“Ugh, we were so close to something
great,”
she fussed to herself while slapping her face with both hands. Ramia was determined to lead a life of courage and enlightenment, while taking destiny into her own hands, which was why she had challenged herself to leave home in Jordan and to room with her cousin in Palm Deira three months earlier. Showing fearlessness and exceptional presence in front of a camera, a group of guerilla newsmen and film producers dared the young Jordanian to help them report the many current events and cultural happenings in and around Dubai. And with the blessings of her big cousin, Ramia jumped at the opportunity. But after more than a week of the group’s inactivity, she became eager to find something else to do to occupy her time. She and Basim began to job hunt.
While waiting for callbacks, she sat inside of their cramped apartment room. Basim already had a job, leaving her to battle boredom. Despite her cousin’s warnings
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