Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [33]
For the wives, our main concern was the care and happiness of our little children and the running of the household. We were expected to supervise the housemaids and tea girls, as well as keep our children on their schedules, as the oldest had reached school age. With three wives, seven active boys, some of whom were attending school, many housemaids, tea girls, cooks, and drivers, our home was a busy beehive. It mattered little that our home was a huge dwelling, with twelve large apartment areas, for with so many people scurrying about to complete their many duties, the human traffic created deafening noise and action, even on a day of routine pursuits.
Osama’s wives used to joke that our Jeddah home was a virtual mini-U.N. with people employed from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Africa, Egypt, Yemen, and many other countries. Even though Osama had arranged for several drivers to transport our sons to school and to shop for our groceries and necessary items, all three wives were busy keeping everything organized.
As Osama’s first wife, considered to be the most important wife in our culture, I was accorded great respect by everyone around me, including his two new wives, yet I never felt myself above Khadijah or Khairiah. Osama’s wives had become my friends. Conflict was unknown among the wives of Osama bin Laden.
Once again I became pregnant in 1986. I was earnestly hoping that Khairiah would announce a pregnancy, but that happy day had not yet come.
Around that time my husband came to me and announced that he would soon be taking a fourth wife. He did discuss his thoughts, although he did not ask for my express approval or participation. Besides, I felt that to find Osama one wife was quite enough.
Osama’s new wife was the sister of one of his Saudi fighters in Afghanistan. The family was from Medina, and her name was Siham. I did not attend the ceremony, although I helped Osama’s wife to settle into our home.
Shortly after his fourth wedding, Osama told us news that I would never have expected. Our family would be moving to Medina, two hundred miles northeast of Jeddah, because Osama would be supervising a bin Laden construction project in that city.
While I liked living in Jeddah best, Medina is a significant city in Islam because Prophet Mohammed fled there when he was initially driven out of Mecca by unbelievers; it is the site of the Prophet’s home and of his tomb. Medina is known to Muslims as “The Radiant City” or “The City of the Prophet,” and is so holy that it is second only to Mecca in the hearts of all Muslims.
Our routine days ended with Osama’s announcement. Chaos ruled as we organized our personal items for Osama’s packers.
At the beginning of our married life Osama was quite generous, but as time went on, he grew austere, believing that to be a good Muslim one must embrace simplicity. With this new way of thinking firmly in place, Osama decreed that our home furnishings should be plain, our clothing modest in number, and our food simple. The only area where Osama splurged was on his cars, which were always the latest models. Therefore, Osama’s wives and children never acquired the masses of household goods or personal items loved by many people in the modern world. Despite this, the family was so large that even the bare necessities of life filled many packing boxes.
Although I loved Medina (for who could not love a city special to our Prophet Mohammed?) I was not excited about leaving Jeddah. That was where I felt most comfortable, with my Auntie Allia and her family nearby, as well as a few girlfriends. The family farm used for weekend jaunts was only a short distance away. The four-hour drive to Medina was enough to discourage casual visits to Osama’s family or spontaneous trips to the farm. Since I was pregnant, I was not happy about being away from familiar territory when my child arrived.
But there was nothing I could do to alter the situation.