Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [7]
Osama pulled the man’s teeth from his flesh and pushed him away, then faced those angry men: “You had better leave me alone! I am a visitor to your country. I will not allow you to beat me!”
For some reason Osama’s intense expression made those men turn away. They lowered their belts, staring at him for a few minutes before saying, “You are being released only because you are a guest in our land.” By this time, my brother and his friends had made their escape. With Osama in the clear, the apple thieves were allowed to reunite and return to a place of safety. Osama’s wound was cleaned and bound and thankfully he did not suffer from an infection.
Those happy days of childhood years passed too rapidly, and as I entered my teenage years, unanticipated emotions began to swirl between my cousin and me. I was not sure what was happening, but knew that Osama and I had a special relationship. Although Osama never said anything, his brown eyes lit with pleasure anytime I walked into a room. I trembled with excitement when I felt my cousin’s intense attention. Soon our hidden emotions would rise to the surface and change our lives forever.
Chapter 2
Married Life
NAJWA BIN LADEN
Most girls marry young in my culture. Around the time I became a teenager, my stirring heart drew me to think of marriage to Osama. While I knew little of adult lives, I liked everything about him, from his looks to his gentle manner and his strong character.
It is common for Muslim women to marry their first cousins; such unions are widely favored because they keep families intact without a threat to inherited wealth, if that is an issue.
From the way he looked at me, I believed that Osama liked me, too, yet nothing specific about affection or marriage was ever openly discussed. Serious talk about love and marriage between the two of us would have been improper until our parents had given their approval, but with Osama, everything moved slowly.
Osama’s silence soon grew annoying. I wanted him to say something, to confide that he was going to approach our parents about an engagement. But Osama remained stubbornly proper! In fact, when he engaged me in small talk, he seemed to have difficulty expressing himself. I remember staring up into his kindly eyes, tartly thinking to myself that my cousin was shyer than a “virgin under the veil.”
Finally, when I was around fourteen years old, Osama found his courage. It was after a long summer visit to my family’s home in Syria, when we had been around each other every day. Once they returned to Saudi Arabia, he discussed with his mother the idea of an engagement. Auntie Allia was pleased at the prospect of a marriage between her son and her brother’s daughter, which would draw our two families even closer.
In my Muslim world, women generally are the ones to begin the often tedious process of arranging marriages. From the time a son is born, his mother will attend female social functions with the idea of finding a suitable bride. A careful mother will consider only a girl from a good family, who is healthy and physically attractive. Once an appropriate prospect is found, the two mothers will initiate marriage discussions. If the mothers are satisfied, the fathers are brought in to settle the dowry, which can involve jewelry or even cash. At some point the potential bride and groom are told about each other. Since males and females usually trust their parents’ decision about a marriage partner, it is rare for a child to say no; but if it happens, the parents should not force the issue.
Fortunately, such detailed planning was not necessary in our case. Not only had Osama and I had been around each other since we were children,