Queen Rania of Jordan
A recent criticism in The Atlantic of a glowing portrait in Vogue of the wife of the dictator of Syria made me wonder about something which has sometimes crossed my mind. First, as an aside I have to say that the author of The Atlantic piece seems a bit ignorant when he wonders suspiciously about the emphasis on the Christophilia of the dictator of Syria and his wife. Syria is ruled by the Assads and their hangers on, and this is an Alawi clique, a heterodox sect whose Islamic status has traditionally been in doubt, and which integrates many practices and beliefs from Christianity. Since the 1960s the Assad family has been reorienting the Alawi identity to a more conventionally Muslim one (all the better to rule a Sunni majority nation), even getting an acknowledgement of Shia orthodoxy for the Alawi from a Lebanese mullah in the 1970s, solidified by the regime’s explicit alliance with Iran. But all this recent flight to Islamic orientation does not erase the reality that the Alawi do clearly have deep affinities with Christian practices and beliefs which would be surprising for Muslims (they almost certainly come out of a Jacobite milieu). No doubt the Assads played up this for the Vogue profile, but it likely taps into a deep root of tradition within the dicator’s family which need not be feigned, and would be atypical for Middle Eastern Muslims. I think that needs to be entered into the record, as it softens the certain attempt to manipulate and makes a touch less crass.
But that’s not the point of my past. Asma Assad is shown with her hair uncovered. This is the norm for her. Though we are always told about the growing trend toward modest of dress in the Middle East, I’ve always been struck by the fact that many elite women look conventionally Western. I recall for example Queen Rania of Jordan, who not only uncovers her hair, but regularly wears skirts which show her legs. But she’s not the only one. Below are some screen shots of google images which come up for the wives of heads of state of Middle Eastern nations. For some nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen, a few minutes of searching yielded no photos or images of wives. The Sultan of Oman is long divorced, so that’s not an option. Below are the sets of pictures….
Syria
Tunisia
Qatar
Morocco
Bahrain
Jordan
Dubai
Turkey
Iran
Interesting. I knew vaguely that the King of Jordan’s wife was fairly westernized, but this seems a definite pattern. Now it occurs to me to ask, why doesn’t the King of Jordan et al. have more than one wife apiece? Or is having a western-style wife somehow related to rejecting Islamic polygamy?
Or is having a western-style wife somehow related to rejecting Islamic polygamy?
1) take a look at rania
2) i’m not sure that rania would take kindly to polygamy
3) dubai is young wife #2. #1 is old and keeps out of the public eye
The second wife of the Emir of Dubai pictured above is the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan and half-sister of the present King (the late King had 4 wives, though serially, as befits a westernized king).
The king of Jordan’s wife is really westernized. (She actually worked for Apple for a while) More interesting is that his mother is British. (Antoinette “Toni” Avril Gardiner)
All four wives of the late King Hussein were either western themselves (Gardiner, Lisa Halaby) or westernized, including his first wife, who was a university lecturer in Cairo.
mubarak’s wife had a british mother. i wonder if the term ‘westernized’ even means anything now. perhaps they’re ‘cosmopolized’?
mubarak’s wife had a british mother. i wonder if the term ‘westernized’ even means anything now. perhaps they’re ‘cosmopolized’?
I’m think more along the lines of… ‘irrelevant’.
Not entirely irrelevant, I think. Certainly it’s interesting that at least three of Hussein’s wives were worldly women who’d embarked on careers before they wed. You have to give the guy credit for not marrying a succession of fourteen-year-old doormats.
Asma al-Assad is Sunni (probably a secular one) not Alawi.
Asma al-Assad is Sunni (probably a secular one) not Alawi.
i know. that’s why i said the assad family since the 1960s.
Why am I not surprised at Ahmadinejad’s wife? I was in Jordan a few years ago and saw pictures of the king and his wife on billboards in Amman. I remember thinking at the time that she was about the only woman with an uncovered head I saw anywhere outdoors.
Oh come on people, Middle Eastern dictators want what every rich man wants — a hot woman on his arm. Don’t over think this.
I saw a genealogical table for the House of Saud a while back.
Polygamy was common among the early generations, but much less so among those born later. IIRC, there were very few polygamists shown among princes born after 1950 or so.
This may have changed in recent years, with the increasing cultural bellicosity of Moslems.
That elite women can defy the strictures of Moslem societies is an old story.
Phyllis Chesler noted this during her marriage to an Afghan around 1970. Her father-in-law was a powerful man, and her husband’s sisters could go about in “immodest” Western dress with impunity – but Chesler could not.