Diaries

28/2/1914

Sat Feb 28 [28 February 1914] Turkiyyeh came again. I sat with her in the morning and she told me all her history. She was the daughter of a Circassian soldier who divorced her mother. They went back to the mother's home, but the grandmother - God send her to the fire - hated the mother and drove her out or else made their life a burden. Turkiyyeh strayed away with a little brother on her shoulder and was picked up by some people she didn't know who they were, who carried them to "Brussa" and sold them. She never saw the brother again. His name was Mustafa and on his right foot he had one toe twisted over another - she twisted her own beautiful toes to show me - and she was always looking for one called Mustafa with toes like that. She was sold to C'ple [Istanbul (Constantinople)] and travelled 6 days to get there. They landed at night and she was put onto a mule and taken to the house of an old woman. There she remained till she was nearly of marriagable [sic] age and was then sold again. She was taken down to a ship and told it was merely to see the sight and then left there and carried off by Arab men whose speech she did not understand. She slept on deck - al 'odab[?] ghali - and knew not a soul. They were quarantined 25 days somewhere in a quarantine station and the people who died on the ship were taken up and pitched into the sea. They arrived at Jedda [Jiddah] and she was taken to a house for the night and then sent up to Medina [Al Madinah]. There she was 2 years in the Sherif's house as serving maid to one of his daughters - her mother was a Circassian and they all employed Circassian maids as being more trustworthy. She never went out and never saw bait al rasul, sall allahu 'alaihi wa salam. But in the summer they went up to Tayyif [Taif, At]. She then passed into the hands of an old woman whom she called al Haidiyyeh, very rich and important, and went with her to Mecca [Makkah]. The Haidiyyeh told her that she wished to marry her to her adopted son, a Persian boy who was with them and would load her with jewels. She always eat with the Haidiyyeh and was made much of. With him T. fell in love at first sight and kayyift at the prospect. They then travelled on to Nejd [Najd] and when they got there they all lodged in a sawah[?] on the outskirts of the town and an agent of the Amir came down to see the Haidiyyeh. T. did not know if there was a previous arrangement between them but when she saw the man she began to suspect something. She was taken away screaming and wailed all the way through the suq Oh wah wah these Arabs! they are all Arabs with lay qurun and bare feet, wah wah." And the Persian boy ran after her wailing. When she reached the qasr she refused to enter and for the first few days she refused to eat (with her fingers). She said well she wd stay a week. Then she was told that the Amir wanted her and she wd stay with them and become a Mashmeh and remain always and go out into the gardens and eat of the best. Finally Muhammad came to her and told her she was his daughter and he wd take care of her. She loved him and said there was none like him. No other has ever had her. She said that in his day they were all at rest but now when the Amir was away raiding they all feared attack. Each of the women has a jariyyah, but the shaikhat have 10 and 15. They have quantities of jewels - the necklace she wore when she first came to see me belongs to them. Fatima rules them all - she is very clever and can read and write. Mudi is ghashimeh taht ammha. They do absolutely nothing all day. She was made a wahabiyyeh and she can read and write. She prays the 5 prayers. In Ramazan the night prayer begins at 5 Arabic ["10 or so" written above] and goes on in summer till 10 and in winter till 11 - however tired you may be and if your head aches and your body aches and your legs ache, pray you must. They then eat before dawn, sing the dawn prayers and sleep. In the afternoon I photographed her and the roshan and told her things of Europe which she eagerly repeated to Lu.lu.a. She asked me what was the difference between Xians and Moslems - I said the second half of the confession of faith. They begged me to pronounce it and I said the first half. Would I not say the second? I said you could say anything with your lips but not with your heart. I was going out for a walk when I was told that some of the Suhban women were coming to see me. I stayed but they did not come. They sent to say that Sulaiman had said {it was past the} gharbat al shems. Ibrahim sent 'Id to see me in the evening with a present of ...... T. says the people here think of women as dogs and so treat them - not like the Inglis and the Turks. The day that Abd al Aziz fell he was raiding against lbn Sa'ud and near his country. When he camped his men warned him to set guards and not to sleep or light fires and he refused to listen saying that Ibn S. dared not attack him. They came into camp and killed sheep, feasted and slept. In the middle of the night the enemy appeared. When they saw Ibn S. upon them they still dared not wake the Amir. At last one went and touched his foot, he woke and still refused to believe. Then when the foe was actually among them he leapt to his horse, rode to a standard which he thought was his own, but it was Ibn Sa'ud's. His voice was recognized and he was slain.\n\nIbrahim's Daftar\n\n1250 accession of Abdallah ibn al Rashid\n\n1258 he put to death (dhabhat) the people of Qasim in Baqa\n\n1261 he raided 'Anezah with horsemen\n\n1263 he died\n\n1271 raid on Jof [Jawf, Al (Al Jauf)] murder of Khlaif hakim in Jof one of the .... people\n\n1272 {war} [Arabic characters] Shammar and Ruwalla raid one another\n\n1276 murder of 'Abdallah ibn {Salim} Slaim brother of Zamir[?] and the people of 'Anazeh in al Wadi ["al Rummeh" written above] (Abd al Aziz ibn Abdallah is now Emir)\n\n1279 slaughter of the people of Anezeh by the hand of 'Ubaid ibn al Rashid and Muhammad ibn Faisal ibn Saud\n\n1284 Tallal ibn al Rashid died God have mercy on him\n\n1285 Mit'ab ibn al R. died (\n\n1286 'Ubaid ibn al R. died (\n\n1289 Bunder died\n\n1291 Hamad and Ibn 'Abaid ibn R. hajjed\n\n1300 M. ibn Rashid raided 'Ataiba and took M. ibn Sa'ud and their taking of 'Arwa gulban water\n\n1301 M ibn Rashid raided Abdallah ibn Sa'ud and 'Ataibah in the Hamadeh warad Qasim\n\n1305 the children of Sa'ud attacked their uncle Abdallah ibn Faisal and M. al R. brought him out of al Riyad [Ar Riyad (Riyadh)] [Arabic characters] he sent a private letter to M. al R. who came and raided Riyad and brought him to Hayyil [Hail] where he stayed 2 years. Sent him back with gifts he reached[?] 'Ared al Imam and then died and M. al R. was ruler over all\n\n1307 'Abd al Rahman al Faisal attacked Salim al Sabhan and M. ibn R. brought him out of Riyad\n\n1308 M ibn R raided and took from 'Abd al Rahman al Haraimla between Riyad and al Hauta [Hawtah, Al] and Hariq [Hariq, Al]\n\n1309 M ibn R Allah have mercy on him and his coming to the Murrah in the sand south of Qasim\n\n1310 M ibn R. God's mercy upon him raided and took Ibn Hamaid Shaikh of 'Ataiba first in Shabairek and second in al Rahawi, SE of Riyad\n\n1311 M ibn R. God have mercy on him raided the Howaitat and {the} Beni Sakhr in the Tubaiq [Tubayq, At] and his last raid was upon the 'Ataibah in his mountain[?]\n\n1312 Raid of M ibn R and his taking from the 'Alman near Qwait [Al Kuwayt (Kuwait)]\n\n1315 M. ibn R did God have mercy on him (The first raid of Abd al Aziz God have mercy on him was upon the Hamanud[?] of 'Ataibah and the second on the Ruwalla.) (correction of following entry)\n\n1316 Abd al Aziz Allah yerhamu raided first Akhidh ibn Shaqir and second he took the 'Anazeh in the Widyan\n\n1317 Raid of A. al A Allah yerhamhu and first his taking of 'Ataibah and second of Wadi Sabi' [Arabic characters] .... [sic] and third his coming against the Dawasir and fourth against the 'Ataibah ... Sama of Wafat [Arabic characters]\n\n1318 Raid of A al A Allah yerhamhu and first his coming against Sa'dun and the Dafir and his taking the mulaqat Sa'dun and Ibn Sabah and 'Abd al Rahman al Faisal in al Tarfiyyeh Qasim\n\n1319 Abd al Aziz ibn Sa'ud's slaughter [Arabic characters]\n\n1322 Appearance of soldiers with A al A ibn R God yerhamhu and kon al Bakairiyyeh this side of Rass\n\n1324 death of A al A ibn R Allah yerhamha in Safar \n\n1324 slaughter of Mit'ab Allah yerhama and his brothers in Dhilqa'deh\n\n1325 Sa'ud b. A. al A. ibn R Allah yusallimhu went to Mecca in the end of Dhilhajeh\n\n1326 Sa'ud b. A. al A. ibn R Allah yusallimhu came to the throne (julus)\n\n1327 Going of Sa'ud to A al A al Rashid against A al A ibn Sa'ud at Jabariyyeh E of Riyad in the spring\n\n1328 Going of Sa'ud ibn R. against 'Anazeh and Ruwallah and his taking of them at Jamaima in Safar\n\n1329 Raid of Sa'ud Allah yusallimhu first madajhu (road) Sa'dun and Dafir and afterwards his going against the Suqur Arabs of the Hadhdhal and second his going against the Ghadawirah 'Iraq and third his going against the Nawamseh and the slaughter of a ghazu, first of Sha'ban\n\n1331 Raid of Sa'ud Allah yusallimhu and his victory over Dafir and the people of the Shatt the day he sought refuge on account of Sa'dun yefza' al 'Ajmi son of Sa'dun \n\n1331 Saud Ibn A al A went against the Sherarat and secondly against 'Ataibah\n\n1200 Thuwaini al Sa'dun goes against ([Arabic characters]) Boraidah [Buraydah]\n\n1201 Hjailan goes against the Jebel\n\n1212 Raid of al 'Adwah slaughter of Mutloq al A[?] Jeraba\n\n1217 Raid of Sa'ud ibn Sa'ud on Fazbat ([Arabic characters]) al Husaini \n\n1218 death of Abd al Aziz b. Muham. b. Sa'ud\n\n1225 Sa'ud raided al Sham\n\n1226 slaughter of al Klhaif\n\n1228 slaughter of Sa'ud ibn Abd al Aziz\n\n1231 expedition of Talman Pasha against Nejd\n\n1233 ( ( Ibrahim Pasha ( (\n\n1234 beginning of the reign of Turki ibn 'Abdallah\n\n1250 slaughter of the soldiers of Isma'il\n\n1254 appearance [Arabic characters] of Khurshah Pasha\n\n1259 ( of Abdallah ibn Thinyan\n\n1263 appearance of the Sheri Muhammad ibn 'Awn\n\n1282 death of Faisal ibn Turki\n\n1288 Saud ibn Faisal took his brother Muhammad and [?] [line of Arabic above]\n\n1292 Sa'ud ibn Faisal died and 'Abdallah returned to Riyad\n\n1328 Visit of the Sherif Husain Pasha to Nejd in Sha'ban\n\n1329 the Sherif Husain set forth to the war against Yemen and the opposition [Arabic characters] of al Idrisi in Jamada\n\n1329 al mukawinat [Arabic] which took place between Sa'dun and the Dufir [Arabic] Hamud ibn Darit\n\n\n\n 1 Turki ibn Sa'ud\n\n ___________|___________\n\n ( (\n\n 2 Faisal 'Abd al Rahman 3\n\n ____________(____________ ( ( ( ( Abdal aziz 5\n\n 4 Abdallah Muhammad Abdalaziz\n\n Ghazalan

Previous page