Page 1 of
2 A sheikha, a queen and a first
lady By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - When Mohammad Ali al-Abid was
elected first president of Syria in 1932, his
wife, Zahra al-Yusuf, asked if she could attend
the official function at the presidential palace.
Her husband muttered, "You attending a state
function, filled with men. It's impossible Zahra;
what do you want people to say?"
The
47-year-old first lady, born into Damascene
aristocracy, refused to take no for an answer. She
began to slowly push the red lines and play a
greater role in public affairs - well into the
1940s, long after her husband's death in 1939. She
headed several charity organizations, like the
Goutte de Lait, the Red Crescent and Syrian branch
of the International Red Cross, in addition to an
intellectual forum, and obtained the Syrian Medal of
Honor (Excellence Class)
after her husband left office in 1936.
Additionally, she obtained the Red Cross Medal of
Honor in Gold - being the first Arab woman to win
such an honor.
For over 60 years, the role
of Arab first ladies was confined to just that;
charity organizations, intellectual forums, and
official ceremonies. These duties were new, coming
out of 400 years of the Ottoman Empire where women
were completely absent from public life. Things
changed dramatically, however, in recent years
with the coming of three young first ladies to
power in Doha, Amman, and Damascus.
They
enchanted Arab societies with their grace and
elegance, but soon enough, began to take on
increasingly active roles as businesswomen,
entrepreneurs, and nation-builders. They are
Sheikha Moza of Qatar, Queen Rania of Jordan, and
Asma al-Assad of Syria. In addition to being
leaders in their respective societies, all three
ladies have several traits in common. All of them
were born into ordinary families, never destined
to rule. All of them are highly educated, holding
prestigious university degrees - a far cry from
their predecessors (with the exception of the
former Queens of Jordan). All three met their
husbands by coincidence - and all three married
men never destined to rule their countries.
Sheikha Moza Sheikha Moza Bint
Nasser al-Missned, the wife of the Emir of Qatar,
is the oldest of these three remarkable ladies,
born in 1964. She studied sociology at the
University of Qatar and caught the Prince’s eye
with her charm and intellect. He immediately asked
for her hand in marriage and, after coming to
power in a bloodless coup against his own father
in 1995, gave her powers like no other "sheikha"
ever had before. Moza’s first and greatest feat
was the Education City, founded on the outskirts
of Doha.
A non-profit organization chaired
by the Sheikha, it houses five top-notch US
universities, being Virginia Commonwealth
University (School of Arts in Qatar), founded in
1998, the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar
(established by Cornell University), founded in
2001, Texas A&M University at Qatar (founded
in 2003), Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
(2004), and Georgetown University School of
Foreign Service (2005). By the end of 2008,
Northwestern University will open a school of
journalism and communications in Doha as well.
Students at the Doha campus can cross-register
classes with the original universities in the US.
Not surprisingly, she was given an honorary PhD by
Carnegie Mellon.
The herculean feat has
revolutionized Qatari society, brought thousands
of newcomers (staff, students, and administration)
to Doha and encouraged massive investment in
Qatar. With a beautiful face that evokes pride and
seriousness, Moza travels the world with her
laptop, attending and chairing meetings both as
first lady of Qatar, and a special envoy for
UNESCO on Basic and Higher Education. She is also
President of the Supreme Council for Family
Affairs in Qatar, and Vice-President of the
Supreme Education Council.
Recently, she
put full weight behind the founding of
al-Jazeera's Children Channel, in addition to the
24-hour news service, to promote education among
Arab children. Sheikha Moza does not stop there -
she works for establishing a center for embittered
women in the Arab World, building non-Muslim
places of worship in Qatar, and more recently,
introduced the now-world famous Doha Debates to
Qatar.
Hosted by veteran presenter Tim
Sebastian, who presented Hardtalk on BBC, the Doha
Debates address Middle East issues in a
mock-parliamentary manner, marketing itself -
under Moza's guidance - as "a forum for free
speech in the Arab world". The high profile forum,
which encourages both discussion and voting, is
modeled after England's Oxford Union Society, a
debate club in Oxford dating back to 1823.
Additionally, under auspices of the royal couple,
Qatari women were given the right to vote, in
1997.
Speaking in an interview with the
Christian Science Monitor, Moza recently said "I
have lived with my husband more than I have with
my parents. I live besides him, and know his
worries, his hopes, and his dreams for his nation.
We believe it is our duty to make things happen!"
She has pushed her husband into modern
behavior - like interaction with royal staff,
driving himself around town, and calling up any
minister on his cell phone to inquire on any issue
or solve anything that needs to be fixed. The
royal couple continue to support al-Jazeera, the
leading Arab news channel, and are bidding to hold
the Olympics in Doha. She also tries to keep her
head steady from all the media attention, and
provide her children with maximal parental
attention, treating their worries, fears, and
hopes like those of any ordinary teenagers and not
young royals.
Moza says, "We bring them up
as normal individuals. When I go back to the house
we talk about everything; what I did, what I have
seen, what they think, and what their ambitions
are. Its refreshing to hear the point of view of
young minds because this is what we are building
here - for them and people like them."
Five years ago, in a gesture of
appreciation towards Moza, Sheikh Hamad chose
their child Tamim, as Heir Apparent. The young man
is a graduate of Sandhurt Military Academy in the
UK, just like his father, is deputy commander of
the armed forces, and chairman of the Qatar
Olympic Committee.
Moza does not try to
discard her Arab identity, nor does she encourage
Qataris to become over-Westernized. On the
contrary, she champions national identity, and
says, "People tend to believe that to be modern
you have to disengage from your heritage. But it's
not true. We don't see the global citizen as
someone with no identity, but rather, someone who
has confidence and is proud of his culture and
history - and open to the modern world." This is
another trait that unites her both with First Lady
Assad and Queen Rania.
Queen Rania
Just like Hamad, Queen Rania's husband
King Abdullah, was not destined to be a regent.
The post of Heir Apparent in Jordan had been held
by his uncle Prince Hasan from 1965 until 1999. On
his deathbed, the veteran King Hussein appointed
Abdullah, his oldest son, as Heir Apparent. And
when Hussein died in February 1999, Abdullah
replaced him as the fourth King of Jordan. When
Rania (born in 1970) met the young prince in 1993,
she was only 22 years old, have recently moved to
Jordan from Kuwait with her Palestinian parents,
due to the second Gulf War.
She studied
business administration at the American University
in Cairo, and worked at Citibank and Apple
Computers before obtaining a degree in management
from HEC University of Paris. A commoner like
Moza, she married a royal who was never destined
to become king - until Hussein died in 1993.
In her own words, Queen Rania described
the situation by saying: "Following the sad
passing of His Late Majesty King Hussein, and the
ascension of His Majesty King Abdullah, we were
faced with enormous responsibilities and
challenges. Fortunately, we had had a taste of
public life in our roles as Prince and Princess,
but still the adjustments to King and Queen were
considerable. In fact, we are still learning. I
think we always will."
Since becoming
Queen - the youngest in the world in 1999 - Rania
has equally revolutionized Jordanian society and
enchanted the world with her eloquence and
elegance. Representing a tribal yet modernizing
society - just like Qatar - the Queen of Jordan
has been awarded the honorary rank of colonel in
the Jordanian Army by King Abdullah.
She
has also been ranked as third most beautiful woman
in the world by Harper's & Queen Magazine, and
number 80 in Forbes' list of Most Powerful Women
in the World. She too has toured the world
speaking on behalf of Jordan and defending women's
rights in the Arab and Muslim World. She made
world headlines by appearing on the Oprah Winfrey
Show in 2006, breaking stereotypes of Arab women.
Domestically, she is active in promoting
education reforms, mandatory English at schools,
and micro-finance for entrepreneurs with ideas,
but no money to implement them. In 2003, she was
elected to the Board of Directors of the
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