Inside the Kingdom - my life in Saudi Arabia

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Biographies & Memoirs
Author:	Carmen bin Ladin

see resume in english at http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1448 or below.

Sekitar 3 bulan yang lalu, salah seorang guru bahasa di Pusat Kebudayaan Perancis - CCF memberi kami sebuah artikel berbahasa Perancis berkenaan dengan terbitnya buku tersebut. Dua minggu yang lalu, saya berkesempatan membaca buku tersebut karena suami menemukan buku tersebut dan membelinya.

Cerita dibuka dengan dampak peristiwa 11 September 2001 terhadap Carmen dan ketiga anak gadisnya yang ketika itu sudah lepas dari “jerat” tradisi kehidupan keluarga besan bin Laden dan sudah menikmati kehidupan di “alam bebas” Carmen tinggal di rumahnya di Swiss sedangkan anak-anaknya bersekolah di USA.

Setting cerita berlangsung antara 1973 hingga 1984 di Swiss – Jeddah/Saudi Arabia dan Amerika Serikat. Carmen berkenalan dengan Yeslam bin Laden – kakak Osama, di Swiss, ketika keluarga besar bin Laden menyewa rumah milik ibu Carmen. Sebagaimana keluarga Arab kelas atas lainnya, penampilan Yeslam tidak jauh berbeda dengan lelaki Eropa lainnya. Ganteng, kaya, terpelajar dan tentu saja modern. Tidak mengherankan bila pertemuan dua sejoli ini kemudian berlanjut menjadi semakin akrab. Pernikahannya dengan Yeslam, membawa Carmen ke dalam kehidupan dan intrik-intrik keluarga besar bin Laden. Termasuk juga pergulatannya dengan perubahan sikap hidup Yeslam yang pada akhirnya membawa pernikahannya kepada perpisahan.

Saya yang mengunjungi Saudi Arabia untuk pertama kali pada tahun 1994, 20 tahun sesudah pernikahan Carmen dengan Yeslam melihat bahwa kondisi Arab Saudi tidak seperti apa yang diceritakan oleh Carmen. Perempuan sudah banyak terlihat di luar rumah terutama di Jeddah. Bahkan saat shalat di Nabawi saya bertemu dan berbicara banyak dengan perempuan Saudi berumur kira2 40 tahun yang bercerita bahwa dia sering berkunjung ke Indonesia. Jadi agak sukar untuk membayangkan suasana Saudia tahun 1974 an.

Mungkin juga, perempuan yang “berkeliaran” tersebut hanya perempuan dari kalangan biasa, bukan dari keluarga terpandang (kerajaan dan orang kaya). Namun jangan dilupakan, Carmen terlahir dari keluarga kaya Persia, yang walaupun mengaku muslim tetapi “abangan/sekuler”. Seperti laiknya sebagian besar kelas atasnya Iran saat itu, Carmen sangat terobsesi dengan kebebasan a la Amerika – maklum jamannya Shah Reza Pahlevi. Tentu saja pola pikirnya westernized dan cenderung merendahkan akar budaya timur (Persia)nya.

Hal yang menarik yang diungkap dalam buku Inside the Kingdom dan sampai sekarang masih terjadi adalah perilaku lelaki arab (Timur Tengah) yang menurut saya agak kontradiktif dan cenderung munafik. Di negeri mereka yang berpaham Wahabi, mereka seolah-olah begitu “memegang” teguh ajaran agama Islam. Perempuan menutup rapat-rapat tubuhnya dari pandangan lelaki, membatasi interaksi lelaki dan perempuan. Tetapi begitu keluar dari tanah Arab, maka semua sontak berubah. Seolah seperti kuda lepas dari kendali, liar dalam segala hal termasuk menghalalkan segala cara dalam kehidupan seksual.

Buku ini pasti sangat menarik bagi para ”feminis”. Selamat membaca.
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From the Jacket

On September 11, 2001, Carmen Bin Ladin heard the news that the Twin Towers had been struck. She instinctively knew that her brother-in-law was involved in these horrifying acts of terrorism, and her heart went out to America. She also knew that her life and the lives of her daughters would never be the same again.

In 1974 Carmen, half-Swiss and half-Persian, married into the Bin Laden family. She was young and in love, an independent European woman about to join a complex clan and a culture she neither knew nor understood. In Saudi Arabia, she was forbidden to leave her home without the head-to-toe black abaya that completely covered her. Her face could never be seen by a man outside the family. And according to Saudi law, her husband could divorce her at will, without any kind of court procedure, and take her children away from her forever.

Carmen was an outsider among the Bin Laden wives, their closets full of haute couture dresses, their rights so restricted that they could not go outside their homes-not even to cross the street-without a chaperone. The author takes us inside the hearts and minds of these women-always at the mercy of the husbands who totally control their lives, and always convinced that their religion and culture are superior to any other. And as Carmen tells of her struggle to save her marriage and raise her daughters to be freethinking young women, she describes this family's ties to the Saudi royal family and introduces us to the ever loyal Bin Laden brothers, including one particular brother-in-law she was to encounter-Osama.

In 1988, in Switzerland, Carmen Bin Ladin separated from her husband and began one of her toughest battles: to gain the custody of her three daughters. Now, with her candid memoir, she dares to pull off the veils that conceal one of the most powerful, secretive, and repressive countries in the world--and the Bin Laden family's role within it. Inside The Kingdom is shocking, impossible to put down, and a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the events of today's world.

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Addicted to the "I-married-the-Mob" genre? Try this variation: smart women who marry Islamic fundamentalists....The gravity of the events Carmen writes of, her insider's perspective and her engaging style make this memoir a page-turner.

The New York Times
Makes a fiery case against what its author calls the oppression and fanaticism that dominates much of Saudi society. Her unabashed conclusion: 'The Saudis are the Taliban, in luxury.'

Le Figaro
Takes us into the heart of the ruling class of Saudi Arabia, and into the Bin Laden tribe...The Middle Ages in the desert with dollars added...she fled the clan, fought to save her children, publicly condemned Osama, and criticized Saudi Arabia: that's a lot.

International Herald Tribune
Carmen Bin Ladin chronicles her nine years of married life in a puritanical, male-dominated community where 'women are no more than house pets'....the book is a diary-style account of her struggle to cope with rules and strictures as suffocating as the desert climate.

Paris Match
Tells how she fell in love with the rich Saudi Arabian that she met in Geneva, and how, after the early days of happiness, she had to face the reality of life within a powerful Saudi family...Today she has chosen to tell the truth...For her it is the only way to fight against the terror.

USA Today - Carol Memmott
Bin Ladin's story is a courageous one. To stand up as a woman and share her personal experiences and feelings, although quite subjectively, about the Bin Laden family's daily life in Saudi Arabia is surely a bold and possibly consequential act.