Thursday, May 11, 2006
Emily Ruete
Does the name ring a bell? Ever heard of it? Well read on and you might be amazed just like I was to find out about her.
One dull and rainy day, I had nothing better to do but to self-educate myself on the internet. Well I basically think of a term, a name or anything that I might've wondered about and search away. This time I was looking for sites that contained information on His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Busaid, Sultan of Oman. I recalled once doing the same thing and ending up on a site that had contained interesting and very detailed information on His Majesty, Oman and the renaissance. I was probably hoping I'd stumble over that same site once again.
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Bin Taimur Bin Faisal Bin Turki Bin Said Bin Sultan.
"Said bin Sultan was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from November 20, 1804 to June 4, 1856... Said had 36 children"
His 36th child was Sayyida Salme of Zanzibar and Oman (1844-1924).
"Sayyida Salme was born on August 30, 1844 as daughter of Sultan Said and Jilfidan, a Circassian concubine. Her first years were spent in the huge Bet il Mtoni palace, by the sea about eight kilometers north of Stone Town... She secretly taught herself to write, a skill which was unusual for women at the time... While living in Stone Town she became acquainted with her neighbor, a German merchant, Rudolph Heinrich Ruete. In 1866 she fled with him to Aden, converted to Christianity and married Ruete, and moved with him to the North German Confederation."
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Sayyida Salme bin Said bin Sultan a.k.a. Emily Ruete.
"Her husband died in 1870 after a traffic accident, leaving Ruete in difficult economic circumstances. Partly to alleviate these economic problems she wrote Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, first published in the German Empire in 1886, later published in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The book provides the first known autobiography of an Arab woman, only known autobiography of an Arab princess and only known account of harem life written by an Arab woman."
In 1992 the book An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds was published, making for the first time Emily Ruete's letters home, with her reactions on life in Europe, available to the public.
According to the same site I've quoted from, she has boldly described her eldest brother, Sayyid Hilal bin Said al-Said (c.1815-1851) as an alcoholic. That statement got my very interested in obtaining a copy of one of her publications to know all of what she has revealed about her life as a princess.
One dull and rainy day, I had nothing better to do but to self-educate myself on the internet. Well I basically think of a term, a name or anything that I might've wondered about and search away. This time I was looking for sites that contained information on His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Busaid, Sultan of Oman. I recalled once doing the same thing and ending up on a site that had contained interesting and very detailed information on His Majesty, Oman and the renaissance. I was probably hoping I'd stumble over that same site once again.
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Bin Taimur Bin Faisal Bin Turki Bin Said Bin Sultan.
"Said bin Sultan was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from November 20, 1804 to June 4, 1856... Said had 36 children"
His 36th child was Sayyida Salme of Zanzibar and Oman (1844-1924).
"Sayyida Salme was born on August 30, 1844 as daughter of Sultan Said and Jilfidan, a Circassian concubine. Her first years were spent in the huge Bet il Mtoni palace, by the sea about eight kilometers north of Stone Town... She secretly taught herself to write, a skill which was unusual for women at the time... While living in Stone Town she became acquainted with her neighbor, a German merchant, Rudolph Heinrich Ruete. In 1866 she fled with him to Aden, converted to Christianity and married Ruete, and moved with him to the North German Confederation."
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Sayyida Salme bin Said bin Sultan a.k.a. Emily Ruete.
"Her husband died in 1870 after a traffic accident, leaving Ruete in difficult economic circumstances. Partly to alleviate these economic problems she wrote Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, first published in the German Empire in 1886, later published in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The book provides the first known autobiography of an Arab woman, only known autobiography of an Arab princess and only known account of harem life written by an Arab woman."
In 1992 the book An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds was published, making for the first time Emily Ruete's letters home, with her reactions on life in Europe, available to the public.
According to the same site I've quoted from, she has boldly described her eldest brother, Sayyid Hilal bin Said al-Said (c.1815-1851) as an alcoholic. That statement got my very interested in obtaining a copy of one of her publications to know all of what she has revealed about her life as a princess.
13 Comments:
My father is a person who loves history especially ones to do with Zanzibar and East Africa in general. So, that is how I came across her history. We've the book at home, even though. I didn't read it yet :os
I visited Mtoni Palace, even though I don't remember the building itself (hmm!) but I remember Mtoni. It's a popular market place where locals gather and sell traditional foods.
I was 4, don't ask!
Woow I am actually reading this book now .. its a wounderful full of history book!
Make sure to get the Arabic copy because it contains an extra chapter written by the translator and he gives more historical information about Sayidda Salma and History of Zanzibar ..
One thing is just hurtful is that she converted to christianity to marry her husband .. but from some reason, you can see in her writing that she might have went back to Islam.
Oh that's great lym, you've actually been to some of these places too! But since you were four, wouldn't you want to visit them again?
Thanks for the advice arabian princess, I was planning on getting my hands on a copy once I'm back :)
Just as you mentioned, one of the things that came to me as a shock was her conversion to Christianity. Religious setbacks set aside, I consider that a bold move from anyone, let alone her status as a (former) princess.
I have one question to ask both of you, which book is it that you currently have? Publisher, author, date of publication? And what's the title of the Arabic book?
ok, here is the pic of the book I have :)
http://static.flickr.com/54/145546435_15807262d1_b.jpg
and its called:
مذكرات أميرة عربية
السيدة سالمة بنت السيد سعيد بن سلطان
ترجمة: عبدالمجيد القيسي
الطبعة الخامسة 2005
دار الحكمة -لندن
and this is a pic of Princess Saalma هi scanned from the book
http://static.flickr.com/49/145546438_34046a5e5b_o.jpg
Thank you so much for all of that info arabian princess! I truly appreciate it all, and I hope my humble request wasn't a burden. :)
I'm surpised by the number of people that are not only aware of it but also have the book too. How could you stop reading when you haven't even reached what might as well be the most interesting part of the book psycho? And yes I believe that's the name she goes by in Arabic. (Not exactly lost in translation, but lost in pronunciation :p)
Oh and welcome to my humble blog :)
That's something interesting to read in fact.
I love history book and I think I will look for this book in Dubai I might find it !!
I also got shocked with her conversion to Christianity !!!
All the same reasons that I want to get a copy of the book for life silent :)
but you know something, I suspect she converted back .. she talks about Islam with great passion you wouldnt beleive she converted!!
I'm surprised you still managed to find the comments link to this post after all that scrolling down :p
Perhaps she did, I would like to think she did nevertheless :)
The book is still at the top of my "to get" list ;)
معلومات رائعة..
وكعربي.. أنا فخور بالتاريخ العماني الجميل .
وفقكم الله
أولا دعني أرحب بك في مدونتي يا عبده باشا
ان كنت فعلا فخور بتاريخنا فما بالك شعور الشعب العماني السخي اتجاهه :)
وفقنا الله جميعا
وأين الجمال في تاريخ أمراة ارتدت عن الاسلام؟
wooow
im reading the book, and think she is makes lots of generalization and gives a bad impression about the islamic and the omani cultur
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