The war torn Middle East is not where one would typically expect to find a modern day fairy tale. However, reporters cannot help but make the comparison between Jordan’s Queen Rania al-Abdullah and Cinderella. While superficially the beautiful Queen Rania seems to fit the profile as one who never expected to become queen but did so gracefully, the comparison hardly does the queen of Jordan justice. To the dismay of many conservatives, Queen Rania has refused to take the role of the silent, isolated traditional Arab queen. Instead she has followed in her mother-in-law, Queen Noor’s, footsteps, blazing a new path for Arab women to become political and social leaders. From the multitude of issues from her own personal agenda that she has pushed into the world arena in the three short years since her husband, Abdullah II, has taken the reigns of the throne, it is clear that Queen Rania will have a deep and long lasting effect on the politics and society of not only Jordan but of the region. Therefore, it is unwise not to examine the influence of this young woman on King Abdullah, Jordanian politics, Arabian society, and the West.
On August 31, 1970, Rania al-Yasin was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents who had moved from the West Bank town of Tulkarm in the 1960s. Despite growing up in the immense wealth that the Persian Gulf’s oil provided, Rania was not blind to the plight of the Palestinian people from which her family came. As a young girl, she spent summers with an aunt and uncle in Tulkarm where she witnessed first hand Palestinian homes being bulldozed to be replaced by Israeli settlements. After an education in the best English-speaking primary and secondary schools in Kuwait, Rania attended the American University in Cairo. While attending the university, her family was expelled from Kuwait as were many other Palestinians because of the PLO support of Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War.1
Her family was forced to move to the much poorer country of Jordan which is slightly smaller than the state of Indiana. However, unlike Indiana, only a very small amount of the land is arable. To compound matters a drought has devastated the land that is farmable. These troubles have sunk thirty percent of Jordan’s population into poverty and helped to cause it to amass over six billion dollars in debt.2 Rania’s family was far from the only family of Palestinian origin to find refuge in Jordan. Sixty percent of Jordanians are of Palestinian descent while the other forty percent are of East Bank Arab Bedouin tribal stock. Every violent turn in neighboring Israel, therefore, is a step towards destabilization of Jordan.3
After graduating from the American University of Cairo with a bachelor’s degree in business, Rania moved to Jordan to be close to her family and worked for Apple and then later Citibank. On a January evening in 1993, Rania attended a dinner party hosted by Princess Aisha and attended by Prince Abdullah. Rania and Prince Abdullah met and, according to the pair, immediately fell in love.4 With Rania’s influence, Abdullah reputation as a playboy quickly came to an end. “Rania immediately changed Abdullah’s life persuading him to abandon the fast living for which he had been previously known,” a Jordanian source who knew the couple during that period was quoted saying. Within several months after that January night, the couple was engaged, and by June, they had been married.5
Although Rania had married the eldest son of Jordan’s King Hussein, she still did not expect to someday become queen. Abdullah had not been groomed to assume the throne. Due to the delicate social and political conditions of Jordan at the time of Abdullah’s birth, King Hussein was wary of passing his title down to his young son, believing Jordan needed an adult ruler should something happened to him. Therefore, Abdullah was passed over in the line of succession in favor of King Hussein’s brother, Hassan. More recently, observers believed that if King Hussein was to change his mind from his brother to one of his sons it would most likely be Prince Ali who is quite popular among the Jordanian people or his eldest son with Queen Noor, Prince Hamze. Abdullah was certainly not assumed to have been an option for succession.6
Prince Abdullah’s tendency towards his playboy ways sometimes upset King Hussein and created a strained relationship between the pair from the late 1980s until Abdullah’s accomplishments in the military and his marriage to Rania in the early 1990s. The other candidates were not the only issues weighing against Abdullah. He had yet to master the Arabic language, still speaking with a slight accent after having spent fifteen years studying in England and the United States. His mother was also English-born which gave some of his subjects the perception that he was foreign.7
While it is questionable whether or not Abdullah’s marriage to Rania played a role in King Hussein’s decision, it is not questionable whether or not Rania will be a decisive factor in the Jordanian people accepting Abdullah. Rania has often been compared to King Hussein’s third wife, Alia Toukan, who was also a beautiful Palestinian who was adored by the population of Palestinian origin. Rania’s vocal support of her husband helped encourage the people of Jordan to accept her husband as a fellow Arab, not a foreigner. Thus, she played a very crucial role during a critical and difficult time for the monarchy.8
The King and Queen have infected the country with a populist attitude brought on by couple’s tendency to live amongst their subjects. They refuse to live in the palace, choosing instead to stay in their own home in outside of Amman. Abdullah has gained a reputation for using an array of disguises to allow him to pass unnoticed among his subjects. Rania frequently visits remote villages in the kingdom for a better understanding of the lives of those residents. “Mobility is very easy. I just get into my car and visit places unannounced. That is the example His Majesty Hussein set for all of us to always have our hand on the pulse of the people’s lives.”9
Just like her predecessor, Queen Noor, Queen Rania has spoken out against “honor killings” which is the practice of murdering women, often by a father or brother, who have sex outside of marriage to preserve the honor of the family. In a move which outraged Queen Rania and other feminist activists, the Jordanian Parliament recently rejected a law that would treat “honor killings” as serious as any other homicide under Jordanian law. Shortly after the rejection, the Queen organized a protest march on the Parliament building over the issue.10
Queen Rania established the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) in 1995 which emphasizes giving women the power to take control of their lives and protecting both women and children against domestic abuse. She also established and supported the Child Abuse Prevention Project, the first of its kind in the Arab world, which establishes safe houses and help lines for abused children.11
The feature of Queen Rania’s to help women to take control of their lives is a project that she has highly publicized around the world, micro-finance. Queen Rania believes that by giving women in developing countries money to start businesses, the donors of the money are not only helping the economy of the struggling nation but also allowing women to rise out of poverty and dependence. From the United Nations to Capital Hill, her expertise in the area of finance and her stunning beauty has charmed countless world leaders and the wealthy elite across the Western world and enticed them to loan money to the world’s poor women.12 “She’s a great spokeswoman worldwide. It takes someone to jar people’s attention,” Bill Gates said on Rania al-Abdullah.13 In March of 2002, Queen Rania launched the Global Endowment for the Poor which hopes to raise 100 million dollars over the next five years to fund small business loans in struggling countries.14
Rania al-Abdullah also works with the Foundation for International Community, a Washington-based aid group which makes small business loans to 200,000 people, ninety percent of whom are women, living in poverty around the world every year. Ninety-seven percent of the recipients pay back their loans which is a rate higher than most commercial banks.15 “You can go to a remote village and take a woman who has some skills but has never really worked and encourage her to come up with a business plan, and she will apply and get a loan. She becomes much more confident, because she is taking charge of her life and her family,” Queen Rania told reporters.16
The Queen is not blind to the delicate tightrope which she must walk as a diplomat attempting to bring her traditional Arab country closer to the Western world. Her talks to Westerners focuses on empowering woman through small business loans, allowing them to break free of the hold that their husbands, fathers, or brothers have on them. However, in traditional villages in Jordan, her speeches take a much different turn. Instead of empowering women, she focuses on allowing women to help their husbands and fathers to support the family.17
Her belief desperately poor villages around the world have become a “fertile breeding ground for desperation” has been validated by many experts in the field of terrorism. Those who are starving and struggling to survive become enraged and desperate, searching for someone to blame for their troubles. Unfortunately in these times, they are turning to charismatic leaders who instill in their minds that terrorism is the answer to their desperation. Queen Rania believes by helping these villages to become economically self-sufficient, the world is helping to put an end to the hold that terrorist leaders have on the people.18
One of Queen Rania al-Abdullah most important contributions is her challenge to the traditional image of an Arab first lady. “I am an Arab through and through, but I am also one who speaks the international language. I feel I do represent a large segment of women in the Arab world… I share with them their hopes and aspiration and the challenges that face,” Queen Rania was quoted saying.19 Queen Rania al-Abdullah has wasted no time in spreading her message of what Arab women can be. With her poise, beauty, and intelligence, she has already awed Western audiences from the Oprah Winfrey show to the wealthy writing large checks for her many causes.20
While she may sometimes be dismissed as just another beautiful socialite due to her love for designer clothing, her place in People’s “50 Most Beautiful People”, or her many appearances in the society pages of London magazines, her accomplishments and impact on both the West and the Arab world should not be written off so easily.21 Her mind can be just as sharp as her beauty. Recently, at the World Economic Forum, she shared a stage and battled views with Elie Wiesel and Archbishop Desmund Tutu.22
Since September 11, her importance to both Arab and Western worlds has increased greatly as she has stepped forward as a challenge against Islamic fundamentalism and an ambassador for the Islamic modernizing movement. Her talent for taking on controversial topics with a diplomatic sensitivity has made her a much sought after guest on morning shows and “Larry King Live”.23 Hillary Clinton recently commented, “She is extremely knowledgeable about so many topics. In offering up a view of Muslim modernity, she is important to the world, not just her own country.”24
The West’s infatuation with Queen Rania al-Abdullah is not as innocent as it would first appears. Her husband, King Abdullah, has been frustrated by failures in drumming up support for Jordan from the elite in the West. Queen Rania’s frequent trips to London, Paris, Washington DC, and Los Angeles are all in the hope of raising Jordan’s international profile.25 Jordan, which generates a great deal of its revenue from tourism, has been rocked by the drop in tourism to the area since September 11. Queen Rania’s goal is to help persuade the Western world that Jordan remains a safe a beautiful destination for travel.26
Queen Rania al-Abdullah, of Palestinian origin, has been careful until recently to take a firm stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict beyond saying that she prays for peace for the devastated region. However, unlike many Arab leaders, she has taken a firm stand on Palestinian suicide bombers, condemning the action of killing innocent civilians.27 The recent military escalation against Palestinians has enraged much of the Jordanian population, including Rania al-Abdullah. Rania joined over 2,000 demonstrators, many of them political leaders and members of the Royal Family, in Amman to protest the abuses to the humanitarian rights of the Palestinian people. 28 “Politics aside, let’s look at the way people are living on the ground. They don’t have freedom of movement. They don’t have access to health care or education. That kind of environment makes you very, very angry. And that probably leads to such attacks but it is wrong,” Queen Rania told the Washington Post.29
While the response to Queen Rania al-Abdullah is overwhelmingly positive in the West, her reception in Jordan and other Arab countries is more mixed. “In the West, everybody is dazzled by this couple. In the Arab world, more conservative elements frown upon her westernization, and some would like her to take a back seat rather than be as flamboyant as she is,” commented Muraf Jouejati, a resident scholar at the Middle East Institute.30
Critics also argue that Queen Rania and King Abdullah should not involve themselves publicly in social issues such as “honor killings” and domestic abuse. These critics contend that the couple should work behind the scenes for social change. Rania’s response to the criticism is “The approach should be to talk about it, bring it to the surface, not sweep things under the rug.”31 However many traditionalists in the Arab world do not expect this reasoning. While the West is embracing the new vision of an Arab queen, the Arab world is questioning it.
While Queen Noor, Rania’s predecessor, also took a less traditional and more active role in Jordan, it was more surprising when Queen Rania followed in her mother-in-law’s footsteps. It was almost expected and easier to accept of Queen Noor since she was born and educated in America. However, Rania is an Arab-born Jordanian of Palestinian descent so her abandoning a traditional role was more unusual and unexpected.32 Many feminists and social advocates believe that she has the opportunity to make a much higher impact on Jordanian politics and society because she is Arab and will not be dismissed as a foreigner as Queen Noor had been. While it is still early in her husband’s rule, it can already be seen that she will have a great impact on the lives of poor and abused women not only in Jordan but around the world through her domestic abuse and microfinance programs.33
Her effect on Jordan does not lie in social issues alone. Her support for King Abdullah during the transition of power was a crucial element to Abdullah’s acceptation from the Jordanian public, especially the Palestinian majority. Her role also helped to unite the Palestinians behind their Jordanian rulers.34 When speaking on policy she often uses the term “we”, not “my husband’s policies”. Queen Rania’s role is not merely as a symbolic figurehead. She is a true political and social leader of Jordan. 35
While Jordan is still far from democratic rule, King Abdullah and Queen Rania are strongly pushing the country towards the West without disrupting the traditional society too much. Queen Rania al-Abdullah’s accomplishments and importance to both the political and social spheres of Jordan, the Arab region, and the West have been left grossly ignored. Her speeches and support of micro-finance have spurred bills on Capital Hill and have increased the independence of many women throughout the world. The Jordan River Foundation and child abuse centers have provided an example to the rest of the Arab world. Her romance with the West has helped to educate the public on modern Islam and the Palestinian cause. Only three years into her reign as the Queen of Jordan, vast changes have been made in a very tumultuous time and unstable region. Queen Rania al-Abdullah’s work continues to be a source of great controversy and change.
1 Gerhart, Ann. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.” Washington Post 01 March, 2002.: OS05.
2 Biography Resource Center Online. “Rania al-Abdullah.” Gale Group, 2000. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2002 (http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC)
3 Darwish, Adel. “Spotlight on a Queen.” The Middle East March 1999. i288 7.
4 Gerhart. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.” OS05.
5 Darwish. “Spotlight on a Queen.” 7.
6 Shahin, Mariam. “Long Live the King.” The Middle East March 1999. i288 5-6.
7 Darwish. “Spotlight on a Queen.” 7.
8 Darwish. “Spotlight on a Queen.” 7.
9 MacGregor, Hilary E. “Her Grand Entrance.” Los Angeles Times 04 April, 2002.
10 “Jordan’s Queen of Hearts.” Newsweek 12 June, 2000. 43.
11 Biography Resource Center Online. “Rania al-Abdulla”.
12 Peters, Gretchen. “Jordan’s Queen Promotes Fund.” Associated Press (22 March, 2002): n. pag. Online. Electronic Library. 18 April, 2002.
13 Gerhart. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.”
14 Peters, Gretchen. “Jordan’s Queen Promotes Fund.”
15 Peters. “Jordan’s Queen Promotes Fund.”
16 Gerhart. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.”
17 “Jordan’s Queen of Hearts.”
18 “Foreign Aid That Works.” Los Angeles Times (23 March, 2002): n. pag. Online. EBSCO. 18 April, 2002.
19 “Jordan’s Queen of Hearts.”
20 MacGregor. “Her Grand Entrance.”
21 “Profile: Jordan’s Queen Rania.” BBC News Online. 7 November, 2001. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)
22 Gerhart. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.”
23 Gorrell, Carin. “Queen Rania al-Abdullah.” Psychology Today. 35.3 (2002): 37.
24 Gerhart. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.”
25 MacGregor. “Her Grand Entrance.”
26 O’Connor, Anne-Marie and Dana Calvo. “A Day Fit For a Queen and King.” Los Angeles Times 20 March, 2002.
27 MacGregor. “Her Grand Entrance.”
28 “Jordan’s Queen Joins Demonstration Against Israeli Atrocities.” Xinhua News Agency (09 April, 2002): n. pag. Online. Electronic Library 18 April, 2002.
29 Gerhart. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.”
30 Gerhart. “Thoroughly Modern Monarch.”
31 “Jordan’s Queen of Hearts.”
32 MacGregor. “Her Grand Entrance.”
33 Darwish. “Spotlight on a Queen.”
34 Darwish. “Spotlight on a Queen.”
35 Gorrell. “Queen Rania al-Abdullah.”
