Eunuchs in Saudi Arabia?
Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:12 pm
There were certainly eunuchs in Saudi Arabia in the recent past. Nasr interviewed one of them in 2001. Whether or not there are many today is an open question, although one of the Wikileaks documents from 2009 seems to indicate that the 3000 royal princes still employed a large number of them as recently as 6 years ago. It only hints at it, but it's a fairly strong hint. Below are quotations from two documents that I read today that touch on the topic -- one a book on eunuchs, primarily during the period of the 'Abāssid Caliphate (750-1258), but with some description of more recent times, the other a review of Shaun Marmon's book on eunuchs. I'm also attaching the Wikileaks document and my comments on it as a third take on recent/contemporary eunuchs in Saudi Arabia.
Though my French is very poor, I have ordered a copy of Zeghidour's book, which won the prix Clio d’Histoire. Maybe one of our French members will be willing to write a bit about its chapter on eunuchs.
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The practice of employing eunuchs in the holy places of Mecca and Medina continues practically up to the present day. This is attested to by a very convincing evidence. In 1990 the Saudi magazine al-Yamāna published an interview with Sālim Farīd, the official in charge of the affairs of the eunuchs in Mecca, according to which 14 eunuchs still served at the sanctuary of Mecca, and 17 at the sanctuary of Medina (Shaun Marmon, Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society, OUP, New York-Oxford 1995, p. 111, and note 320 on pp. 109-110).
Not less interesting and indicative is the evidence of Slimane Zeghidour, an Algerian born in 1953, who made the small pilgrimage in 1987 and the big one in 1988, and who published in 1989 a book entitled La Vie Quotidienne à la Mecque de Mahomet a nos Jours (Paris: Hachette), which include a sizable chapter on the eunuchs (pp. 219-242). The number of eunuchs employed in the two sanctuaries, as quoted by him (17 in Mecca and 19 in Medina - ibid., p. 222) are very close to the official Saudi ones. But what is even more important is the account of his meeting with one of these eunuchs. Slavery was officially abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1962 (ibid.). But the eunuch in question, an Ethiopian aged 40 when Zeghidour met him, arrived in Mecca in 1965 (ibid., p. 223), i.e., three years after the abolishment of slavery. He spoke with the author furtively and reluctantly. To the author's question whether the rich people of the town possessed eunuchs, he answered evasively: "peut être oui peut être non" (ibid., p. 223).
Sālim Farīd claimed that the "bestial people" who also performed the castration of Ethiopians, were Italian soldiers in Mussolini's army, who made a habit of castrating Ethiopian people (Marmon, p. 111). However, the eunuch whom Zeghidour met in Mecca can not fall under this category, because he was born well after the end of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1941). The extent of the employment of eunuchs in present day Saudi Arabia necessitates further study.
__________
Ayalon, David. (1999). Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study in Power Relationships. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press of The Hebrew University, page 23.
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Their number [eunuchs], which was at one time so big, especially in Medina, that a whole quarter was named after them (Ḥārat al-Aghawāt), has greatly diminished. There were sixteen āghās in Medina and fourteen in Mecca in 1984 when I interviewed them (incidentally Marmon gives their number in Medina as seventeen). When I performed the ḥajj in Mecca and visited Medina, where I interviewed one of them, last March 2001, I found that their number diminished to thirteen in Medina. Three passed away in 1986, 1996 and 1998 respectively. Their roles including the role of sexual police has also greatly diminished. No eunuch has been appointed since 1984, and in my view none will be in future.
__________
Nasr, Ahmad A. (2001). Review of Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society. Sudanic Africa, vol. 12, pp. 170-175.
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 16:58
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000443
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD
EO 12958 DECL: 10/31/2014
TAGS SA, SCUL, SOCI, ZR">ZR, KISL
SUBJECT: UNDERGROUND PARTY SCENE IN JEDDAH: SAUDI YOUTH
FROLIC UNDER "PRINCELY PROTECTION"
REF: A. JEDDAH 0292 B. JEDDAH 0079
JEDDAH 00000443 001.2 OF 002
Classified By: Consul General Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d)
Most of the cable is about drugs, alcohol, and hired prostitutes at a large party thrown by one of the Saudi royal princes, but one bit caught my eye. A line that, “Royalty, attended by "khawi," keep religious police at bay.”
A footnote defines "khawi.”
"It is common practice for Saudi princes to grow up with hired bodyguards from Nigeria or other African nations who are of similar age and who remain with the prince well into adulthood. They are called "khawi," derived from the Arabic word "akh," meaning "brother." The lifetime spent together creates an intense bond of loyalty."
In other words, small Black African boys are “hired” to serve as lifetime companions and servants for Saudi princes and accompany them everywhere, probably including into the inner reaches of the household. I have seen photographs of Saudi princes of 8 or 9 years of age posing with their "khawi" of a similar age. I would certainly like to know more….
Though my French is very poor, I have ordered a copy of Zeghidour's book, which won the prix Clio d’Histoire. Maybe one of our French members will be willing to write a bit about its chapter on eunuchs.
<<oooOOOooo>>
The practice of employing eunuchs in the holy places of Mecca and Medina continues practically up to the present day. This is attested to by a very convincing evidence. In 1990 the Saudi magazine al-Yamāna published an interview with Sālim Farīd, the official in charge of the affairs of the eunuchs in Mecca, according to which 14 eunuchs still served at the sanctuary of Mecca, and 17 at the sanctuary of Medina (Shaun Marmon, Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society, OUP, New York-Oxford 1995, p. 111, and note 320 on pp. 109-110).
Not less interesting and indicative is the evidence of Slimane Zeghidour, an Algerian born in 1953, who made the small pilgrimage in 1987 and the big one in 1988, and who published in 1989 a book entitled La Vie Quotidienne à la Mecque de Mahomet a nos Jours (Paris: Hachette), which include a sizable chapter on the eunuchs (pp. 219-242). The number of eunuchs employed in the two sanctuaries, as quoted by him (17 in Mecca and 19 in Medina - ibid., p. 222) are very close to the official Saudi ones. But what is even more important is the account of his meeting with one of these eunuchs. Slavery was officially abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1962 (ibid.). But the eunuch in question, an Ethiopian aged 40 when Zeghidour met him, arrived in Mecca in 1965 (ibid., p. 223), i.e., three years after the abolishment of slavery. He spoke with the author furtively and reluctantly. To the author's question whether the rich people of the town possessed eunuchs, he answered evasively: "peut être oui peut être non" (ibid., p. 223).
Sālim Farīd claimed that the "bestial people" who also performed the castration of Ethiopians, were Italian soldiers in Mussolini's army, who made a habit of castrating Ethiopian people (Marmon, p. 111). However, the eunuch whom Zeghidour met in Mecca can not fall under this category, because he was born well after the end of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1941). The extent of the employment of eunuchs in present day Saudi Arabia necessitates further study.
__________
Ayalon, David. (1999). Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study in Power Relationships. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press of The Hebrew University, page 23.
<<oooOOOooo>>
Their number [eunuchs], which was at one time so big, especially in Medina, that a whole quarter was named after them (Ḥārat al-Aghawāt), has greatly diminished. There were sixteen āghās in Medina and fourteen in Mecca in 1984 when I interviewed them (incidentally Marmon gives their number in Medina as seventeen). When I performed the ḥajj in Mecca and visited Medina, where I interviewed one of them, last March 2001, I found that their number diminished to thirteen in Medina. Three passed away in 1986, 1996 and 1998 respectively. Their roles including the role of sexual police has also greatly diminished. No eunuch has been appointed since 1984, and in my view none will be in future.
__________
Nasr, Ahmad A. (2001). Review of Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society. Sudanic Africa, vol. 12, pp. 170-175.
<<oooOOOooo>>
Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 16:58
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000443
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD
EO 12958 DECL: 10/31/2014
TAGS SA, SCUL, SOCI, ZR">ZR, KISL
SUBJECT: UNDERGROUND PARTY SCENE IN JEDDAH: SAUDI YOUTH
FROLIC UNDER "PRINCELY PROTECTION"
REF: A. JEDDAH 0292 B. JEDDAH 0079
JEDDAH 00000443 001.2 OF 002
Classified By: Consul General Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d)
Most of the cable is about drugs, alcohol, and hired prostitutes at a large party thrown by one of the Saudi royal princes, but one bit caught my eye. A line that, “Royalty, attended by "khawi," keep religious police at bay.”
A footnote defines "khawi.”
"It is common practice for Saudi princes to grow up with hired bodyguards from Nigeria or other African nations who are of similar age and who remain with the prince well into adulthood. They are called "khawi," derived from the Arabic word "akh," meaning "brother." The lifetime spent together creates an intense bond of loyalty."
In other words, small Black African boys are “hired” to serve as lifetime companions and servants for Saudi princes and accompany them everywhere, probably including into the inner reaches of the household. I have seen photographs of Saudi princes of 8 or 9 years of age posing with their "khawi" of a similar age. I would certainly like to know more….