Experiences of a Scotswoman as the Wife of a Pathan Chieftain’s Son

My Khyber Marriage

(Experiences of a Scotswoman as the Wife of a Pathan Chieftain’s Son)

By: Murag Murray Abdullah

Note: I found this book last week in the library. Read a few pages and a review and perceived the following lines which I am going to share with you. If some one has already read this book may share a brief summary. (Muhammad Ali Dinakhel: 12th July 2022, Berlin)

Saira Jamil Elizabeth Luiza Shah was was a Scottish writer. She has written with her pen name Morag Murray Abdullah. She married to the son of a Pashtun Malak. It is her story when she met the Syed Abdullah (fiction name of Iqbal Ali Shah). She has written the story of her marriage to the son of a Malak (tribal chief). She met Abdullah, a handsome student attending the university in Scotland. She has also narrated her travels story to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the then North-West Frontier Province of India as well as the mountains of Afghanistan. For the first time this book published in 1934. The second edition published in 1991.

This book narrates her attempts to merge her Western colonial alliances with her Eastern marriage. It is the story of the time of First World War. At that time, her city Edinburgh in Scotland was quiet and safe. During that time she met with Syed Abdullah who was the son of a Pashtun chieftain. This story is full of adventure and romance.

Both of them resisted their families and married. Eventually settled in Khyber, the homeland of Syed Abdullah. Morag Murry has described her adventures in minute details such as the details of preparation of her marriage which was luxurious arrangement for her.

There were thousands of gifts brought by guests for her marriage. She had termed her marriage as fairy-tale wedding. She had a deep affection for Pashtun land, its people and culture.A reader can feel this affection while reading the text. One can finds her curiosity for life which is also inspirational for readers. Although her story has been forgotten but still the situation is as true as it was back in the beginning of twentieth century when she was writing this piece.

The book contains the following chapters:

1. The Hill Chieftain’s Son

2. To ‘No Man’s Land’

3. Meals and Prayers with the Hill-Men

4. In the Warrior Chieftain’s Fort

5. My Beautification as a Bride

6. My Marriage Ceremony

7. At the White Lady’s Hall

8. A ‘Free Land’ Engagement

9. The Woman Defend the Fort

10. Adventure in the Snake Valley

11. Match-Making

12. Ahmed the Bold and Silent

13. Comedy of a Little King

14. The Rajah’s Treasure

15. The Magic Soda-Water Machine

16. Through Ninty Nine Tunnels

17. The Hindu Marriage Fair

18. Episodes in Simla and Delhi

19. East and West

My Khyber Marriage