Record Number: 33481

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Raguana who, apart from Fatima, had the most outstanding personality in the harem. She was taller than most Hadhrami women, with a good figure and the striking looks of a film star, which she might well have been had she grown up in another environment for she also had a most compelling, deep voice. As the only one in the harem who could read we often listened entranced while she spoke the words of the Quran.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Dec 1934 and 31 Dec 1934

Country:

Yemen

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Tarim
county: Kathiri State of Seiyun
specific address: Palace of Seiyid Bubakr al Kaf
location in dwelling: Harem (women's quarters)

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Raguana

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy
Free woman in the household of Seiyid Bubakr al Kaf, ruler of Tarim in the Kathiri State of Seiyun

Occupation:

Free woman in the harem

Religion:

Islam (Sunni)

Country of Origin:

Yemen

Country of Experience:

Yemen

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

unknown unknown

Title:

The Qu'ran

Genre:

Other religious, The Qu'ran

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

n/a

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

33481

Source:

Print

Author:

Doreen Ingrams

Editor:

n/a

Title:

A Time in Arabia: Life in Hadhramaut

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2013

Vol:

n/a

Page:

26

Additional Comments:

Pagination is from the 2013 new edition. First publication in London by John Murray, 1970

Citation:

Doreen Ingrams, A Time in Arabia: Life in Hadhramaut, (London, 2013), p. 26, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33481, accessed: 26 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

Doreen Ingrams visited Sheik Seiyid Bubakr al Kaf's palace in Tarim in the Kathiri State of Seiyun (now politically in Yemen) during December 1934 (Islamic month of Ramadhan). The Kathiri State of Seiyun was a British protectorate until abolition in 1967 under the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen administration (1967-1990).