Fayah was the wife of Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir and mother of their nine children, including Moshti and Jasmine, who resided with Sallah at their home in Cairo, Egypt. Much like her husband, she was a large, loud and extremely friendly person.
In 1936, Fayah and Sallah both welcomed an old friend of her husband, American archaeologist Indiana Jones, and his associate Marion Ravenwood, into their home whilst they were searching for the Ark of the Covenant at nearby Tanis.
Biography[]
Fayah was an Egyptian woman who resided in Cairo, the country's capital.[1] By around the mid-1920s,[2] Fayah had met and married local excavator Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir.[1] By around 1925 they settled down in Cairo[3] and the pair had several children together,[1] including Moshti and Jasmine.[4] The two decided to stop at nine children by 1936[5] (though Sallah would later claim to have sired fourteen sons).[6] His children clustered around him when he sung at home, although Fayah cringed at the few notes her husband misses from time to time.[3]
Fayah noticing the Capuchin monkey in her home.
Fayah and her family were visited at their home in Cairo by Sallah's good friend, Indiana Jones, and bar owner Marion Ravenwood in 1936, around the time that Sallah and many other local diggers had been brought onto the Nazi excavation of the Ark of the Covenant at Tanis. When a Capuchin monkey made her way into the house, Fayah allowed the animal to stay after Ravenwood mentioned that she liked it.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Fayah was portrayed by Souad Messaoudi in Raiders of the Lost Ark, her sole acting credit.[1] During the development of Raiders of the Lost Ark her character was included in the third draft. She was the one unwittingly providing the poisoned dates while a friend of Sallah, an old man named Amir, has been brought in to understand the markings on the Staff of Ra headpiece.[7]
The character's full name is unclear, as Arab women do not generally take their husband's last name.[8]
Appearances[]
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (First appearance)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark novel
- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark junior novel
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones – "The Gold Goddess: Xomec's Raiders" (Mentioned only)- Disney Magic Kingdoms (Ambiguously canonical appearance) (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Raiders of the Lost Ark
- ↑ Sallah and Fayah's son, Moshti, is ten years old in 1934 during Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx
- ↑ Raiders of the Lost Ark novel
- ↑
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones – "The Gold Goddess: Xomec's Raiders"
- ↑ Raiders of the Lost Ark (Third draft)
- ↑ Notzon & Nesom's "The Arabic Naming System"