MY MOTHER—AN EXEMPLARY WOMAN

not take a single penny more than what was actually required to meet the barest of necessities. After his death, those who then took charge of the farm exceeded all limits of injustice in their treatment of us. From being landowners of some substance, we suddenly found ourselves landless. There was no easy way out of our problems. Our family home had been very commodious, but after father’s death, we found ourselves in a disused, half-ruined stable. We lacked even the basic necessities of life, and were unable even to find enough money to buy food. At this juncture, people began to advise our mother to remarry or return to her parents’ home, or go to court to recover the land which was lawfully hers. But she refused to follow any of this advice. The brave woman that she was, she resolved to face up to those circumstances on her own. This decision was backed up by just two things: faith in God and hard work. Although her parents owned a vast tract of land, 20 acres of which had been willed to her by her father, she never demanded her share of the land, nor did she seek any help from the members of her family. She depended upon God alone; her sturdy independence was a shining example to us all. She would get up early every morning, say the prescribed prayers and then work right through the day without once stopping to rest. When she went to bed, it was always late and only after having said the Isha prayer. The tasks on which she spent her entire day included looking after poultry, goats, etc. In this way, I too found the opportunity to graze the goats, a sunnah (practice) of the prophets. In addition to this work, she voluntarily stitched clothes for people in the neighbourhood. Although she did not accept any money for this, her neighbours would send her grain and other comestibles in return. This work was by no means easy for her, because it was done in the days before sewing machines had become popular, i.e. she did it entirely by hand. She also managed to keep a buffalo, and in our broad, open courtyard, she grew vegetables and planted fruit trees, like papaya and banana, which gave us a good yield. In those early days of penury, a woman passerby once remarked, “I see you have kittens to look after.” We did indeed look like scraggy little kittens in those days, and if my mother had not made such extraordinary sacrifices in order Whatever my mother did, she did in the true spirit of Islam. Instead of turning to man, she turned to God. Instead of thinking in terms of the world, she focused her attention on the Hereafter.