Our Beloved Master - His Early Life — Page 161
•oUR BELoVED MASTER• 161 Mundhir returned the animals. However, he decided that while the women were free to return if they so wished, if any of them wanted to stay they would not be forced to leave. One of those ladies was the daughter of Qais bin ‘ As im. Qais sent his son-in-law to bring back his wife but she refused to return. She wanted to stay with the man who had originally captured her. When the father heard of this, he was appalled at his daughter’s choice and he swore that if any other daughters were born to him, he would bury them alive. After this, he had twelve or thirteen daughters, all of whom were buried alive. Over time, this practice began to spread. So much so, that many of the Arab tribes became accustomed to this terrible act. How heart breaking, how shameful and how scary a sight this must have been, when a father buries alive his own flesh and blood! This tradition vividly illustrates the fact that the people of Arabia were by far the most cold hearted and shameless in the world.