Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 401
! ! 401 men roam [the Earth] with daggers, women roam around [the Earth] slaying others with their tongues. It was for this reason , that during Bai ‘ at , the Holy Prophet sa would require women to promise that they would refrain from making false accus ations. It appears from this , that Arab women were in the habit of falsely accusing others. Furthermore, the consequences of women lying is that children also pick up this habit. They believe that if our mother lies, why should we not exceed her in telling falsehoods? There is a well - known tale of two friends , who asked each other to reveal something about their families. One said, “Although circumstances have now changed , we used to be very rich. My grandfather had such a massive stable that whenever there was a famine, all the animals in the city would take refuge in one corner of tha t stable. ” The other person replied , “My grandfather had such a pole , that whenever there was drought , he would pierce the clouds with that pole and rain would pour down. ” The first person grew angry and asked, “Where did your grandfather keep that pole?” The other man replied, “He kept it in your grandfather’s stable !” Now, consider what a great lie they both told. Just a few days ago , I read another story of a dyer’s daughter , who entered her school and bumped into a confectioner’s daughter , who had also just walked in. The first girl asked the second girl about herself. The confectioner’s daughter said, “My father is a high - ranking officer. ” The first girl said, “My father is a great banker. He lends people money, and we have many houses. ” S he [the dyer’s daughter who was claiming to be the daughter of the banker] later went on to invite the other girl [the confectioner’s daughter who was claiming to be the daughter of a high - ranking officer] to dinner. Now this [so - called] banker’s daughter had no servants, so she asked her brothers and sisters to act as if they we re servants. She set out pastries, ordered jalebian [a sweet dish], and ordered dishes from the shops. W hen the officer’s daughter [who was actually the daughter of the confectioner] arrived, t he two started chatting. While they were talking to each other, one of the neighbors [of the dyer’s daughter] came in and saw the other girl. The neighbor said, “This is our dyer’s daughter. ” The confectioner’s daughter replied, [about the