Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 474
! ! 474 household, is Hawwa only in name and not in practice. If a woman w ishes to be known as a true daughter of Hawwa, it is her duty to organize the household affairs a nd train her children correctly. [She should] train them in such a way that her title as head of the household remains warranted. Malik [master] means those who are under [her] are obedient to [her]. However, i f a woman does not properly train their children, they will be disobedient. A lack of proper training causes children to develop the habit of disobedience , thereby causing the gradual and continual increase in engaging in wrong habits. It is said that there was a dissolute boy , whose mother loved him with the wrong kind of love. The mother never stopped him from any sort of wrongdoing. She did not stop him when he began stealing tiny things. If anyone complained to his mother, she would defend her son saying he was not like that. It escalated to the point where he began to steal larger and larger things , to the point that he began to kill and plunder. Finally, he was arrested for the crime of murder and was sentenced to death by hanging. As the time of the execution approached, the officer told him, “We can make arrangements to grant you one last request or arrange a meeting with anyone you may wish to meet. ” He said, “Yes, send for my mother. I wish to see her. ” Accordingly, th e mother was called for. He said to her, “I wish to say something in your ear. ” When the mother brought her ear close to him, the son bit upon her ear so hard that she cried out in pain. The jailers who were witnessing this scene nearby, shouted out, “O you villain! Within a few minutes , you will step on the threshold of death and yet, you continue to be so vicious. What sort of conduct is this that in your last minutes, you bite off your mother’s ear? ” He replied, “ It is due solely to this mother that I am being hanged today. If she had raised me properly, I too, w ould be a good person today. However, she did not p ay attention to my upbringing when I made mistakes during my childhood. Th is mother would cover them up. If I stole something from someone and they came after me, she woul d say, ‘M y son does not have your [ belonging s ]. ’ Gradually, my morals deteriorated and were d istorted until I turned into an evil being, a thief , and a robber. Today, I am to be hanged for these sins. ”