My Mother — Page 19
Moral Training 19 admonished her that their sufferings should serve as a lesson for her, and she must forswear indulgence in such practices. He then took her and showed her the graves of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, and his blessed daughter Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her. These graves appeared to her to be in a beautiful gar- den and at their head was running a fountain of very clear water. She washed her face and arms as if in preparation for Prayer and repented of her default. But she did not find it easy to restrain herself altogether as she had sincerely designed. There occurred the death of a close relative, and though she shrank from indulging in mourning rites and felt a repugnance towards them, yet her apprehension of reproaches on the part of other relatives overcame her and she joined in some of their practices. Thereafter, she saw a succession of dreams in which she found clusters of ants clinging to her body. She would make frantic efforts to throw them off or wipe them off, but to no avail. If she threw off a handful, several fresh handfuls would assail her. She would wake up in the middle of her struggle, but on sleeping again the same nightmare would start again. Thus, restful sleep was denied her. She realised that she was being punished for her breach of her vow of repentance. So she occupied herself with seeking forgive- ness and reaffirming her determination to shun all such practices. After a few days she saw her father-in-law again who rebuked her over her default and admonished her to adhere strictly to her reaf- firmed resolve. He gave her a clean sheet and, pointing to a pond of clear water, told her to use the sheet as a screen and wash herself clean in the pond. As she entered the pond and advanced towards deeper water, she shed the ants from her body till she got rid of