Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
5. Muslim women
~ 109 ~
The death of our father at that time was a great
blow, not only because we had lost a loving parent,
but because of the treatment we received at the
hands of certain members of our joint family. After
father’s death, these relatives took over the
management of the entire family property. My
grandfather, under the joint family system, was the
person who had actually been entrusted with the
management of the farm. But he was so honest that
he would 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 orchard 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 my mother to remarry, or
return to her parents’ home, or go to court to
