Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
5. Muslim women
~ 111 ~
did not accept any money for this, her neighbors
would send her grain and other comestibles in return
for her good offices. This work was by no means easy
for her, because it was done in the days before sewing
machines had become popular, i.e. she did it entirely
by hand. She also managed to keep a buffalo, and in
our broad, open courtyard, she grew vegetables and
planted fruit trees, like papaya and banana, which
gave us a good yield. In those early days of penury, a
woman passerby once remarked, “I see you have
kittens to look after.” We did indeed look like scraggy
little kittens in those days, and if my mother had not
made such extraordinary sacrifices in order to look
after us, our fate might well have been no better than
the little, stray, motherless kittens one sees wasting
away in the streets.
My eyes are witness to my mother’s total
commitment over a prolonged period to our proper
upbringing. But it would ‘ really take a whole book
to do justice to her, and I have at my disposal just
these last few pages.
100. One acre is equivalent to 4840 square yards, or
4047 square meters.
