’The slave faithfully conveyed the message, and the moollah, finding that his domestic peace depended on submitting to the superstitious notions of his wife, accompanied the slave to the zeenahnah without further delay.

’The moollah’s compliance with the absurd desires of his wife surprised the students, who discussed the subject freely in his absence.  He having always taught them the folly of prejudice and the absurdity of superstition, they could not, comprehend how it was the moollah had been led to comply with a request so much at variance with the principles he endeavoured to impress upon them.

’On his return, after a short absence, to his pupils, he was about to re-commence the passage at which he had left off to attend his wife’s summons; one of the young men, however, interrupted him by the inquiry, “Whether he had performed the important business of tying the naarah to the moosul?”—­“Yes,” answered the moollah, very mildly, “and by so doing I have secured peace to my wife’s disturbed mind.”—­“But how is it, reverend Sir,” rejoined the student, “that your actions and your precepts are at variance?  You caution us against every species of superstition, and yet that you have in this instance complied with one, is very evident.”—­“I grant you, my young friend,” said the moollah, “that I have indeed done so, but my motive for this deviation is, I trust, correct.  I could have argued with you on the folly of tying the naarah to the moosul, and you would have been convinced by my arguments; but my wife, alas! would not listen to anything but the custom—­the custom of the whole village.  I went with reluctance, I performed the ceremony with still greater; yet I had no alternative if I valued harmony in my household:  this I have now secured by my acquiescence in the simple desire of my wife.  Should any evil accident befall my daughter or her husband, I am spared the reproaches that would have been heaped upon me, as being the cause of the evil, from my refusal to tie the naarah to the moosul.  The mere compliance with this absurd custom, to secure peace and harmony, does not alter my faith; I have saved others from greater offences, by my passive obedience to the wishes of my wife, who ignorantly places dependance on the act, as necessary to her daughter’s welfare.”

’The students were satisfied with his explanation, and their respect was increased for the good man who had thus taught them to see and to cherish the means of living peaceably with all mankind, whenever their actions do not tend to injure their religious faith, or infringe on the principles of morality and virtue.’

[1] See p. 158.

[2] For the right of the bride to her private property, see N.E.B.  Baillie,
    Digest of Moohummudan Law (1875), 146 ff.

[3] Takht.

[4] Sachaq, the fruits and other gifts carried in procession in
  earthen pots ornamented with various devices.—­Jaffur Shurreef,
  Qanoon-e-Islam, 73.