[Archives:2002/25/Last Page]

Mother and Child
Written by
Abdulrahman Mutahhar
Translated by
Janet Watson
M Listen to what Im saying, Musida. Fear God and just watch what youre doing. Its not right for you to prevent a child from seeing his mother, or to stop a mother from seeing her child. Has God wrenched all sense of compassion from your heart and made you forget the meaning of motherhood?
Ma Wheres this motherhood, and which mother have I prevented from seeing her child and which child from seeing his mother?
M Im telling you, just fear God. Your sons divorced wife came over to see her child and you locked him in a room and kept him hidden away. Then you sent the mother away from the door. This is totally inhumane, Musida!
Ma Since when has she been his mother, and since when would anyone acknowledge her as a mother? Shed barely given birth to him when she wrapped him up in a ragged blanket and left him on my doorstep, still bloody from the birth. No mother gives birth and gets rid of her child before shes even seen his face, apart from my sons divorced wife! And youre telling me that I should fear God!
M It wasnt her, and it wasnt her decision. She gave birth to the baby and fell into a coma. When she came round there was no child. She said, Wheres my child? Wheres the child I gave birth to? I want to see him. They told her there was no child and that she shouldnt consider herself a mother. Leave the son of a dog to the dog!
Ma So youre saying it wasnt her who got rid of the baby so that she could get remarried without the burden of a child. Who on earth took her baby away from her and left it on the doorstep, then?
M This is what Im telling you! The mother and father of your sons divorced wife agreed to get rid of the baby immediately after it was born, and they came and chucked it on the doorstep.
Ma And why should they do that? According to whose law would they expose a new-born baby to all this cruelty? Where is the milk of human kindness and compassion that should be in their hearts?
M Whats passed has passed, Musida, and life has to carry on. The child is five years old now. Its enough that God has given you the compassion and kindness to take the child in and look after him. So dont now go and stop the child from seeing his mother, or the mother from seeing her child.
Ma So, she couldnt remember that she had a child until today when hes five years old! Why didnt she come running after him when her family threw him on the doorstep and he was a bundle of red flesh in rags?
M Ive told you, it was nothing to do with her, and it wasnt her fault. We all bear responsibility for what happened.
Ma And just why do we all bear the responsibility? What have we done?
M Ill tell you what weve done. We have done wrong to the mother and to the child. You and I decided that our son should marry the girl although he didnt want her and felt nothing for her. We forced her onto him with as much dignity as we force feed cattle stalks. So your son simply waited until she was six months pregnant, and divorced her without even telling us. Her parents, quite understandably, saw this sudden divorce as a slight. Theyre the ones who placed the baby in a blanket and chucked it on your doorstep. We parents are the ones who are to blame for what has happened to the mother and child, without it being any fault of their own. Weve shown no respect for the status or rights of either the mother or the child, nor for the importance of motherhood and childhood. Come on, Musida. You must be able to see that the mother and the child have suffered enough already. Dont make it worse for them by preventing them from seeing each other. Fear God and take to heart what Ive been saying!

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