Othman al-Maddan and Bakri al-Ghabshi were friends living in the same neighborhood and partners in a successful grocery store. From the time they were young, they never differed over anything. But Othman’s wife, Naila, and Bakri’s wife Ferial, disagreed from their first chance meeting at the baths when Ferial noticed that Naila was gaping pityingly at her pendulous breasts. Naila advised her to get them surgically corrected, claiming that all women were doing this in secret. It also reached Ferial that Naila was telling everyone, old and young, about what she had seen at the baths, comparing Ferial’s breasts to an empty pair of socks. Now a hatred that nothing could erase sprang up between them, and they were set for a destructive battle in which no weapons would be barred. Each of them began to spread damaging and injurious rumors about the other.
One night Ferial said to Bakri, “Today the wife of your worthy partner came to see me, and accused me of marrying a man who used to be able to make love to women, while she married a man who makes love to her three times every night.”
Bakri said with surprise, “What! Three times?”
Ferial laughed viciously and said, “And four on Thursday nights.”
She was silent for a few moments, observing the frown on her husband’s face, and said, “Do you know what she advised me to do? To divorce you. She told me her husband said a woman in my situation had the legal right to cheat on her husband and divorce him.”
Bakri’s face darkened, and from that moment he felt an unremitting hatred for Othman. Differences sprang up between them the following day and grew to the point of selling the store. They divided the proceeds and went their separate ways. But Bakri still wanted to take revenge on his ex-partner. He said nasty, hurtful things about him, his family, his parents, and his grandparents. Othman heard about this, but said in a forgiving voice, “There is no strength and no power save in God.”
This only increased Bakri’s rancor, and he decided to take his vengeance further. One day he became aware that his campaign against Othman was not being taken seriously. It needed confirmation from trustworthy and influential people. He visited Sheikh Saleh al-Mandali at his home with the pretext of giving alms for distribution to needy families. The sheikh was the imam of the neighborhood mosque. He had students, followers, and disciples, and his sayings and judgments were not disputed. He took the money from Bakri and said, as if bringing him good news, “Your reward will be with Almighty God.”
Bakri said humbly, “I want nothing except His forgiveness and His mercy,” and stared at the floor in silent discomfort. The sheikh asked what was wrong, and Bakri said in a trembling voice, “I’m not a man who likes to defame people, but at the same time I can’t bear it when the reputation of a righteous man like yourself (May God give us more men like you!) is blackened.” He then told the sheikh that his ex-partner, Othman al-Maddan, had been saying to all and sundry that he, the sheikh, led the faithful in prayer without performing his ablutions. To this the sheikh responded in a rage, “Liar, son of a liar! That happened only once. It was an absent-minded slip – and glory to Him who never slips!”
Bakri then proceeded to tell the sheikh that his ex-partner ate pig meat. The sheikh cried out in aversion and disgust, “What’s this I’m hearing? A Muslim, and he eats pork?”
Bakri insisted that his ex-partner was not content with eating pork, but also made his wife do the same, until she started to like it and ask for it. The sheikh’s disgust mounted. Though the two were alone in the room, Bakri looked around cautiously and whispered in an agitated voice. “He also says something which I can’t believe and which I’m even ashamed to mention. He says you practice the secret habit.”
The sheikh said, “A liar! A thousand times a liar! And how could I possibly be doing that when my wife has been more like a sister for two years, three months, and five days?”
Bakri took hold of the sheikh’s hand in a gesture of encouragement and said, “Where is the earth from the stars? You, dear sir, are older and grander than him. Pay no heed to what he says, for he is a worthless fellow who doesn’t have the legal authority to declare what’s lawful and what’s not. He’s not satisfied to have his wife and her mother but chases after boys, as I discovered by mere chance. I became worried about my reputation, and ended my partnership with him at a loss.”
The wrinkles on the sheikh’s face became deeper as he said in an angry, shaking voice, “God save us from the cursed Devil! God save us from the cursed Devil! It is true that the Devil has followers who live to spread evil on this earth.”
A few days later, Sheikh Saleh was leaning on his cane and winding his way through the alley that led to his house, when Abul ‘Ala, the toughest man in the neighborhood, blocked his path and kissed his hand with reverence and humility. He begged the sheikh to pray for him, that God might guide his path away from a life of mischief. But the sheikh said abruptly, “How can I pray to God for you when my heart is full of worry, sorrow, and anger? Prayer will not be answered unless it comes from a pure heart.”
Abul ‘Ala then said. “Death to anyone who has angered our revered sheikh! Tell me his name, then go recite the opening chapter of the Qur’an for his soul.”
Sheikh Saleh then leaned against the wall of a house, as if to prevent himself from falling, and said with sadness and bitterness in his voice, “Son, God is my witness. All my life I’ve taken care to love everyone, rich and poor. But the deeds of Othman al-Maddan are contrary to the laws of God and his Prophet, and they have infuriated me, making me hate that dissolute, immoral, debauched and godless man.”
Abul ‘Ala was stunned to hear this and said: “But what I know of him is that he is a man who prays, fasts, and pays his share of alms, and has been on the hajj twice.”
Sheikh Saleh laughed in derision and said, “It seems, my son, that you’ve forgotten the Devil was once an angel himself.”
Sheikh Saleh then sighed with sadness and said, “It is the duty of every Muslim to fight godlessness. Every believer who rids the world of a godless man will enter Paradise without being held to account.”
Abul ‘Ala again kissed the sheikh’s hand and said in a soft, trembling voice, “God permitting, all of us will go to paradise.”
It was only a few days later that the body of Othman al-Maddan was found stabbed to death. Those who last saw him alive said he had performed the evening prayer at the neighborhood mosque standing right behind Sheikh Saleh al-Mandali and had left for his house nearby. He never reached it. His wife Naila cried until her eyes were swollen. She wore clothes of mourning, and swore she would never take them off as long as she was alive. Bakri’s wife, Ferial, spread the rumor that Naila was in mourning over her cat, which had been run over by a car.