Abdul Ghaffar once asked his friend Jamaluddin for a favor. “I need to go to the city for a few days. Can you take care of my goat until I return?” Jamaluddin agreed.
When Abdul Ghaffar came back, he asked for his goat, but Jamaluddin denied it. “I don’t have your goat,” he said. Jamaluddin’s intentions had changed because he wanted to keep the healthy goat for himself.
Abdul Ghaffar was very upset. They argued, and the matter went to the village qazi. All the villagers gathered to hear the case.
The qazi asked Abdul Ghaffar if he had any proof that it was his goat. Abdul Ghaffar thought hard and then said, “Yes, I do. This goat has a hole in her heart.”
Everyone was shocked. “How can you know that?” they asked.
The qazi announced, “If what Abdul Ghaffar says is true, the goat will be his. But if not, Jamaluddin will keep her.” To settle the matter, they decided to check. The goat was slaughtered, and to everyone’s amazement, it had a hole in its heart.
The villagers asked Abdul Ghaffar how he knew. He explained, “A long time ago, this goat lost two of her kids. My mother used to say that when a mother loses her children, her heart breaks, and she becomes so sad that it can leave a hole in her heart. I always noticed this goat looked sad and remembered my mother’s words.”
The panchayat ruled in favor of Abdul Ghaffar, and Jamaluddin was punished for his dishonesty.
Source: Narrated by Zayaan Bin Usman's grandmother. Recorded in Lahore, as a part of Clicks and Culture, our collaboration with Beaconhouse School System.
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