Karma and Morals in the Prophet's Hair

I can recall in elementary school reading books and stories as a class and then having discussions afterwards. The teacher would lead discussions asking us what was the moral of the story, and things like what was the theme of the story, who was this, where was that, and so on. We could always figure out who the villain was and who the hero was. When we had to watch movies as a class we were often asked what the moral of the story was. We always came up with one solid answer. As I have gotten older and started to read more powerful books, and deeper movies I have come to realize that everything has some what of a moral to it. It depends on how you depict that story but there is always something there between the lines.

In the book “East, West” by Salman Rushdie, there lies a short story. It is called “The Prophet’s Hair.” The story is about a few characters including, Atta, Huma, Hashim, Zin, the deputy commissioner, and many more. The tale is about Hashim whom is wealthy moneylender. Hashim did not feel that he was a godly man; rather that he was “living honorably in the world.” The moneylender, his wife, and his children sought to inculcate the virtues of thrift, plain dealing, and a healthy independence of spirit. Hashim finds a “cylinder of tinted glass cased in exquisitely wrought silver, within its walls a silver pendant bearing a single strand of human hair.” Hashim knew he was in possession of the famous relic of the prophet Muhammad that went missing the previous morning and had created an unprecedented hue and cry in the valley. Instead of doing what the moneylender knew was right, he decided to keep it and add it to his collection of other treasures. Hashim started breaching the family’s unwritten laws of decorum and that alerted Huma and Atta. Huma staged a fake robbery which turned bad. Hashim tried to kill the robber but mistakes Huma for the robber. He ends up killing his daughter and out of shame kills himself. The robber is also shot dead by the police commissioner. After all was over Hashim’s wife may have lost her husband and daughter and family jewels, but she ends up gaining back her vision, (she was once blind).

The relic was found on a river; Hashim should have never picked it up and kept it knowing its importance to society and how sacred of an object it was. Finding something stolen does not make it ok to keep. It’s almost as if Hashim’s wealth in society made him think that he was higher than the rest of the people and that no harm would come from this. When you read the story you can immediately assume that the relic is a curse to those hands it mistakenly falls into but a blessing to those whose hands it belongs in.

When Huma planned to pay a thief to steal the relic with all of Huma’s jewelry, as well as her mothers, it is obvious that she had already noticed the curse was affecting her family. The thief looked at the situation and was glad to do it for his children and his wife. He knew the jewelry would help his family financially. The sad part is that his hands were also the wrong hands for this relic. Unfortunately the death of the thief could have been prevented if Hashim would have never brought the relic home.

In the story the brother Atta is convinced that they are descending to gutter-level, but knew what had to be done. He was convinced that there would be no peace in his house until the hair was out of it. He too could see that this hair was cursed, and was doing no good for his family.

The stories moral can be read in many different ways. The way that I choose to believe is that greed for money is overwhelming. Turning from doing what is right to doing what is wrong to better yourself off, is never right. Havoc comes from doing immoral acts. Keeping or taking things that do not personally belong to you will not bring you fortune it will bring you misfortune. I believe that Karma plays a major rule in the story as well. So remember that finding something stolen does not make it ok to keep, you will only seek more harm for yourself.