Once a person was selling a slave. He informed the buyer that the slave had the bad habit of carrying tales. The buyer did not pay much attention to this and purchased the slave. After some time, the slave said to the master: “Your wife is having an affair and she wants to kill you.” He then went to the mater’s wife and said: “Your husband does not love you anymore and he intends taking a second wife. Why don’t you cut off a strand of his beard that is closer to his throat, then you can use that strand to enchant him into loving you alone.” That night while the master pretended to be asleep, his wife came with a blade. He was convinced that she was about to kill him so he jumped up and killed her. When the wife’s family members heard of what had transpired, they killed the husband. In this way a conflict and battle broke out between the two families which lasted for many years. (Ithaafus Saadatil Muttaqeen vol. 7, pg. 567)
Lessons:
1. Playing one spouse against the other or sowing discord between two people is a filthy habit which can have severe consequences.
2. One should not accept the reports of anyone and everyone. People have different agendas and they may implicate one in the process.
3. When a person entertains suspicions, he will look for the slightest clue to support it and then become convinced of the suspicion that he had, although there may be absolutely no reality to it.