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The Greedy Son Who Wishes His Father Murdered for Both Inheritance and Blood Money in Jami's Baharestan
In the opening anecdote of this section from the sixth rowzeh of Jami's Baharestan, a young man is asked whether he wishes his father dead so that he may seize the inheritance. He answers that he would rather have his father murdered — so that, having taken the inheritance, he might also collect the blood money (diyah, خونبها) owed for the killing. Jami caps the tale with a short verse mocking such a son, who is not content merely to inherit but greedily hopes to profit twice from a parent's death. The exemplum distills the recurring Persian ethical motif of the فرزند ناخلف (the unworthy, ungrateful child) into one sharp image of filial avarice, setting natural filial duty against grotesque self-interest.
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Humanities
Literature
Persian Literature Prerequisite Course