158 – My father related to me, from Hishām ibn Muḥammad, from a Qurayshī gentleman, who said:

Shurayḥ the judge had a son who would abandon the kuttāb (Qur’anic school) and go off to play with the boys and the dogs, egging the animals on to fight. So Shurayḥ called for pen and paper and wrote to the boy’s tutor:

He has left the prayer to chase some worthless cur,
Seeking dog-fights among the vile, misguided rabble;
When he comes to you, rebuke him with due reproach,
Yet counsel him with the sage advice of a discerning teacher;
And should you feel obliged to strike him, use a light rod,
But if you strike him with it three times, then confine him;
And know that, whatever you may do, his life—despite the grief he makes me swallow—is dearer to me than any other.