It has been related that during the Abbasid regime one of the cruel rulers used to charge high taxes to the people. The people of Balkh in Afghanistan were subjected to cruelty when they refused to pay taxes to the rulers. When the situation for the people of Balkh became intolerable they went to the wife of the representative of the ruler in Balkh who they knew to be a merciful and considerate lady.

When they asked her to intercede on their behalf, she took out an expensive and glamorous robe of hers, the value of which equaled to the amount demanded of them. The representative of the ruler in Balkh took his wife's robe and placed it in front of the merciless ruler. The ruler demanded to know whose robe it was, and when the representative informed him of the events, the ruler was touched by the merciful act of the lady and forgave the villagers asking that the robe should be returned to its owner.

The lady on receiving the robe asked whether the ruler had glanced at her robe.

"Yes," said her husband.

"Well, I shall not wear a dress on which a stranger's eye has befallen, so sell this robe and build a mosque from the money you get."

Ibn Batuta in his narrations says that this mosque still stands. The dress was sold but a mosque remains. Good acts remain. A shining reminder that what counts are deeds!