In her time, she admitted, many sins had soiled her hands; shameful employments had defiled her countenance. They would be pardoned, being but a means to live. She held, against the world’s opinion, that Allah is indulgent to the faults of women and even has a secret fondness for them. Yet, with her guile, she had an admiration for pure virtue, a teardrop for true love, wherever found. And with all her common sense and her acuteness she was superstitious. As the fisher of the Nile, her chosen image, wears an amulet and names the name of power before he casts his net, so Umm ed-Dahak armed herself against malignant influences. Her belief in witchcraft, philtres, and all kinds of charms was quite beyond the reach of argument.