This quote is the last line of “An Incident in the Ghobashi Household.” Zeinat’s unmarried daughter, Ni’ma, has gotten pregnant. Zeinat’s husband is away for many months for work, so Zeinat will pretend that the baby is hers, rather than Ni’ma’s.
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Isn’t it better, when he returns, for your father to find himself with a legitimate son [rather] than an illegitimate grandson?
— Alifa Rifaat
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Isn’t it better, when he returns, for your father to find himself with a legitimate son [rather] than an illegitimate grandson?" in the context of "This quote is the last line of “An Incident in the Ghobashi Household.” Zeinat’s unmarried daughter, Ni’ma, has gotten pregnant. Zeinat’s husband is away for many months for work, so Zeinat will pretend that the baby is hers, rather than Ni’ma’s." to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Alifa Rifaat" (Quotes, Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories (1983))
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Alifa Rifaat
Fatimah Rifaat (June 5, 1930 – January 1996), better known by her pen name Alifa Rifaat (Arabic: أليفة رفعت), was an Egyptian author whose controversial short stories are renowned for their depictions of the dynamics of female sexuality, relationships, and loss in rural Egyptian culture.
About Alifa Rifaat
Fatimah Rifaat (June 5, 1930 – January 1996), better known by her pen name Alifa Rifaat (Arabic: أليفة رفعت), was an Egyptian author whose controversial short stories are renowned for their depictions of the dynamics of female sexuality, relationships, and loss in rural Egyptian culture.
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