The Prodigal Son’s Death Request

For over fifteen years I have been asking people of all walks of life from Morocco to India and from Turkey to Sudan about the implications of a son’s request for his inheritance while the father is still living. The answer has almost always been emphatically the same. The conversation runs as follows:

“Has anyone ever made such a request in your village?”

“Never!”

“Could anyone ever make such a request?”

“Impossible!”

“If anyone did, what would happen?”

“His father would beat him, of course!”

“Why?”

“This request means – he wants his father to die!”