Hodja was determined to be decisive and efficient. One day he told his wife he would plow his largest field on the far side of the river, and be back for a big dinner. She urged him to say, “If Allah is willing.” He told her whether Allah was willing or not, that was his plan. The frightened wife looked up to Allah, and asked forgiveness.
Hodja loaded his wooden plow, hitched up the oxen to the wagon, climbed on his donkey, and set off. But within the short span of a day the river flooded from a cloudburst, and washed his donkey downstream, and one of the oxen broke a leg in the mud, leaving Hodja to hitch himself in its place to plow the field.
Having finished only half the field, at sunset he set out for home exhausted and soaking wet. The river was still high, so he had to wait until long past dark to cross. After midnight a very wet, but much wiser Hodja knocked at his door. “Who is there?” asked his wife. “I think it is me, Hodja,” he replied, “if Allah is willing.”