After he returned home with an exhausted body, for the sake of her mental peace, Karim discussed with Kulsum the bright future of Rafiq for almost an hour. While they had been discussing, the phone rang. It was Su was from Sittwe. At other times, he would’ve talked to her privately. But today, he would not do that. Last time when she had called Karim, they couldn’t finish the conversation because of the chaos. Hence, before everything else, Su asked about the chaos. After listening to it in details, Su didn’t say anything. Both of them remained quiet for a couple of seconds. Finally, Su broke the silence and told Karim about the meeting at the temple of Hin Kao the previous day. She gave to Karim a brief description of how the villagers, together with the Buddhist monks, tried to incite the army against the Rohingyas. She also informed that in near future, if the situation deteriorated further, it would not be possible for even Su to help the Mollah Clan because her own father was a member of the wolf pack. According to what she had learned from her father, today or tomorrow, Tatmadaw would start a drive to exterminate the Rohingyas. Therefore, she urged Karim and his family to dispose of their properties in time and take shelter in the neighboring state. Not until human rights and good governance were established in the country, it would be better to stay away from this kind of killing field. Whatever Su said was all true. Karim could not help but agree with her. But disposal of properties was easier being said than done. It’s further difficult in a country where the majority was used to behaving like hyenas. None would show interest in buying the properties of the Rohingyas because for the Rohingyas, staying alive was the prime issue. And even if they did, the hostile Buddhist neighbors would never buy the properties of the Rohingyas at a fair price. Instead, they’d try to get hold of the properties without spending any money at all. Still, Karim felt like she had given him a sound advice. He hung up the phone after assuring her that he would let her know about it after discussing it with his father.

For the light bulb, the darkness outside could not invade the interior of Karim’s hut. He had this urge to crush the light because it had created a false hope of security. The darkness outside was comparatively less dangerous because in it, there was scope for the victims to hide themselves from the murderers. Karim retrieved himself from the world of this kind of thoughts. He could hear the noise of the kitchen utensils from the open kitchen. None of the family members had taken their dinner. They had to send meals to their uncle’s residence. So, all by herself, Hajera begum had been preparing the meal. Instead of calling his sick wife who was asleep, Karim decided to help his mother and stood up to move to the kitchen. After taking two steps, suddenly he stopped and looked at the yard outside. He stepped out onto the yard and gazed at the night sky. He was overwhelmed by the noise of the cricket and nocturnal creatures. It looked like a magician had spread dazzling gems on a dark canvas. Ah! What beauty, what serenity. But in this serenity were hidden the seeds of disharmony and anarchy.

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From the top of the Mount Ohud, Rafiq gazed at the plains of Ohud. Once, the most beloved of the Almighty waged war against barbarity, animal instinct, repression and injustice in that very field. Today, if those men could be found, could they sit idly during these dark hours of the Rohingya Muslims? Two weeks went by since Rafiq had arrived in Saudi Arabia. From Jeddah, on his way to Medina, he was amazed by the desolate landscape of Saudi Arabia. He could hardly believe that in this kind of hostile environment, human beings could live. But after arriving at Medina his views changed. He could understand why Medina was called the city wrapped in gold. Nowhere in the world could one find such peace and serenity. In everything the inhabitants of the city did, there was a touch of decency. Instead of roaming the world in search of civility, people should visit this city and learn what civilization was.

Every day at dawn after performing Salat at Masjid-E-Nawabi, Rafiq would walk his way to the plains of Ohud, and today was no exception to it. At exactly seven thirty in the morning, he headed for the mess where Ajiz had arranged for his lodging. From ten in the morning, till ten at night, Rafiq worked at a jewelry shop owned by Ajiz, next to the Masjid-E-Nawabi. Ajiz got him the work permit known as akama in Saudi Arabia. After taking a bath, he would go to a neighboring restaurant for his breakfast. The owner of the restaurant was a Bangladeshi. Most of the patrons who visited the restaurant were also Bangladeshis. For this reason, Rafiq valued the opportunity to talk to these Bangladeshi people. After reaching Al Ohud, the jewelry shop where he worked, he went through the sales report of the previous day on computer. Then he would take over the cash. Two other employees worked with Rafiq in the store. One of them was the manager, the other one was an ordinary employee.