Is that the one where Scrooge doesn’t believe in Christmas, and the ghosts of past, present and future come to him? I vaguely remember it from my childhood, but that wasn’t the basis for this story.

Bashir is exhausting! This is a man who has apparently trained himself to find something wrong with absolutely everything Allah has given him. To be honest, if my husband spoke to me and treated me the way he does his wife – for even one day – I’d be gone too. I think most of us know someone like this, and we avoid them at all costs. Though maybe all of us fall prey to a lesser lack of appreciation of all the blessings Allah has given us. Myself included.

The conversation with Imam Saleh was my favorite part. “What about you, are you messed up?” We can spend so much time cataloguing everything wrong with the world that we never turn that same critical eye inward.

Looking forward to part 2, inshaAllah.

georgie boy was the smartest one tho. cat said yeah im not staying for whatever this is 😭✌️

then the TABLE IS GONE??? ok weird. then bro wakes up ON THE FLOOR AND HIS BED IS GONE 😭😭😭. at that point im moving to nebraska. idk why nebraska. seems safe.

I thought maybe he’s dreaming but then why is everything disappearing one by one? And Georgie Boy knew something. You cannot convince me otherwise. I KNOW THAT CAT KNOWS SOMETHING

part 2 asap bro 😭

I was touched by Meilin offering to take five lashes for him. Sometimes the person who teases you mercilessly is the one who will stand beside you when everyone else steps away.

As for Weili, I felt more sad than angry. “I need him” is such a painful thing to hear someone say about a person who is destroying them.

May Allah heal Darius’s body and heart. Jazak Allah khayr.

BROOOOOO DARIUS WENT BACK INTO A BURNING WAGON TO SAVE ARSLAN??? ARSLAN??? I would have been like sorry Weili your boyfriend belongs to the fire now. 😭

And then she’s crying “I need him!” after Darius literally carried her out while HE WAS ON FIRE??? Darius my brother PLEASE be done with this girl.

Karim was SCAAAARY in this chapter. When Darius admitted he already knew about the opium and Karim just said go get my bull whip I was like 😳😳😳

Also I read your reply to Sister Leanna and WAIT WHAT??? You went BACK and added the part about Karim noticing their bad archery AFTER WE ALREADY READ THE CHAPTER??? Are authors allowed to do that??? 😂 Like can you just change history? What if next week I say Darius needs a pet monkey, do you go back to chapter 2 and suddenly hes had a monkey this whole time??? I need to know the rules Mr Abdelgawad sir. Because I want the pet monkey. Anytime someone wants to know how to make a story better, the answer is unevitably, “A pet monkey!”

I added some language into the story to address this question:

“Have you seen this before?”

I looked down and chewed on my lip.

“Veteran Guard Lee?”

“Yes,” I admitted.

“How many times?”

“Twice.”

Karim’s face showed surprise, then fury. He stared at me for a long moment. “I knew something was wrong when they missed the escaping wagon, but I thought they were tired. We’ve been on the road a long time, sleeping on hard ground, breathing thin air. Many of us are not at our best.” He shook his head slowly. “But you knew better. You knew it was opium, and you said nothing. And now we have lost the Silk Store as well.”

He looked over his shoulder. “Shah. Go get my bullwhip.”

I had the same thought as MS when I read that Raid installation. I thought because they were both such excellent archers that NEVER missed and won contests that Karim would have been very suspicious.

As for this one, so broken hearted for Darius. But at least now he knows that Weili is not for him. And she may love Arslan or is it the opium that he introduced to her. And how is she going to break the habit? How wise is it for Karim to offer her the option to stay? She should have a hard road back to her prior status.

And hopefully Darius will recover from his physical and emotional injuries.