Benyamin climbed out of the car. He didn’t care what Khalid thought if he saw Sakina in the car, but he didn’t want him talking over her. Khalid looked distressed, like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. ‘Bro, it’s your sister,’ he said. ‘She’s in trouble. Down Morley Street.’ Benyamin went to get back in his car but Khalid stopped him. ‘You can’t take your wheels there, man, it’s chocca. You won’t make it.’

Benyamin turned and ran. He ran like he’d never run before, his mind emptied of everything except getting to Jia. If she died, his family would not survive the loss. She was their Khan; he knew that now. He smelt the fire before he spotted the smoke, plumes of it rising and spreading across the city, thanks to the strong north wind. The pungent smell of burning plastic, wood and petrol was almost intolerable as he approached Morley Street, but he pushed his way through the crowds.

He spotted Elyas, saw him sink to the ground in front of the blazing buildings, unable to get up, and he knew that Jia must be in there. As he approached, their eyes met, their faces speaking a thousand words, their mouths empty. There was a stillness in that moment, a sickness in the pit of their stomachs. They had lost so much already – how would they survive this? Benyamin reached down and helped Elyas stand, their heads made of stone, their legs of jelly. Elyas tried to speak, but what was there to say?

Around them the men raged. ‘Pray,’ shouted a voice from the crowd. It cut through the testosterone like a hot knife, and a hush fell across the street. It was instantaneous. The men raised their hands to their faces. Then someone shouted ‘Takbir!’ and Elyas turned to see the sea of men ebb like the tide before rising on the crest of ‘Allahu Akbar!’

The call for the Omnipotent rang out again and again, getting louder each time as the crowd’s response became ever more fervent.

‘God is the greatest!’ they shouted, each man putting aside his ego and professing his smallness in the universe of God and all His prophets. There were men who swore blind that in that moment they witnessed armies of angels descending from heaven. Some put it down to the euphoria, others the weed, but when Elyas and Benyamin looked around, there was no denying the power that was reverberating around them. It was huge, like the pull of a giant magnet. Then, something happened. The crowd that had gone from rampage to religious experience began to part in the middle, chanting all the while.

‘We’ve done what we can. It’s time to go,’ Jia said, pulling the damp material away from her mouth to speak.