As promised, in the middle of the night, Iqbal arrived at Syed’s doorstep on a bullock cart. With great haste, the two men shifted Bibi into the cart and carefully positioned her on the right side of the vehicle. They covered the left portion with a haystack and closed the canvas hood. The two men mounted the cart from the front and pushed the bulls forward. Dawn was still a few hours away, but men with fire torches were keeping a vigil, ready to hack any Hindu family attempting to flee. Iqbal skilfully manoeuvred the cart through the narrow lanes and kept it away from the prying eyes till they reached the highway. It became clear to Syed that Iqbal had done his homework well before undertaking the risk. Once out of danger, Iqbal stepped down from the cart and bid Syed goodbye with a bear hug.

When Iqbal reached home, he saw over a dozen hooligans assembled outside Syed’s home. The mullah of the village mosque, Maulana Javed Hussein, was leading them. Each one of them was holding a fire torch. They saw Iqbal approaching but didn’t seem to care. On a cue from the mullah, they screamed ‘Allahu Akbar!’ a few times and broke open the front door. Finding no one inside, they threw their torches at the walls, setting the house on fire, and came out dancing, filling the air with their rants. The mullah looked at Iqbal, raised his right hand, smiled and said, ‘Your neighbour was a Kafir, Iqbal Bhai. And there’s no room for such people in Allah’s land.’ His face was lit with self-glorification.

Iqbal took a few steps towards the mullah. He was seething with rage. ‘Did Allah come to your home, Maulana, to give this advice? If even a single blade of grass on my premises catches fire, I will ensure you burn along with it!’ he screamed. A flabbergasted Maulana saw the anger-filled expression on Iqbal’s face and the naked steel blade tied to his waist and took a step back.

He then turned to his followers and shouted loudly, ‘Douse the fire, you idiots, douse the fire! Iqbal Bhai’s house is in danger!’

The stunned followers looked first at Maulana and then at Iqbal. Given his standing in the community, it didn’t take them much time to understand the consequences of his threat. They scampered about and began throwing bucketfuls of water at Syed’s home. A sheepish Maulana hurriedly slipped away, leaving behind his followers to face Iqbal’s wrath.