His children benefited from his success.
His eldest son, Hamza, received money to start a construction company. His second son, Youssef, was helped to purchase a house. His daughters received generous wedding gifts, and their husbands were welcomed into the family business.
Malik, the youngest, was different.
He never asked his father for expensive gifts. He worked in the transport business and tried to earn his position rather than inherit it.
“You are too soft, my youngest son,” Suleiman often told him.
Malik would smile.
“Perhaps, Father. But you always told us that money should never make us forget that we are human beings.”
Suleiman would laugh and place a hand on his son’s shoulder.
“That is the lesson I hope you remember when I am gone.”
He had no idea how soon that lesson would be tested.
One stormy evening, a truck carrying construction materials overturned on a mountain road. The driver survived, but the vehicle was destroyed, and the resulting legal claims and insurance dispute began a chain of financial disasters.
