After failing to convince the prince to expel the three American engineers who have come to the Wadi al-Uyoun oasis central to the action in this novel, the Bedouin patriarch Mut'ib rides into the desert and perishes.
One character in this novel loses the ability to speak after the drowning of his brother Mizban, with whom that character is working on cutting sea rock for port expansion. The reappearance of the former character, Hajem, results in a work disturbance that shifts the balance of power in this novel from Ibn Rashed to Dabbasi. After failing to convince the prince to expel the three American engineers who have come to the Wadi al-Uyoun oasis central to the action in this novel, the Bedouin patriarch Mut'ib rides into the desert and perishes. This novel ends with Fawaz, Mut'ib's son, leading a workers' strike on the compound of the emir Abu Misfer, which is headquartered in Harran, a fictional city located in a country modeled on Saudi Arabia. The first novel of a trilogy that continued with The Trench and Variations on Night and Day, for 10 points, identify this novel about the discovery of oil in an unnamed Arab nation, the most famous work of Abedlrahman Munif.
One character in this novel loses the ability to speak after the drowning of his brother Mizban, with whom that character is working on cutting sea rock for port expansion.
Cities of Salt or Mudun al-milh