He sent Tariq a message: “You saved my thesis.”

“Still wrestling with Ibn Hisham ?” Tariq asked.

Tariq replied: “No, brother. The scholars who digitized their legacy did.”

It was 11 PM when Yusuf finally decided he’d had enough. His thesis on classical Arabic grammar was due in a week, and his physical copies of Al-Maktaba al-Shamila —all twenty-nine volumes—were scattered across his desk like a collapsed fortress. His roommate, Tariq, walked in to find Yusuf rubbing his temples.