Mansur is Sultan's seventeen year old son. He dreams of studying and going to college, but he is trapped in Kabul and forced to work in his father's shop. He struggles with lust and wishes to go to the grave of Ali, cousin and son-in-law to Muhammad, to purge himself of his sin. His father selfishly refuses and Mansur begins to hate his restrictive power and is cold towards Sultan. Surprisingly Sultan consents and Mansur leaves for Mazar-i-Sharif, the tomb, with some acquaintances. While he is at the great Mosque built by the tomb of Ali, Mansur is moved by the atmosphere and vows to become a new person and piously follow all the facets of Islam. He feels free and purified. The reader is initially happy for Mansur because he is committed to bettering himself according to Islam and has broken out of Sultan's grip if only for a short while. But in the following chapters his treatment of his aunt, Leila is horrible. He insults her and tells her she is worthless, but she's the one who cooks and cleans for him. Perhaps he is a new person on the outside, but is becoming a tyrant on the inside, just like Sultan; the person he least wishes to be.
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