After a period living with Zainuddin, Aziz runs away to Banyuwangi, leaving Hayati for Zainuddin in a letter, Aziz writes that Zainuddin is more deserving. However, their relationship has soured and Aziz's temper leads to him being fired, leaving the couple homeless. Aziz and Hayati also move to Surabaya, after Aziz is transferred. In despair, Zainuddin and his friend Muluk go to Java, first to Batavia and then to Surabaya, where Zainuddin becomes known as a writer and philanthropist.

Although Zainuddin receives a sizeable inheritance from Mak Base, he is too late to inform Hayati's family, and Aziz marries her. Aziz, who is of purely Minang descent and a noble background, is favoured by her family they look down on Zainuddin, who is poor and of mixed heritage. However, Khadijah's elder brother Aziz falls in love with Hayati, leading to Zainuddin and Aziz to compete for Hayati's affections.

One day, Hayati goes to Padang Panjang to see Zainuddin and stays with her friend Khadijah. He decides to move to Padang Panjang, although he continues to write to Hayati. Although he loves Hayati, the daughter of local nobleman, he is not allowed to be with her. As a person of mixed descent, he faces much discrimination from Minang conservatives. He is now living with his father's friend Mak Base in Batipuh, Sumatra. His Minang father died in exile after killing a relative over inheritance his non-Minang mother has also died. It was while in Medan that he wrote Van der Wijck, which was inspired in part by the sinking of an actual vessel in 1936. In 1935 he left Makassar for Medan, North Sumatra, where he became the editor of an Islamic weekly magazine, Pedoman Masjarakat. During these travels, especially while in the Middle East, he extensively read works by Islamic scholars and authors, such as those by the Egyptian writer Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaluti, as well as Arabic-language translations of European works. After a trip to Java and Mecca beginning when he was sixteen, he became a religious scholar in Deli, East Sumatra, then in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, better known as simply Hamka, was the Sumatran-born son of a devout Muslim who viewed local traditions as hindering the progress of religion – his father's opinions influenced his.

The sinking of van der wijck