We crossed the Sahara on a bouncy bus, gazing for hours at the endless sea of sand in every direction. The Sahara is barren, empty, desolate. We drive for an hour. Flat sand. There is no life here, no mercy. Leave someone in the sands without water, and they’d die quickly. We drive another hour. [...]

It’s my first visit to the Arab Muslim world, and I landed in the middle of the Holy Month of Ramadan, stepping out of the airport just in time to hear the Call to Prayer boom across the city from the mosque speakers. From our hotel in downtown Cairo, we catch a birds-eye view of [...]