One afternoon, after a dispute with a customer over a pair of mended sandals, Rashid stormed out of his shop. He walked until he found himself at the gates of the Al-Azhar courtyard. There sat an old sheikh, blind in one eye, fingers dancing over a worn-out tasbih (prayer beads) of olive wood.
While it is sunnah (prophetic tradition) to recite it at the end of a formal meeting, its application is much broader:
Allahu Akbar. (Allah is the Greatest.) He thought of his own mother, whom he had not visited in three months. Bead three.