ABSTRACT
The sun sinks into the desert like an eclipse, with the diamond ringglowing on the top like stone melted by fire. Light sits on the flat horizon, seeping like a long tide on either side of the sparkling jewel, reluctant to leave. To the left, a thin moon begins to glow in the twilight. There are no stars yet. Below me, as we begin to descend over Medina, the six minarets of the Prophet’s mosque glitter like sentinels of a world within this world. There is only one other mosque with six minarets, built in 1609 by Sultan Ahmed in Constantinople.
