It was just past dawn in the city of Istanbul. The soft blue light of early morning slipped through the lace curtains, and the only sound was the distant cry of a single seagull over the Golden Horn.
He turned his face toward the balcony, toward Mecca, and began.
When Yusuf reached the final Allahu Akbar , and then whispered the declaration of faith directly into the baby’s left ear ( La ilaha illa Allah ), the room was so still you could hear the soft thump-thump of the baby’s heart.