As has become a Ramadan pattern, Cairo’s energy ebbs as the afternoon wears on, its fasting inhabitants retreating to their homes in the hottest parts of the day. The typically choked streets become reasonably congested. The waiters and traffic guards get irritable. Shuttered shops give the streets with a strange, hollow echo. It is with this in mind that I was standing in the remarkable Al-Azhar Gardens, Cairo largely quiet at my feet. Then the city murmured to life, one wailing call of the muzzein at a time. Shortly thereafter, the Cairenes and I tucked into what is for them a fast-breaking meal, or iftar. Then the party began.

A short cab ride from the garden took me to the famed Al-Azhar and the nearby Hussein Mosque, where the head of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet, is said to be at rest. It's here in the famous Khan Al-Khalili shopping district that I watched the parade of color, sound and energy of a typical Cairene afternoon explode after a long day of quiet.

It is moments like this when I can’t help but realize how similar West and East can be at a most essential level. Smoking slowly on a sheesha I watch groups of women in garb ranging from tight Western blouses to full coat-and-face veil rubbing shoulders with men hawking T-shirts, incense and motorized bunny rabbits, while children skitter in and out of their parents legs, eyes wide in wonder. It looks a lot like a Western mall scene but with a heavy layer of grime and in-your-face sales pitches that would shame the best Western boardwalk vendor.

It’s a type of worship known to all of the world’s faiths: pleasing God by being with one another.