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The Muezzin

Saturday, November 20, 2010
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Islam, salah or daily prayer is part of practicing the faith.  Sunni Muslims, who are the predominant sect in the Emirates, participate in prayer five times each day.  The first prayer is Fajr, which starts at ten to fifteen minutes before sunrise.  Dhuhr is recited at celestial noon.  Asr is remembered in mid-afternoon.  Maghrib is prayed just after sunset.  Isha'a is the last prayer and takes place during the early evening.

The faithful are called to prayer at the appointed times by the muezzin.  This gentleman sings the salahs.  His chants are broadcast from the minarets of the mosques.

 

This is the mosque that is across the street from my flat.  The minarets are the two towers to the left of the dome.  For a long time, the muezzin had to be a hearty soul who climbed to the top of the towers and called the believers to prayer with his own powerful voice.

 


As you can see, the minarets are quite tall and offer a good platform for projecting the voice.  I indicated that this practice had gone on for a long time.  Specifically, it occurred from the time of the Prophet until the end of World War II.  After the end of hostilities, there were surplus public-address speakers available.  Many found their way into the tops of the minarets.  Now the muezzin was spared from his climbs five times each day. Furthermore, he acquired this great and powerful electronic voice to summon the faithful.  This was a good acquisition from the modern world for ancient Islam.

Ex-patriots living in the Emirates are swept along by the Islamic culture.  If you live in a proximity to a mosque, prayer becomes a part of your life.  The photos were taken from the balcony of my first floor flat.  (If you are an American, that means a second floor apartment.)  I am separated from the church by 200 meters of desert air.  Needless to say, Islamic prayer is an intimate part of my life.

I have no issue with any salah, except Fajr.  Fajr occurs just before sunrise.  Since it follows the sun, this means that the faithful are called to prayer at around 4:00 AM on mid-summer's day.  By the time of the winter solstice, the prayer begins at around 5:45 AM.  Even for me that is very early to be roused from sleep.  Sometimes I am able to fall back to sleep, but that is not a given.

The only other prayer that is quite invasive is Dhuhr on Friday.  Friday is the Islamic sabbath.  Life for the faithful does not really start until after Dhuhr on Friday.  Following prayer, the microphone is handed over to the Imam, who is the worship leader of the mosque.  The volume is cranked up and a fire-and-brimstone sermon is then delivered in Arabic.  It can be rather unsettling.

My wife has always told me that I could use a little "churching up", but I never envisioned that it would take place in this way.  Life can be a little crazy.

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