Five times a day the “call to prayer” echoes throughout the city. Mosques are scattered throughout all neighborhoods and the muezzin from each mosque sings/chants the call which is blared from the speakers atop the minaret (tower). 🕌 The call lasts a few minutes and summons people to come to the mosques or prepare to pray wherever they are. It is also broadcast through the radio, through speakers in parks, and over the loudspeaker in stores.
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Mosques also use recordings but the guy nearest us is legit judging from his frequent cough attacks and cell phone dings in the background. We have three mosques within a couple blocks of our apartment, so there is no escaping the call as it goes off around 4:30am, 12:30pm, 3:45pm, 6:45pm, and 8:15pm. The times vary slightly each day.
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Generally the sounds have become a normal part of our life and I’m not even woken by the 4:30am one anymore. However, as you can see from this photo, there’s only one short building between us and the closest mosque and the speakers on the minaret (green part) are angled directly at our apartment. Thus, Ezra’s thin bedroom window absorbs the brunt of the sound, which then reverberates throughout his room. He’s already a light sleeper so the poor guy didn’t stand a chance. I try to plan his nap around prayer times but most days it’s just not possible. He’ll hit either the 12:30 or 3:45 and every time he’s jolted awake. Usually he’ll cry himself back to sleep when it stops about 3 mins later.
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Despite our frustrations with the intensity of sound coming from the minarets and businesses temporarily closing during prayer times, there’s something beautiful about being reminded to pray throughout the day, dropping everything to do so, and knowing that your whole community is joining you. Christians are exhorted to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but how often do we put that into practice? Do we cultivate a community habit of prayer? Do we let our children witness us submit to God in prayer? Do we believe prayer is powerful enough that we’re willing to drop everything for it? 🙏
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