“The Call to Prayer”
Last week I told you of my escape from Revolutionary Iran when it started a Theocratic Regime in 1088 and which we all know now has become a major geo-political issue. Leaving aside the deeper questions here, I do think that respect for Islam and its norms and customs is always appropriate. In that regard, the next story taught us a lesson I won’t forget soon. It’s about our trip to Egypt, and us experiencing firsthand. This is “The Call to Prayer.”
We Westerners may not be used to the sound, but there is something very nice “small village community” about the call to prayer [azan] in the Muslim world, not unlike the church bells and the clock chimes in any village in the Christian world. The prayer is called Salah and takes place every day before dawn, afternoon, late afternoon, after sunset, and at nighttime. As the Sun-Earth position changes so do the prayer times.
The azan is delivered in Arabic by a Muezzin from the ‘local’ mosque, has no fixed melody, and may be sung live or as a recording. Either way, it is amplified very loudly so all can hear, and it lasts from 5 to 10 minutes depending on many factors beyond my admittedly limited understanding.
Azan Ishan happens at dusk after sunset and that gets us to our evening at the Pyramids. Mind you, they are located very close to the city and as such surrounded by numerous mosques.
It was at the end of our Egypt tour that we visited the three Great Pyramids at Giza for a full day. We spent lots of time around them riding a camel of course, and my enterprising wife by going down that narrow corridor to the Khufu burial room inside the largest pyramid. The latter is too claustrophobic a venture for a tall man like me. Seeing these giants from so close by and even climbing the stones alone is a life-altering experience in itself.
After dinner, we bussed back to the site for the lightshow. It was precisely planned for 8 PM to accommodate the western tourist industry and consisted of a very creative laser show illuminating the Pyramids while listening to the voices of Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure and of course the great Ramses II. A terrific and sophisticated lightshow narrated in English and with background music – putting your mind back to the days of the pharaohs. The show started punctually at 8 PM. And as it happens that day and month, the Call for the Ishan started about 10 minutes later. Oh God, Oh Allah!
We all had become very sensitized to Egyptian and Muslim culture and norms over the previous three weeks, but this was a new test altogether. You’d have to believe that the producers of this very high-tech show must have been of western origin, as this was a very typical intercultural faux pas. The two loud sound sources were by no way reconcilable in any form. Our initial shock went into a collective silly laugh that lasted through the entire Call for Ishan. The rest of the show was another 5 minutes or so; we did catch the end of it that was something like: “they were buried in these pyramids.”
Our Egyptian tour guide on the way back to the hotel told us that “he would pray to Allah five times tomorrow asking him for forgiveness for his group’s very understandable misbehavior.
Our guide was right of course, and we all know that we, Westerners, still have more to learn as it relates to respecting a religious practice that is simply foreign to so many of us. And yes, that counts vice versa as well. I hope you enjoyed that, it's truly an honor to share our stories with you. The story I will cover next week brings the topic home to the American shores, as told by my dear friend and scholar Dr. Akbar Ahmed. See you next week for our story “Peace Be Upon You.”
Ready to share your own cherished memories? Submit your story by using the form below! We can't wait to hear your unique experiences and celebrate the power of memories together.