The Call to Prayer: ‘An Audible Pinprick to Your Conscience’

I know it’s a cliché for visitors to the Middle East, but the call to prayer has totally seduced me during my two weeks in Jerusalem. At different spots across the city, I’ve been amazed at how the wailing notes can vary depending on the muezzin. At the mosque near my hotel, the muezzin strikes a somber tone, voice cracking on the high notes, while others I’ve heard in the West Bank sound more like trilling songbirds, drawing out “Allahhhh” for all it’s worth.

Regardless of style, I find it instantly calming. I’ve been stuck in my hotel room working long hours for much of my time here, so when the call comes, five times a day, I throw open my balcony door and remember for a few moments where I am. 

And I love the fact that the call at dawn beckons, “Prayer is better than sleep.”  You wake up and you’re not sure if you dreamed it.

This recent essay in the Turkish Daily describes the call as “an audible pinprick to your conscience, a reminder that there is something larger than all of us; that we need to be present in the moment.”

After two weeks of pinpricks, I’d agree.

YouTube has loads of videos with calls to prayer. Here’s one taken in near-darkness in a hotel room in Amman, Jordan:

Photo by anaulin via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

 

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