One Small Step for Womankind

See that minaret?

I climbed it.  There can't be too many Caucasian agnostic women who can say that.  Except for the other two female students who climbed the narrow circular staircase full of pigeon droppings with me.  It was a womderful view at the top, and it made me think of the centuries of imams who had climbed up to sing out the call to prayer (ezan) several times a day.  Now they sit in a small office next to a microphone, and their voice carries further thanks to technology.

At that thought I checked my watch.  At the top, we were standing right next to the microphones and any call to prayer might be the last thing my exploding eardrums would hear at all.  All was well, we were hours from the next call.

There are 6 calls each day, and the exact time of each changes from day to day and from place to place, according to longitude and latitude, surnise and sunset, and geographical relationship to Mecca.

now they post each day's call to prayer times inside the mosque

The text is the same, but each one sounds completely different depending on the callers' vocal attributes.  Some are quite talented, and there almost seems to be a contest as to who can hold the longest note, especially in places large enough to have two mosques, which is pretty well everywhere it seems. 

Call to Prayer:

Allahu Ekber Eşhedû en lâ ilâhe illallah Eşhedû enne Muhammeden resulullah Hayya ale-salah Hayya alel-felah Allahu Ekber Lâ ilahe illallah

God is Great There is no god but God Muhammed is the Prophet of God Come to prayer Come to salvation God is Great There is no god but God