The Call Part II

The imams who set about putting the Prophet's five-times-a-day prayer rule didn't know about speakers, amplifiers, sound systems or recordings.

The Ottomans did not anticipate digital clocks or computers that could calculate prayer times years in advance.

Modern times and technologies have complicated things, and many Islamic cities are coping with those complications. In Algiers, people are complaining about the volume of the pre-dawn Call to Prayer. Imams believe they are charged with urging people to wake up and remember God, people with children, with jobs, with illnesses say, come on.

In some places speakers set up to amplify prayer calls have blasted into residential areas bringing in pleas for relief -- or at least realignment of equipment.

And in sprawling cities like Algiers coordinating the calls of dozens of muezzins is complicated. The rules set by religious authorities require that all calls begin within at least five minutes of the official time. But any insomniac can tell you that the spead for the pre-dawn call at least can be twice that.

Why? Muezzins who oversleep or are tardy are not punished, but it is a matter of honor not to. Still, they are human. And Islam is a practical religion. Some imams try to accommodate workers coming into their mosques by fitting prayer time into lunch breaks and work schedule. This may mean shaving off or adding a few minutes to the official time.

The result of uncoordinated calls -- and some voices beyond their prime -- is cacophony -- compared to smaller cities including Sarajevo where the calls are beautiful and mystical.

It's not just aesthetics at stake. During Ramadan, the month that Muslims fast from food and liquids from sun-up to sun-down the EXACT and PRECISE time of sunset call is a matter of urgency to hungry, thirsty people. A co-worker here talks about how the sunset call during Ramadan is broadcast on TV (radio and TV are other technologies with impact on the old tradition) but the TV Call always comes a few minutes before the Call issuing from his mosque. He breaks fast to televised timing; his wife always waits a little longer and waits for the muezzin.

Does this make her more devout? we joked him.

Anyway, there you go. Julie may be sorry she asked.