TV watching is big during the evenings in Ramadan when families are assembled for big dinners to break the fast. We watched them while we visited our friends for dinner and while we couldn't understand the language, the music and the dramatic settings seemed very familiar. I've found some plot outlines to these shows in the Kuwait Times online -- and find them amusing Muslim takes on traditional soap opera themes.
In Al-Malek Farouk (King Farouk) The king eventually springs back to health where he establishes a close rapport with his Egyptian doctor. His wife meanwhile gives birth to another baby girl but this time he keeps his word and does not hassle her. Instead he goes to his wife and tells her that he is happy and that he will call her Fadya. The mother is stupefied and wonders why her husband is happy this time. The king however confides in Hasaneen that this time he is happy because he believes that it's not his wife who is responsible for thebaby's gender, but it's Allah's will.
In Al-Wazeera (The Woman Minister), Amal asks Ghalib to approach her mother with a proposal as soon as possible, but he in turn tells her that he doesn't even have a roof over his head to stay after their marriage. She tells him that they can live at her home with her parents and he agrees. She also badly wants to tell her mother about Ghalib but she doesn't know how and where to start. She then plucks up courage, approaches her mother and tells that she had had sexual relations with Ghalib whom she lovesvery much and who wants to marry her. At first her mother shouts, flies into a rage and even beats her, as she never ever expected her daughter to go that extent. But now she is left with no other choice than to agree on the marriage. was one of the wooers cavorting with his mother when she was in Palestine.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Monday, October 08, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Ramadan ramblings
* Authorities in Khenchla, a province (east of Algiers) are looking into reports that donkey and dog meat are being sold to Ramadan shoppers. At a time of year when people are making nightly feasts, a lot of food is being sold and so it's easy to chop up inferior goods into minced meat. This would not be the first time it has happened, either, according to Nadir. A similar case occured two years ago. Nadir remembers that people would bray at residents of the district where the donkey meat had been sold. Hee Haw. It makes me kind of worried, but Del's view is that so long as it tastes good, who care what kind of meat it is. Carrots and melons are looking good to me.
*Our driver Shar invited us last night to his house for Iftar, the evening dinner at which you break fast. This was a big honor and we were excited, not least, because his wife is a great cook and there's nothing like 12 hours of fasting to build an appetite.
Shar picked us up and their little house was shining and spotless in that way you know people have gone out of their way for guests. They also had invited their nephew to eat because he is the best student in his English class and he could translate. They had the TV on to catch the first notes of the maghrib, the signal that fasting for the day is over. We started with traditional dates and milk, the meal the prophet Muhammed broke his fast with, spead on a platter on the coffee table in the sitting room and then we moved into their tiny kitchen. It was a little like playing house. The kitchen table was set with an array of platters and there were dishes on the counters and pots on all the burners. The house was filled with a rich, thick smell of day-long cooking. And we dug into a kind of chorba with chicken, brik, burek, pita, salad, Thoum -- which are garlic and meat balls, a stew of lamb and chickpeas, another stew of beef, apricots and prunes in a sweet sauce, lemonade and Coke. They had been cooking for more than five hours.
Well, just as I was thinking, I'm getting full, a wave of weakness overcame me. I thought I was going to faint and so excused myself to the bathroom where I sat with my head between my knees for a while. I was completely white, my lips blue and I was sweating out of control. Even when I went back in, people could tell there was something wrong. It was embarassing. I basically was intoxicated with food after eating all that rich stuff on an empty stomach! The sensation happily didn't last too long, a little sweetened tea and I was flesh-colored again but I did not eat any of the fruit or cakes that came out next.
Because I have always eaten and eaten lots, this reaction to food after fasting, the heat, the speed of metabolism kicking in, is fascinating. We also are realizing that we can't eat as much. We made soup and meat the other night and decided after the soup that was enough, for example.
We are going to buy flowers and get Nadir to help us with a thank you note in Arabic for the great evening.
*Our driver Shar invited us last night to his house for Iftar, the evening dinner at which you break fast. This was a big honor and we were excited, not least, because his wife is a great cook and there's nothing like 12 hours of fasting to build an appetite.
Shar picked us up and their little house was shining and spotless in that way you know people have gone out of their way for guests. They also had invited their nephew to eat because he is the best student in his English class and he could translate. They had the TV on to catch the first notes of the maghrib, the signal that fasting for the day is over. We started with traditional dates and milk, the meal the prophet Muhammed broke his fast with, spead on a platter on the coffee table in the sitting room and then we moved into their tiny kitchen. It was a little like playing house. The kitchen table was set with an array of platters and there were dishes on the counters and pots on all the burners. The house was filled with a rich, thick smell of day-long cooking. And we dug into a kind of chorba with chicken, brik, burek, pita, salad, Thoum -- which are garlic and meat balls, a stew of lamb and chickpeas, another stew of beef, apricots and prunes in a sweet sauce, lemonade and Coke. They had been cooking for more than five hours.
Well, just as I was thinking, I'm getting full, a wave of weakness overcame me. I thought I was going to faint and so excused myself to the bathroom where I sat with my head between my knees for a while. I was completely white, my lips blue and I was sweating out of control. Even when I went back in, people could tell there was something wrong. It was embarassing. I basically was intoxicated with food after eating all that rich stuff on an empty stomach! The sensation happily didn't last too long, a little sweetened tea and I was flesh-colored again but I did not eat any of the fruit or cakes that came out next.
Because I have always eaten and eaten lots, this reaction to food after fasting, the heat, the speed of metabolism kicking in, is fascinating. We also are realizing that we can't eat as much. We made soup and meat the other night and decided after the soup that was enough, for example.
We are going to buy flowers and get Nadir to help us with a thank you note in Arabic for the great evening.
*Our colleague Salleh Eddine was telling us how his 4-year-old daughter is insisting on fasting. That raised the question of how you get children started in this religious rule. There is no age at which children must start, but the usual time seems to be aroud 8 or 9 when children want to be like their grown-ups around them. Parents encourage their children to observe the fast -- but only so long as they can. If they go four hours than eat, good that's a start. As they get closer to the full amount of time -- say 9 hours, parents will urge them to try to hold out a little longer before eating. And for children who observe fasting for the first time there is praise,celebration and small rewards -- a little silver ring in some places, special juice in others, a change to eat dinner with the grown ups sometimes. It's kind of like potty-training at home. You make a fuss over the child who gets it right.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Ramadan Report
*In addition to the usual five times of prayer a day Muslims add another 90 minutes of Tarawih prayers in the evening during Ramadan. A translator applicant we met recently described the nice feeling of a family dinner and then going in a group to pray at the mosque. You get special breaks for prayers during Ramadan too -- like our Catholic special indulgences --but you have a work a little harder than usual. There are four "bends" in regular prayer session, Nadir explained to us, deep bowing in reverence toward Mecca. Tarawih requires 12 bends.
*Children, pregnant women, people who are sick and travelers are not required to fast. One of those exempted in the traveler category this year will be Malaysia's first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor who is lifting off in a Russian space craft Oct. 10. en route to the space station. Malaysia's Science Minister says the Muslim astronaut will not be compelled to fast, though he has been during his training for the flight.
He also will also only have to pray three times a day instead of five. Kneeling and bowing in a gravity-free atmosphere is a chore -- and so is figuring out what direction Mecca is at when you are orbiting the globe.
*Next to the concept of mass fasting, I like the idea of zakat, a required act of charity, mathmatically derived, during Ramadan. The head of every household is required to give enough to pay for two kilograms of semolina wheat for every person in the family. Algerians use semolina because that is a staple food here, but other Muslim countries use whatever is their staple. The government posts an official price per kilo because, of course, the market price varies daily so that zakat calculations would be complicated. This year it is 50 dinars -- a little less than a dollar -- a kilo, meaning that a typical family of five must pay 500 dinars -- under $10.
*After you go all day without eating, when you finally do sit down and ravenously eat dinner, food tastes sooo good. And then you get hot. Really, we throw open the balcony windows after sitting down originally with long sleeves and socks on. Food seems to turn instantly to fuel that heats you up.
* Just as newspapers in Christian countries get fat in November with ads and extra pages, Ramadan is a good season for journalism here too. Our newspaper boosted the number of papers it prints for the season for example. In Morocco book sales go up. Reading is a way to pass time during fasting hours.
*Children, pregnant women, people who are sick and travelers are not required to fast. One of those exempted in the traveler category this year will be Malaysia's first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor who is lifting off in a Russian space craft Oct. 10. en route to the space station. Malaysia's Science Minister says the Muslim astronaut will not be compelled to fast, though he has been during his training for the flight.
He also will also only have to pray three times a day instead of five. Kneeling and bowing in a gravity-free atmosphere is a chore -- and so is figuring out what direction Mecca is at when you are orbiting the globe.
*Next to the concept of mass fasting, I like the idea of zakat, a required act of charity, mathmatically derived, during Ramadan. The head of every household is required to give enough to pay for two kilograms of semolina wheat for every person in the family. Algerians use semolina because that is a staple food here, but other Muslim countries use whatever is their staple. The government posts an official price per kilo because, of course, the market price varies daily so that zakat calculations would be complicated. This year it is 50 dinars -- a little less than a dollar -- a kilo, meaning that a typical family of five must pay 500 dinars -- under $10.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
More Ramadan tidbits
*There are some reported health and scientific benefits to Ramadan.
Scientists, according to a report in the Boston Globe, have come to see the huge benefit to them of Arab cultures that completely switch their lifestyles for a month every year. They are vast laboratories for studying circadian rhythms and how they affect humans. People are eating at about 5 a.m. and at about 7 p.m. with nothing in between, staying up late and slowing down during the day.
People here say that fasting is good for the body, allowing 12 to 14 hour periods in which the digestive system goes unused. "It gives our tummy a rest," as one co-worker told us. At the very least, Ramadan forces smokers and over-eaters to cut down.
*Our newsroom is shut down by about 4 every day, although some people are surprised at how much activity going on before then lively meetings, people hurrying to get photos and stories. In many offices, you'll find people lazing at their desks, yawning and tired. We've found that the time between 4 and about 7 when you can break fast is VERY LONG. Naps help, but not TV where people are liable to be eating. The worst thing is driving on the way home past bakeries. I wanted to eat my arm yesterday.
*One of the ideas of Ramadan is to make the fortunate think of the poor for whom fasting is not a seasonal event. So this month is for beggars like summer for beach hotel owners. They are pretty evident along the sidewalk near our place, sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk collecting coins.
*One of our reporters did an article on Ramadan for non-Muslims for an online Arabic news service. He mentioned that we were observing the fast out of respect for the religion and our co-workers as part of an interesting article about the season. Well, some 178 people responded to the article with comments. We haven't had them all translated, but we are told that most of them about us fall into two categories... readers who think it is a nice gesture and more skeptical readers who say no way we are fasting. It's too hard. The effect of this, of course, is to INSURE that we stick to the rules. How embarrassing would it be to see a photo taken with telephoto lens through the kitchen window of one of us stuffing down a buttered baguette during daylight hours?
*I've compared Ramadan to the Christmas season already. Just as there are special greetings for Christmas time, they have them for Ramadan. Instead of Goodbye during this month you say Saha Ftourek -- like have a good meal to break the fast. Happy Ramadan is common and that one slays me since superficially it's like saying Have fun not eating, not smoking and being celibate! The saying, however, most gets at the spirit of Ramadan which is all about taking stock, getting closer to spirituality, being nicer to fellow man. All of which, again, is very Decemberish. And Muslims, like Catholics, wonder why the whole year can't be more like this special season.
Scientists, according to a report in the Boston Globe, have come to see the huge benefit to them of Arab cultures that completely switch their lifestyles for a month every year. They are vast laboratories for studying circadian rhythms and how they affect humans. People are eating at about 5 a.m. and at about 7 p.m. with nothing in between, staying up late and slowing down during the day.
People here say that fasting is good for the body, allowing 12 to 14 hour periods in which the digestive system goes unused. "It gives our tummy a rest," as one co-worker told us. At the very least, Ramadan forces smokers and over-eaters to cut down.
*Our newsroom is shut down by about 4 every day, although some people are surprised at how much activity going on before then lively meetings, people hurrying to get photos and stories. In many offices, you'll find people lazing at their desks, yawning and tired. We've found that the time between 4 and about 7 when you can break fast is VERY LONG. Naps help, but not TV where people are liable to be eating. The worst thing is driving on the way home past bakeries. I wanted to eat my arm yesterday.
*One of the ideas of Ramadan is to make the fortunate think of the poor for whom fasting is not a seasonal event. So this month is for beggars like summer for beach hotel owners. They are pretty evident along the sidewalk near our place, sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk collecting coins.
*One of our reporters did an article on Ramadan for non-Muslims for an online Arabic news service. He mentioned that we were observing the fast out of respect for the religion and our co-workers as part of an interesting article about the season. Well, some 178 people responded to the article with comments. We haven't had them all translated, but we are told that most of them about us fall into two categories... readers who think it is a nice gesture and more skeptical readers who say no way we are fasting. It's too hard. The effect of this, of course, is to INSURE that we stick to the rules. How embarrassing would it be to see a photo taken with telephoto lens through the kitchen window of one of us stuffing down a buttered baguette during daylight hours?
*I've compared Ramadan to the Christmas season already. Just as there are special greetings for Christmas time, they have them for Ramadan. Instead of Goodbye during this month you say Saha Ftourek -- like have a good meal to break the fast. Happy Ramadan is common and that one slays me since superficially it's like saying Have fun not eating, not smoking and being celibate! The saying, however, most gets at the spirit of Ramadan which is all about taking stock, getting closer to spirituality, being nicer to fellow man. All of which, again, is very Decemberish. And Muslims, like Catholics, wonder why the whole year can't be more like this special season.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
More Ramadan tidbits
*Starbucks has come out with a Date Frappuchino for the month of Ramadan in its Mideast outlets. Moslims typically eat dates and milk to break their daytime fast. It brings up blood sugar fast, although I've discovered that Mark and Spencer Extremely Chocolaty Orange Biscuits also do that job very well.
*Our driver Tofik took us home from work by an alternative route through the city that other night so we could see Algiers during Ramadan. It's quite spectacular. The city is as active and busy as noon. Young people and families are out strolling and laughing. You go by apartment complexes and the smell of chorba -- spicy meat soup -- spills over you and large crowds gather around the mosque where the soothing, haunting chant of the Koran being read fills up the night.
* During Ramadan Moslims make an effort to read the entire Koran, so people walking around with MP3 players and our drivers having it on their car speakers is understandable. The newspaper runs daily features about Koran-reading -- a blind man reciting it in its entirety by heart, a young child, etc etc.
*Our driver Tofik took us home from work by an alternative route through the city that other night so we could see Algiers during Ramadan. It's quite spectacular. The city is as active and busy as noon. Young people and families are out strolling and laughing. You go by apartment complexes and the smell of chorba -- spicy meat soup -- spills over you and large crowds gather around the mosque where the soothing, haunting chant of the Koran being read fills up the night.
* During Ramadan Moslims make an effort to read the entire Koran, so people walking around with MP3 players and our drivers having it on their car speakers is understandable. The newspaper runs daily features about Koran-reading -- a blind man reciting it in its entirety by heart, a young child, etc etc.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Ramadan Observations
One of our translators asked a reporter if she could repeat something he'd missed at a meeting this morning. "No, I can't," she snapped. "I'm fasting." Like she just can't do more than she already was.
As one of the young culture reporters looked different. "I think she looks sick," one of her colleagues pointed out. She wasn't wearing any makeup. "You've never seen her this way, have you," the colleague said laughing. Both these women are in hijab, but the young woman who is also an actress is always carefully done up. "So what does Ramadan and fasting have to do with make-up?" I wanted her to know.
She had two reasons for abstaining from make-up. First, creams are a form of nourishment for your skin and even contain vitamins and so some imams believe they must be avoided. Second, she said, she doesn't want men cruising her. Attracting a man by wearing make-up is a form of sin and that is to be avoided during the holy month.
Our newspaper colleagues are tremendously impressed that Del and I are fasting. We could go in the conference room and shut the door and eat, they assured us. No, if you can do it, we can too, we tell them, but we hate it. And they laugh.
We also are bombarding them with questions. For example, why are they all rushing to go home by 2:30 during Ramadan when they still can't eat until about 7 when the sun sets? They have to shop. Four and a half hours of shopping every day? Come on. Well, the women have to cook? OK, but the men are rushing to get out too.
Come on, you can tell them, Nadir urged. "I go home and sleep."
Ramadan is kind of like the Christmas shopping season. There're all kinds of Ramadan sales and the newspapers are full of ads. People wish each other Happy Ramadan.
And basically everything is put off for a month. I want to go meet an editor our company used to work with.
"During Ramadan?" our local consultant asked.
"Well, yeah," I said. "It is only like a hour we'll take -- I don't want to wait a month."
He just nodded in that way he has when I've proposed something nutty and he doesn't want to say that specifically.
You can't have sex either during daylight hours. Or as the Koran puts it:
"It is lawful for you to have intercourse with your wives on the night of the Fast: they are garments for you while you are garments for them. Allah knows how you have been deceiving yourselves, so He has relented towards you and pardoned you. Now [feel free to ] frequent them and seek what Allah has prescribed for you. Eat and drink until the white streak [of dawn] can be distinguished by you from the black thread [of night] at daybreak. Then complete the Fast until nightfall and have no dealings with women while you are secluded at your devotions in the masaajid (mosques). Such are the limits set by Allah, so do not attempt to cross them! Allah explains His signs to mankind so they may do their duty. "
As one of the young culture reporters looked different. "I think she looks sick," one of her colleagues pointed out. She wasn't wearing any makeup. "You've never seen her this way, have you," the colleague said laughing. Both these women are in hijab, but the young woman who is also an actress is always carefully done up. "So what does Ramadan and fasting have to do with make-up?" I wanted her to know.
She had two reasons for abstaining from make-up. First, creams are a form of nourishment for your skin and even contain vitamins and so some imams believe they must be avoided. Second, she said, she doesn't want men cruising her. Attracting a man by wearing make-up is a form of sin and that is to be avoided during the holy month.
Our newspaper colleagues are tremendously impressed that Del and I are fasting. We could go in the conference room and shut the door and eat, they assured us. No, if you can do it, we can too, we tell them, but we hate it. And they laugh.
We also are bombarding them with questions. For example, why are they all rushing to go home by 2:30 during Ramadan when they still can't eat until about 7 when the sun sets? They have to shop. Four and a half hours of shopping every day? Come on. Well, the women have to cook? OK, but the men are rushing to get out too.
Come on, you can tell them, Nadir urged. "I go home and sleep."
Ramadan is kind of like the Christmas shopping season. There're all kinds of Ramadan sales and the newspapers are full of ads. People wish each other Happy Ramadan.
And basically everything is put off for a month. I want to go meet an editor our company used to work with.
"During Ramadan?" our local consultant asked.
"Well, yeah," I said. "It is only like a hour we'll take -- I don't want to wait a month."
He just nodded in that way he has when I've proposed something nutty and he doesn't want to say that specifically.
You can't have sex either during daylight hours. Or as the Koran puts it:
"It is lawful for you to have intercourse with your wives on the night of the Fast: they are garments for you while you are garments for them. Allah knows how you have been deceiving yourselves, so He has relented towards you and pardoned you. Now [feel free to ] frequent them and seek what Allah has prescribed for you. Eat and drink until the white streak [of dawn] can be distinguished by you from the black thread [of night] at daybreak. Then complete the Fast until nightfall and have no dealings with women while you are secluded at your devotions in the masaajid (mosques). Such are the limits set by Allah, so do not attempt to cross them! Allah explains His signs to mankind so they may do their duty. "
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Kairouan -- Holier than thou?
Zied, the student who seems to have become my personal tour guide to Tunisia, told me I should see Kairouan, a beautiful place near the coast that, like Dougga, is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. It is, he told me, the third holiest city in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
Now, who decides these things?
I ask because the same day (8/25/07) I took off for Kairouan a friend working for the BBC in Ethiopia told me she was traveling to Harrar, which she had been told was the fourth holiest city in Islam.
Wierd, eh? Like there's a panel someplace ranking cities after, I guess, Mecca and Medina. Where does Jerusalem fit in? Can you lose your ranking if Christians move in?
It is a mystery to me in case anyone wants to enlighten me. But at any rate we drove about two hours from Tunis to Kairouan which has some 50 mosques, including The Great Mosque or Okba Mosque -- shown above. According to Zied's French guide books, the magical light of this city and the grandeur of the architecture inspired painter Paul Klee and writer Guy DeMauppasant. All the guidebooks gush over this building and its austere, stark beauty. It is probably something poetical or imaginative lacking in me, but I didn't get it. It looked much like other mosques including the Zitouna or Olive Tree Mosque in Tunis. The same mystery panel of clerics and travel agents that rates the cities apparently also ranks mosques and these are the two most important in the country. The searingly brilliant tropical desert sun that has been turning me brown through 50-plus sunscreen for a week may also have been helped blind me to the wonder of this artifice. They were not welcoming visitors even in the courtyard and no non-Muslims are allowed inside.
I tried unsuccessfully to discern what was different about this "Arab Andalusian" architecture or to be wowed by the grace of the 414 columns in the courtyard -- taken from Roman ruins around the country or by the structure of the minaret -- shown here -- reputed to be the oldest in North Africa. But I failed. Really, I was longing for time at the beach.
It is possible I have tourist-fatigue. The lovely clerk in my hotel told me this morning that she be lives I have now seen more of her country than she has.
Hah.
I read on the Internet that there are 55 million olive trees in Tunisia, the third-largest producer of olive oil in the world after Spain and Italy.
I have two thoughts about this. First, I may possibly have seen each of those trees in recent driving tours and second: Who decides this things?
Who was the person who counted those trees and how did he/she do it, driving around the country or looking at aerial photos? How often is the olive tree census updated to account for new plantings and lightening strikes? It seems this could be one of those numbers that my father was forever pulling out of the air to buttress some point he was making. "The Pentagon spends $5 million dollars an hour on jet fuel."
"Dad, how do you possibly know that number?"
"I read it."
And he didn't even have the Internet.
I am finding that sometimes it is more interesting to read about a place than to visit it. For example, Kairouan is famous for something else besides holiness -- Hollywood.
It stood in for Cairo in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now I have to review the film.
Blessings for sale
Outside the Great Mosque in Kairouan this man sprinkled water from a silver container on worshippers as they came out from prayer and put their shoes back on. He sprinkled me too as I waited for Zied to reshod.How nice, I thought, a blessing even for a kafir, and better by far than the usual experience for westerners and women of being shooed out of even the courtyards of mosques here by crabby old men.
Then he opened his other palm and showed me the silver coin inside. Oh, I said, and handed him a dinar.
Watery blessings are no more free for tourists than candles they are invited to light in cathedrals. Of course.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Calling on God and the devil
I love the way greetings in Arabic are almost religious. Salam ali koum -- peace be with you -- people say. How are you? good? then Hamdulilah-- thank God.
God comes in play also whenever plans are being made for the future. You'll meet this deadline? We will talk again tomorrow? Inshallah -- God willing.
The devil gets his due too however, I've discovered. We have issued repeated reminders to editors to be sure to put photo credits on all the pictures they use. One of them smiled at my latest nagging and told me, "Unless the devil makes me forget, I will put credits on all the photos."
God comes in play also whenever plans are being made for the future. You'll meet this deadline? We will talk again tomorrow? Inshallah -- God willing.
The devil gets his due too however, I've discovered. We have issued repeated reminders to editors to be sure to put photo credits on all the pictures they use. One of them smiled at my latest nagging and told me, "Unless the devil makes me forget, I will put credits on all the photos."
Friday, July 20, 2007
Is swimming a sin?
That question is actual a matter of some debate, although, I'm told, most people agree that the Koran allows women to enjoy the sea just like men.Well, not JUST like men, there is the issue of modesty that men don't have to contend with. Here, in a picture one of our newspaper photog snapped on a 100-degree day at Kettani a section along the Bay of Algiers, you see how some women contend, they wade in fully dressed in robe, pants and veils.
I think you must really need a dip to put up with the water-logged sandy aftermath.
However, even this is too much for other women. One professional woman told me she loves the sea but will not go in unless it's a place completely reserved for women. Some pools in the city set aside women-only days. Another woman in hijab at the newspaper said she goes swimming but never here in the bay which is a few steps from her apartment. Why? Because boys in the neighborhood would see her, she blushed. She would not feel comfortable.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
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.
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.
The low-down on Call to Prayer: The Beginning
Blogging is writing-lite. It can be an easy and lazy way to feel like you've done an article or something more. So when I recently did a pithy entry about a 3:18 a.m. Call to Prayer and my friend Julie, an excellent reporter, responded with a bunch of questions , I felt guilty. She wondered about why the times for the call changed during the year and place to place and what were they really saying and.... well, anyway, she spurred me to go and find the full story.
It turns out to be fascinating.
In the beginning:
When the prophet Mohammad told his followers that they must pray five times a day, they had to figure out some way to let people know when to pull out their prayer rugs. But of all the ways they might have notified people, with horns, by drums or through the ringing of bells that Christians have always favored, the prophet told them, he preferred the human voice.
In the first prayer caller -- or muezzin -- Muslims chose not just a voice, but the best voice among them. It belonged to an Ethiopian slave named Bilal ibn Ribah, who walked up and down the streets of Mecca like a town crier five times a day.
The imams had to work out other details to make the command to think about God throughout the day work. They set up exact prayer times according to the movement of the earth around the sun, so that while prayer times change a little every day and by season and by location can vary widely.
Instead of walking the streets minarets were built alongside mosques. Singers ascended these high towers so that their voices rang out over the community.
In Ottoman times, to insure that all muezzins in the city called their people to prayer at the same time, religious authorities installed a system familiar to car-racing fans. The muezzin of the biggest mosque put out a green flag atop the minaret. And that flag was the signal for the adhan -- which is the call to prayer -- to begin.
The message of the muezzins
At Fajr (pre-dawn), Dhuhr (noon), 'Asr (afternoon), Maghrib (sunset) and 'Isha (evening), the muezzins sing out:
Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar
Allah is Great, Allah is Great.
Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah - Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah
I bear witness that there is no divinity but Allah
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah
I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger
Hayya la-s-saleah - Hayya la-s-saleah
Hasten to the prayer, Hasten to the prayer
Hayya la-l-faleah - Hayya la-l-faleah
Hasten to real success, Hasten to real success,
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar
Allah is Great, Allah is Great
La Ilaha ill Allah
There is no divinity but Allah
It turns out to be fascinating.
In the beginning:
When the prophet Mohammad told his followers that they must pray five times a day, they had to figure out some way to let people know when to pull out their prayer rugs. But of all the ways they might have notified people, with horns, by drums or through the ringing of bells that Christians have always favored, the prophet told them, he preferred the human voice.
In the first prayer caller -- or muezzin -- Muslims chose not just a voice, but the best voice among them. It belonged to an Ethiopian slave named Bilal ibn Ribah, who walked up and down the streets of Mecca like a town crier five times a day.
The imams had to work out other details to make the command to think about God throughout the day work. They set up exact prayer times according to the movement of the earth around the sun, so that while prayer times change a little every day and by season and by location can vary widely.
Instead of walking the streets minarets were built alongside mosques. Singers ascended these high towers so that their voices rang out over the community.
In Ottoman times, to insure that all muezzins in the city called their people to prayer at the same time, religious authorities installed a system familiar to car-racing fans. The muezzin of the biggest mosque put out a green flag atop the minaret. And that flag was the signal for the adhan -- which is the call to prayer -- to begin.
The message of the muezzins
At Fajr (pre-dawn), Dhuhr (noon), 'Asr (afternoon), Maghrib (sunset) and 'Isha (evening), the muezzins sing out:
Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar
Allah is Great, Allah is Great.
Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah - Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah
I bear witness that there is no divinity but Allah
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah
I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger
Hayya la-s-saleah - Hayya la-s-saleah
Hasten to the prayer, Hasten to the prayer
Hayya la-l-faleah - Hayya la-l-faleah
Hasten to real success, Hasten to real success,
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar
Allah is Great, Allah is Great
La Ilaha ill Allah
There is no divinity but Allah
Monday, July 02, 2007
Call to prayer
It's 3:11 a.m. and I am awake because a call to prayer is ringing out from the minarets of the city.
Can that be right? Is somebody's clock way off here or do people really get out of bed at this hour and say nice things to God.
Can that be right? Is somebody's clock way off here or do people really get out of bed at this hour and say nice things to God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
