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A muezzin calls out the five daily prayers in a mosque and invites people to Friday prayers. The role is ancient and based on a public crier. Mosques choose muezzins based on character and ability, and the call to prayer is delivered in Arabic. Traditional muezzins relied on their voices, but modern mosques use loudspeakers. The call to prayer is melodious and faces Mecca. The muezzin inspired the name of the Prophet’s cat, Muezza.
A muezzin is someone who calls out the five daily calls to prayer in a mosque, a Muslim place of worship. The muezzin also issues the invitations to Friday prayers. In Muslim communities, the voice of the muezzin is a familiar feature, wafting through the community five times a day from the mosque to remind Muslim worshipers to cease their activities and pray. Daily prayers or salah are a very important part of the Muslim faith.
The position of the muezzin is an ancient one, with most historians deeming the role of public crier probably predates Islam. Many cultures have some sort of history of a public crier, usually singled out for his penetrating voice, who would bring up newsworthy news and information from times before other modes of communication. During the time of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), the faithful followers of the Prophet issued the call to prayer in the streets, laying the foundations for the modern muezzin.
Mosques typically choose a muezzin based on character and ability. A muezzin may become a respected member of the community, especially if the call to prayer or adhan is pronounced particularly well, but he is not a religious official. The adhan is always delivered in Arabic and most Muslims are familiar with the words of the call to prayer, even if they do not know Arabic. In a minaret mosque, the adhan is called from the minaret, ensuring that it can be heard.
Traditional muezzins relied on the acoustics and strength of their voices to ensure that the call to prayer was heard by the faithful. Modern mosques use loudspeakers to carry the call to prayer, ensuring it can be heard from a great distance. In devout Muslim cities with multiple mosques, the call to prayer can get a bit chaotic, with dueling calls from multiple speakers around the city, and is a feature of the Muslim world that is often noticed by travellers.
While issuing the call to prayer, a muezzin faces Mecca and begins the call with the words Allah u akbar, which means “God is great.” The adhan is quite melodious and many Muslims find it very beautiful. In areas where there is no muezzin, the Muslim faithful are required to remember the rhythms of the daily prayers by themselves.
Incidentally, according to an Islamic myth, the muezzin also inspired the name of the Prophet’s cat, Muezza. In the story, the Prophet was sitting writing at a desk when he heard the call to prayer. When he got up to answer, he realized that his cat was asleep on his sleeve, and instead of disturbing the cat, he cut off his sleeve so he could get up to face Mecca.
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