Call to prayer echoes across the cityscape, blaring from megaphone speakers affixed to the minarets. Five times a day the Arabic chanting fills the corners of the cities. It begins as a hum and grows rapidly, beckoning followers to show their faith and love for Allah. Filling the inside as well as the exterior courtyards, people gather in the mosques to practice the forms of the body movements of prayer. Aligning themselves parallel to the ground, groveling in their earthly ways and then raising up to reach the heavens in a symbolic connection to a higher being.
The beauty of this ritual strikes me as a Catholic living in a city with more churches and cathedrals and actually practicing Catholics (exaggeration, but it feels that way). Although I know that not all Muslims are conservative or even diligent in their prayer, Istanbul city echoes faith and tradition in its soundscape. It could be the megaphones that allow great amplification or the urban planning that placed the great mosque structures upon hills. Also, the highest points of the city in the old city, by law, are the minarets and domes of the religious buildings, leaving the speakers unobstructed and granted more clarity in their projection.
The beauty of this ritual strikes me as a Catholic living in a city with more churches and cathedrals and actually practicing Catholics (exaggeration, but it feels that way). Although I know that not all Muslims are conservative or even diligent in their prayer, Istanbul city echoes faith and tradition in its soundscape. It could be the megaphones that allow great amplification or the urban planning that placed the great mosque structures upon hills. Also, the highest points of the city in the old city, by law, are the minarets and domes of the religious buildings, leaving the speakers unobstructed and granted more clarity in their projection.
Night prayer at the Blue Mosque
