The birds are still sleeping but the call of the shofar is heard in the neighborhood. At 500 AM is the first minyan for the morning prayer and then the religious practice the shofar, which is not a musical instrument. It is only a long and hollow sheep horn and the sound is produced by the lips. The calls are not harmonious nor pleasant, but rough and bizarre in the dark.
At the distance, I hear the azzan from the Palestinian village across the separation wall. The muezzin calls the faithful to the early morning payer and I follow the lines:
Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar
-- God is Immense, God is Immense
Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah - Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah
-- I bear witness that there are no gods but God
Hayya la-s-saleah - Hayya la-s-saleah
-- Hasten to the prayer, Hasten to the prayer
Time to work and finish that swimming pool project. Yesterday a treacherous dog passed nonchalantly by me and threw me a fast bite. Just to say "Hi J! Know that I dont like you".
4 comments:
Living next to Malaysia, I am familiar with the muezzin's call. One of the prayers has always amused me; roughly translated (from Malay) it reads - O God bestow on Muhammed that most exalted position which You had promised. The question is; why are the Muslims as yet unsure of Mohammed's - the Seal of the Prophets - final destination. After all, when I invoke the aid of St Paul, I do not preface it with a request that God grant him a position with the communion of saints. Its a schizophrenic religion.
Ivan
Are you so close to that that you hear the muezzin's dawn call?
I can get it over the radio and television. These days one has to pay for it, but until recently around 2008/9 we received their channels gratis. Appropos of nothing, in the seventies until late 80s Malaysian TV featured scantily-clad women (by local standards) as regular fare. All this has changed with the creeping Islamisation of everything over there. Nonetheless as human nature is refractory, the Malaysians make up for it by consuming loads of internet porn.
Ivan
Well, they are no different from the rest of the human race and other antropoids.
Post a Comment