Introduction to Islam: 1

Since Islam is such an integral way of life over here I've decided to start talking a little bit about it in my blog to give you a better understanding of both the religion and the people who practice it, Muslims.

The first thing I'll share with you is something that has become a very big part of my life, and everybody else who happens to live in a Muslim country, the call to prayer. The call to prayer, or Adhan, is recited 5 times per day to signal when Muslims should come to the mosque and pray and it is almost impossible not to hear it. Typically the calls to prayer happen around 5am or first light, 1pm, 4pm, 6:30pm or sundown, and 8:30pm. These times of course change as the amount of daylight and seasons change. Typically the calls go out over an electronic PA system from atop each minaret, but I've also seen the muezzin come into the streets of crowded places and yell out the adhan. Although from country to country there are slight variations on the adhan, they basically all say the same exact thing. Here is the adhan that is used in Morocco:

Allahu akbar (x2)
ash hadu an ilaha ill Allah (x2)
as hadu anna Muhamedan rasul Allah (x2)
haya 3ala salat (x2)
haya 3ala falah (x2)
Allahu akbar (x2)
La ilaha illa Allah (x1)

Translation:
God is the greatest
There is no god but God (Allah)
and Muhamed is his messenger
Come to prayer
Come to success
God is the greatest
There is no god but God (Allah)

A lot of people mistakenly think that Muslims worship some weird deity named "Allah" and don't understand that Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews and that Allah is simply the Arabic name for God. Thus, the line that says, "There is no god but Allah" is simply referencing Islam as a monotheistic religion just like Christianity and Judaism-- it would be better to think of it as explaining that there is only one God and not a whole bunch of pagan gods like what the Greeks believed.

Here is a link to an adhan, which is somewhat like what you would hear but a little more drawn out and Mariah Carry like. It is a good example of the way most muezzins sing the verses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxXfitWcFjY&feature=related