Prayer

God is most great. God is most great.
God is most great. God is most great.
I testify that there is no God except God.
I testify that there is no God except God.
I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
Come to prayer! Come to prayer!
Come to success! Come to success!
God is most great. God is most great.
There is none worthy of worship except God.

Five times a day this is repeated over the loud speakers calling all Muslims to prayer. The call is both haunting and beautiful at the same time. The call comes from each of the different mosques (in our area there are at least 7 mosque and two more are being built).
Before prayer each Muslim cleans himself (I say him since I don’t know if women follow all the same “rules” as men—I’ve only been around men during this process). They will wash their face, hands and arms up to the elbow and sometimes wash their feet. This way they are clean before praying to Allah.
I’ve heard this call for 8 months and I’ve driven by mosques during prayer time—lots of cars triple parked. The call wakes us up in the early morning and it soothes us to sleep at night. Timmie and I were outside by the pool one day during the call and he asked me if we should pray. I asked him what he thought and he said he thought we should—so we went inside and said an afternoon prayer that day—it felt good to take time and speak to God out loud in the afternoon instead of a silent prayer.
Life revolves around Allah and prayer. Everything closes down during prayer—everything. Some stores will let you stay inside while others will ask you to leave. Restaurants dim their lights and don’t serve food—as of yet none have asked us to leave. We schedule our daily activities around prayer.
Prayer doesn’t have to be done at the mosque—it can be done anywhere. At TGI Friday’s we’ve seen the workers put rugs down outside in the back, face Mekkah and pray. At the mall we’ve seen women find places and kneel and pray. Laurie and I often feel like we are intruding and yet we’re intrigued at the same time.
Lately I’ve been leaving the RSAF building to go to lunch. The food they serve is..edible..but very unsatisfying to me. So I’ve been going to McDonald’s (delish, crisp Chicken Ceasear salad) and Subway—something to get me out of the building and office. I've been able to see the men enter / leave the mosque.
In the RSAF the call to prayer is over the loud speaker—there are two calls—the first call and then about 10 minutes later the next call. During the calls the men prepare themselves and then they head down to the mosque on the first floor (or zero floor over here).
As I leave the building I’m normally in the midst of the RSAF going to prayer. I’m intrigued and fascinated by it—and at times humbled. The men quickly but reverently hurry to the mosque. They speak in reverent whispers. They may hold each other by the arm. Before they enter the mosque they slip off their shoes. It feels so reverent that I walk as quietly as I can in the area.
There have been times when I leave 10 minutes after the second call. By then all the men are coming out of the mosque. They seem to have a sense of relief, guidance and clam. As I’m walking through them to get to the door I’ll see some that I know and they give me a smile and speak quietly to me. There is no joking or humor (and the Saudis / Arabs love good jokes and pranks) or loud voices--all is still reverent.
I’m amazed that as a body the RSAF stops everything to pray. Even if there is a meeting it stops for prayer. Last year we had a US company over showing us a database—the RSAF ordered the database and then the company came for the design of the database. BUT every day the meetings stopped for prayer (and the RSAF is spending $$$ on this and spent $$$ to have these guys from the US fly over here and put them up in the Sheraton).
I was talking to Laurie and wondered out loud what would happen if all of us—Jews, Christian and Muslim—all stopped at the same time one day and prayed in one voice. What kind of miracles might happen? It’s an interesting thought.

God is most great. God is most great.
God is most great. God is most great.
I testify that there is no God except God.
I testify that there is no God except God.