Thursday, August 31, 2006

Allahu akbar

Although my job (newspapers) and avocation (handwoven scarves) are both visual arts of sorts, and I love! to cook, three of the deepest impressions I carry with me from travels are aural:
  • Calls to prayer in Tunisia.
  • Howler monkeys roaring in the forests around Tikal, Guatemala.
  • The sounds of singers rehearsing for a performance of "Tristan and Isolde," heard from the window of a hotel in Chur, Switzerland.
I suppose this means I'll have to find my way back to all these places!

3 comments:

Field Notes said...

You and me both! I want to go back to those 3 places as well. You'd be lucky to repeat #3.

That's a cool find on the call to prayer.

What do you make of this part from the website:
"I last heard the Islamic call to prayer at Vernon and Dix on the south side of Dearborn, Michigan at noon. This was the point in time when Jehovah God spoke to my soul of His deep love to Muslims. The call of Jehovah is the call of a God who wants to talk to his children from His Word, the Bible. The vain repetition of the Islamic prayer ritual is replaced by a daily experience of hearing the voice of God in one's soul."

Can you verify that Muslims only concern while praying is not making a mistake? That seems weird but also quite believable given all of the rehearsal/memorization.

Alasdair said...

Well, I thought the prose at the site was a deep mystery, which is part of why I chose that site (besides, obviously, the sound of the muezzin) to link to.

To me, the use of the word "vain" suggests to me that this is some prosletyzing oddball, and he does identify himself as a Baptist elsewhere on the site. The site author also identifies the area in which he lives as being "in the part of the USA that God made."

Indeed, the weirdness continues at www.balaams-ass.com/alhaj/yitha.htm, which is where the page I found is located. And when I say weirdness, I mean it. But the call to prayer is a nice touch :)

Field Notes said...

That is some funky sh*t. Looks like it's all there with the intent to get Muslims to see their wicked ways and convert. I doubt that guy has had even one from his website. Still, it's really cool he has the muezzin. Amazing and indeed, weird. Why can't the prosletyzers just leave others alone?!