Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Beauty of the sonorous chant

Take this small trip down our little globe. See how Azaan is the most chanted verse, world over:

A look at a map of the world and you will find Indonesia on the eastern side of the earth. The major cities of Indonesia are Java, Sumatra, Borneo and Saibil. As soon as dawn breaks on the easternside Of Saibil, at approximately 5:30 am local time, Fajar Aazaan -- Muslim call for Prayer -- begins. Thousands of Muezzins -- those who give the call -- in Indonesia begin reciting the Aazaan. The process advances towards West Indonesia.

One and a half hours After the Aazaan has been completed in Saibil, itechoes in Jakarta. Sumatra then follows suit and before this process of calling Aazaan ends in Indonesia, it has already begun inMalaysia. Burma is next in line, and within an hour of its beginning in Jakarta, It reaches Dacca, the capital city of Bangladesh. After Bangladesh, it has already prevailed in western India, from Calcutta to Srinagar.

It then advances towards Mumbai (Bombay). Srinagar and Sialkot (a north city inPakistan) have the same timing for Aazaan. The time difference between Sialkot, Quetta, and Karachi is forty minutes, and within this time, FajarAazaan is heard throughout Pakistan. Before it ends there, it has alreadybegun in Afghanistan and Muscat.

The time difference Between Muscat and Baghdad is one hour. Aazaan resounds during this one hour in the environments of Hijaaz-e-Muqaddas (cities of Makkah and Madinah), Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait andIraq. The time difference between Baghdad and Alexandria in Egypt is again one hour. Aazaan continues to resound in Syria, Egypt, Somalia and Sudan during this hour. The time difference between eastern and WesternTurkey is one and a half hours, and during this time it is echoed with the call to prayer.

Alexandria and Tripoli -- capital of Libya-- are located at one hour's difference. The process of calling Aazaan thus continues throughout the whole of Africa. Therefore, the proclamation of the "Tawheed" and "Risaalat"that had begun in Indonesia reaches the eastern shore of the Atlantic ocean after nine and half hours.

Prior to the Aazaan reaching the shores of the Atlantic, the process of"Zohar Aazaan" has already started in east Indonesia, and before it reaches Dacca, "Asr Aazaan" has started. This has hardly reached Jakarta one and half hours later, the time of "Maghrib" becomes due, and no sooner has "Maghrib" time reached Sumatra, the time for calling "Isha Aazaan" has commenced in Saibil! The cycle continues.

When the Muazzins of Indonesia are calling out "Fajar Aazaan", the AfricanMuazzins are calling the Aazaan for Isha. If we were to ponder over this phenomenon thoughtfully, we would conclude the amazing fact that there is not even a single moment when hundreds of thousands of Muazzins around the world are not reciting the Aazaan on the surface of this earth.

Adapted: With Thanks Isra

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