The Laborer
Under the
watchful,
rising
radiance of aurora’s eyes,
he pries
into our neighborhoods with his funnel,
blaring
the message of a wounded man
who
expended his life many moons ago,
plaguing
and
obtruding the innards of sleeping logs.
Like a muezzin
in a minaret,
he speaks
of the danger of a burning hearth:
the
penance for dissolute and fleshpot dwellers.
He insists
that the man on the tree could save
a rake
from such ignoble fate;
he tells
of the numerous bills
the man on
the tree had funded,
the
potency of his cinnamon liquid:
a silver
bullet for all kinds of
life’s
ailments.
After his
descant,
he calls
for those who pine for redemption
(fruits
ready for harvest)
to recite
a solemn oath of
marital
fidelity.
The muezzin is the person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer, though he is not a cleric. At prescribed times the muezzin faces the qiblah (the direction of the Ka'bah in Mecca) five times a day and summons Muslims for mandatory (fard) worship (salat) by reciting the adhan (first the Takbir – “Allāhu Akbar,” God is greater -- ), then the Shahada -- There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God) This statement of faith, called the Kalimah, is the first of the Five Pillars of Islam. The main purpose behind the multiple loud pronouncements of adhan in every mosque is to make available to everyone an easily intelligible summary of Islamic belief; it is intended to bring the substance of Islam to everyone. A second call, the iqama, then instructs Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers. During the Friday prayer (Salat Al Jumu'ah), some Sunni Muslims employ two adhans, the second one before the imam begins the khutbah (sermon). The call of the muezzin is considered an art form, reflected in the melodious chanting of the adhan. Many of the customs associated with the muezzin remained undecided at the time of Muhammad's death, including which direction one should choose for the calling, where it should be performed, and the use of trumpets, flags, or lamps. Shi'a Muslims believe Muhammad, as commanded by Allah, ordered the adhan as a means of calling Muslims to prayer; no one else had any authority to contribute towards the composition of the adhan. However, Sunnis do not attribute the adhan to Muhammad, but to one of his Sahabah (companions), Umar, who envisaged it in a dream. Muhammad preferred the call over the use of bells (as per Christians) or horns (as per Jews) and and chose Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, a freed Habeshan slave, to fill the office. After minarets became customary at mosques, the muezzin was often a blind man so he could not violate anyone’s privacy by peering into the inner courtyards.
ReplyDelete