A Pythagorean Theorem

A^2 + B ^2 = C^2. The Pythagorean Theorem, a mathematical law every algebra student has stumbled over for the past 2500 years. Though we commonly attribute this principle to Pythagoras, we cannot be sure that it he discovered this himself. The Egyptians, the Indians and the Babylonians all seemed to have used this principle at about the same time as the Greeks. Yet, it still bears his name. It is certainly important to learn, and is used everyday by engineers and architects as well as mathematicians and students. However, I can honestly say that I have not used this formula a single time since I left a math class for the last time 4 years ago, despite the assertions of its importance in daily life by the teachers who lodged it in crannies of my cranium. Today, though, I discovered Pythagoras’ greatest work, one which actually belongs to him, and it has very little to do with triangles.

Currently, I am reading The Great Transformation: The World in the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah. In this book, Karen Armstrong, a former nun, recreates the history that gave birth to profound spiritual insight and our greatest religions: Hinduism and inner spirituality in India, natural harmony and balance in China, monotheism in Israel, and the search for rational understanding in Greece. I am only halfway through this dense text, yet Armstrong has given me a lot to contemplate. Her theory seems to be that out of great violence and distortion of early religions came these achievements that still stand today – for better or worse.

The few short sentences Armstrong devotes to Pythagoras has given me as much to consider as the rest of her book. During the 6^th century BC, at a time when the Greeks were beginning to secularize their political life and gain an understanding of rational and practical pursuits, Pythagoras had a new vision. He devoted himself to the study of mathematics and science, not only as a means to pragmatic improvements, but as a search for divine understanding. He believed that the order of the Gods could be better understood through a exploration of the tangible elements of life. Pythagoras, unfortunately, taught through the oral traditions and we have no first-hand accounts of his teachings. However, it is clear that he influenced many Greeks who followed him including Socrates and Plato. His idea of divine understanding through science, though, was only accepted by a small band of followers. Most who came after him either aligned with his study of math and science or his study of religious philosophy. It seems what he taught as a single subject, what we would now call religious naturalism, was split into two disciplines, defeating his innovative idea entirely.

Pythagoras’ idea was not a new revelation to me, but one I have held for a while. It was only today I discovered it was originally his. To me, the notion came through other great men. Through Copernicus, Darwin, Einstein and others, who all spent their life’s work marveling at the mysticism and magic of the natural order while trying to reconcile the faith’s of their time with their new knowledge.

It should not be surprising that Pythagoras’ vision did not catch on. In his day, the vast majority of the public looked to the established Greek religion and rituals as a way to answer the grander questions of life. Pythagoras, though, was looking forward. Just as many scientific minds have done and still do. They choose to spend their energies searching for the next answer, rather than accepting insufficient ones. Today, too, these scientists live in a time when the world looks backwards, while they eye the future armed with the scientific method, mathematics, logic and reason. There are people out there who are still trying to champion this cause. Scientists and writers, most of whom are a little of both. My favorite being Chet Raymo. Still, though, the Churches, Mosques and Temples fill around the world while religious naturalists’ books and websites receive minimal attention. People still walk this Earth, believing it is only 5000 years old and are filled with wonder at this notion. Yet, the real creation story, the billions of years it took to forge our universe is much more imaginative and inspiring, while still leaving plenty of metaphysical questions to ponder.

I can’t help but feel slighted that in my public high school I spent great lengths of time studying the principles and history of the great religions and was repeatedly told of the importance of the Pythagorean Theorem and other math equations. But not once was Pythagoras’ greatest work, his attempt to meld the spiritual and the scientific, mentioned. Not a single sentence in a textbook or a side note from a teacher. It wasn’t until my last two years of college that I realized this was an established school of thought and not until today, that I realized its origins. Instead, I went through high school and college believing this was just an idealistic notion that I couldn’t shake. That it was somehow strange to feel that that science was our best bet to answering the unanswerable and that this, like religion, could also be transforming, awe-inspiring and magical.

But what can be done? We live in a world where some schools teach creationism in science class as an equal to Darwinism. Where people use the word believe in front of the word evolution. We live in a world where people forcefully push religion as science. Why then, is it so unfathomable and unpopular to push science as religion?

All Work and No Pray, part IV

Today, I will post the fifth point of my friend and student Halil’s explanation of the call to prayer and its importance and purpose in Muslim life. A week ago, I wrote a column about the effect the call to prayer has, each time I hear it echo through my neighborhood. Since then, Halil has sent me a treasure chest of information (all of which he has translated himself) on the call to prayer and the Salah, the daily prayers and one of the five pillars of Islam. Halil’s contribution began with a parable. Yesterday, I posted a the first four points of his in-depth explanation of the Salah. If you missed that post, please read that here, before continuing. Today, in the second half, Halil’s fifth point contains a detailed explanation of each of the five daily prayers. Thank you again, Halil. I will let him take it from here:

FIFTH POINT

By nature man is extremely weak, yet everything touches him, and saddens and grieves him. Also he is utterly lacking in power, yet the calamities and enemies that afflict him are extremely numerous. Also he is extremely wanting, yet his needs are indeed many. Also he is lazy and incapable, yet life’s responsibilities are most burdensome. Also his humanity has connected him to the rest of the universe, yet the decline and disappearance of the things he loves and with which he is familiar continually pains him. Also his reason shows him exalted aims and lasting fruits, yet his hand is short, his life brief, his power slight, and his patience little.

It can be clearly understood from this how essential it is for a spirit in this state at the time of Fajr in the early morning to have recourse to and present a petition to the Court of an All-Powerful One of Glory, an All-Compassionate All-Beauteous One through prayer and supplication, to seek success and help from Him, and what a necessary point of support it is so that he can face the things that will happen to him in the coming day and bear the duties that will be loaded on him.

The time of Zuhr just past midday is the time of the day’s zenith and the start of its decline, the time when daily labours approach their achievement, the time of a short rest from the pressures of work, when the spirit needs a pause from the heedlessness and insensibility caused by toil, and a time Divine bounties are manifested. Anyone may understand then how fine and agreeable, how necessary and appropriate it is for the human spirit to perform the midday prayer, which means to be released from the pressure, shake off the heedlessness, and leave behind those meaningless, transient things, and clasping one’s hands at the Court of the True Bestower of Bounties, the Eternally Self-Subsistent One, to offer praise and thanks for all His gifts, and seek help from Him, and through bowing to display one’s impotence before His glory and tremendousness, and to prostrate and proclaim one’s wonder, love, and humility. One who does not understand this is not a true human being.

As for the time of Asr in the afternoon, it calls to mind the melancholy season of autumn and the mournful state of old age and the sombre period at the end of time. It is also when the matters of the day reach their conclusion, and the time the Divine bounties which have been received that day like health, well-being, and beneficial duties have accumulated to form a great total, and the time that proclaims through the mighty sun hinting by starting to sink that man is a guest-official and that everything is transient and inconstant. Now, the human spirit desires eternity and was created for it; it worships benevolence, and is pained by separation. Thus, anyone who is truly a human being may understand what an exalted duty, what an appropriate service, what a fitting way to repay a debt of human nature, indeed, what an agreeable pleasure it is to perform the afternoon prayer. For by offering supplications at the Eternal Court of the Everlasting Pre-Eternal One, the Eternally Self-Subsistent One, it has the meaning of taking refuge in the grace of unending, infinite mercy, and by offering thanks and praise in the face of innumerable bounties, of humbly bowing before the mightiness of His dominicality, and by prostrating in utter humility before the everlastingness of His Godhead, of finding true consolation of heart and ease of spirit, and being girded ready for worship in the presence of His grandeur.

The time of Maghrib at sunset recalls the disappearance amid sad farewells of the delicate, lovely creatures of the worlds of summer and autumn at the start of winter. It calls to mind the time when through his death, man will leave all those he loves in sorrowful departure and enter the grave. It brings to mind when at the death of this world amid the convulsions of its death-agonies, all its inhabitants will migrate to other worlds and the lamp of this place of examination will be extinguished. It is a time which gives stern warning to those who worship transient, ephemeral beloveds.

Thus, at such a time, for the Maghrib prayer, man’s spirit, which by its nature is a mirror desirous for an Eternal Beauty, turns its face towards the throne of mightiness of the Eternal Undying One, the Enduring Everlasting One, Who performs these mighty works and turns and transforms these huge worlds, and declaring God is Most Great over these transient beings, withdraws from them. Man clasps his hands in service of his Lord and rises in the presence of the Enduring Eternal One, and through saying: All praise be to God, he praises and extols His faultless perfection, His peerless beauty, His infinite mercy. Through declaring: You alone do we worship and from You alone we seek help, he proclaims his worship for and seeks help from His unassisted dominicality, His unpartnered Godhead, His unshared sovereignty. Then he bows, and through declaring together with all the universe his weakness and impotence, his poverty and baseness before the infinite majesty, the limitless power, and utter mightiness of the Enduring Eternal One, he says: All glory to My Mighty Sustainer, and glorifies his Sublime Sustainer. And prostrating before the undying Beauty of His Essence, His unchanging sacred attributes, His constant everlasting perfection, through abandoning all things other than Him, man proclaims his love and worship in wonder and self-abasement. He finds an All-Compassionate Eternal One. And through saying, All glory to my Exalted Sustainer, he declares his Most High Sustainer to be free of decline and exalted above any fault.

Then, he testifies to God’s unity and the prophethood of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him). He sits, and on his own account offers as a gift to the Undying All-Beauteous One, the Enduring All-Glorious One the blessed salutations and benedictions of all creatures. And through greeting God’s Most Noble Messenger, he renews his allegiance to him and proclaims his obedience to his commands. In order to renew and illuminate his faith, he observes the wise order in this palace of the universe and testifies to the unity of the All-Glorious Maker. And he testifies to the Messengership of Muhammad the Arabian (Peace and blessings be upon him), who is the herald of the sovereignty of God’s dominicality, the proclaimer of those things pleasing to Him, and the interpreter of the signs and verses of the book of the universe. To perform the Maghrib prayer is this. So how can someone be considered a human being who does not understand what a fine and pure duty is the prayer at sunset, what an exalted and pleasurable act of service, what an agreeable and pleasing act of worship, what a serious matter, and what an unending conversation and permanent happiness it is in this transient guest-house?

At the time of ‘Isha at nightfall, the last traces of the day remaining on the horizon disappear, and the world of night enfolds the universe. As the All-Powerful and Glorious One, The Changer of Night and Day, turns the white page of day into the black page of night through the mighty disposals of His dominicality, it recalls the Divine activities of that All-Wise One of Perfection, The Subduer of the Sun and the Moon, turning the green-adorned page of summer into the frigid white page of winter. And with the remaining works of the departed being erased from this world with the passing of time, it recalls the Divine acts of The Creator and Life and Death in their passage to another, quite different world. It is a time that calls to mind the disposals of The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth’s awesomeness and the manifestations of His beauty in the utter destruction of this narrow, fleeting, and lowly world, the terrible death-agonies of its decease, and in the unfolding of the broad, eternal, and majestic world of the hereafter. And the universe’s Owner, its True Disposer, its True Beloved and Object of Worship can only be the One Who with ease turns night into day, winter into spring, and this world into the hereafter like the pages of a book; Who writes and erases them, and changes them.

Thus, at nightfall, man’s spirit, which is infinitely impotent and weak, and infinitely poor and needy, and plunged into the infinite darkness of the future, and tossed around amid innumerable events, performs the ‘Isha prayer, which has this meaning: like Abraham man says: I do not love those that set, and through the prayers seeks refuge at the Court of an Undying Object of Worship, an Eternal Beloved One, and in this transient world and fleeting life and dark world and black future he supplicates an Enduring, Everlasting One, and for a moment of unending conversation, a few seconds of immortal life, he asks to receive the favours of the All-Merciful and Compassionate One’s mercy and the light of His guidance, which will strew light on his world and illuminate his future and bind up the wounds resulting from the departure and decline of all creatures and friends.

Temporarily man forgets the hidden world, which has forgotten him, and pours out his woes at the Court of Mercy with his weeping, and whatever happens, before sleeping -which resembles death- he performs his last duty of worship. And in order to close favourably the daily record of his actions, he rises to pray; that is to say, he rises to enter the presence of an Eternal Beloved and Worshipped One in place of all the mortal ones he loves, of an All-Powerful and Generous One in place of all the impotent creatures from which he begs, of an All-Compassionate Protector so as to be saved from the evil of the harmful beings before which he trembles.

He starts with the Sura al-Fatiha, that is, instead of praising and being obliged to defective, wanting creatures, for which they are not suited, he extols and offers praise to The Sustainer of All the Worlds, Who is Absolutely Perfect and Utterly Self-Sufficient and Most Compassionate and All-Generous. Then he progresses to the address: You alone do we worship. That is, despite his smallness, insignificance, and aloneness, through man’s connection with The Owner of the Day of Judgement, Who is the Sovereign of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, he attains to a rank whereat he is an indulged guest in the universe and an important official. Through declaring: You alone do we worship and from You alone do we seek help, he presents to Him in the name of all creatures the worship and calls for assistance of the mighty congregation and huge community of the universe. Then through saying: Guide us to the Straight Path, he asks to be guided to the Straight Path, which leads to eternal happiness and is the luminous way.

And now, he thinks of the mightiness of the All-Glorious One, of Whom, like the sleeping plants and animals, the hidden suns and sober stars are all soldiers subjugated to His command, and lamps and servants in this guest-house of the world, and uttering: God is Most Great, he bows down. Then he thinks of the great prostration of all creatures. That is, when, at the command of “Be!,” and it is, all the varieties of creatures each year and each century -even the earth, and the universe- each like a well-ordered army or an obedient soldier, is discharged from its duty, that is, when each is sent to the World of the Unseen, through the prostration of its decease and death with complete orderliness, it declares: God is Most Great, and bows down in prostration. Like they are raised to life, some in part and some the same, in the spring at an awakening and life-giving trumpet-blast from the command  of “Be!” and it is, and they rise up and are girded ready to serve their Lord, insignificant man too, following them, declares: God is Most Great! in the presence of the All-Merciful One of Perfection, the All-Compassionate One of Beauty in wonderstruck love and eternity-tinged humility and dignified self-effacement, and bows down in prostration; that is to say, he makes a sort of Ascension. For sure you will have understood now how agreeable and fine and pleasant and elevated, how high and pleasurable, how reasonable and appropriate a duty, service, and act of worship, and what a serious matter it is to perform the ‘Isha prayer.

Thus, since each of these five times points to a mighty revolution, is a sign indicating the tremendous dominical activity, and a token of the universal Divine bounties, it is perfect wisdom that being a debt and an obligation, the prescribed prayers should be specified at those times.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.

O God! Grant blessings and peace to the one whom You sent as a teacher to Your servants to instruct them in knowledge of You and worship of You, and to make known the treasures of Your Names, and to translate the signs of the book of the universe and as a mirror to its worship of the beauty of Your dominicality, and to all his Family and Companions, and have mercy on us and on all believing men and women. Amen. Through Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!

All Work and No Pray, part III

A week ago, I wrote a column extolling the benefits of hearing the call to prayer on a daily basis. In that post, I say that even for an atheist, it is necessary to take a look at your life and life in general from a grander perspective. The next day, one of my best and brightest English students, Halil, sent me an Islamic parable, showing the importance that of the Salah (the five daily prayers, one of the five pillars of Islam) plays in the Islamic faith. I was lucky that both Halil and I had yesterday off work, and were able spend yesterday afternoon sipping tea  together in Taksim. There, I confirmed that Halil himself has translated the story, and many others. Today, he sent me more of his translations. This was again concerning the call to prayer, but was of an informative nature rather than a parable. He has divided the importance of the prayers into five points. However, since the fifth point is a rather lengthy and detailed explanation  the purpose of each individual daily prayer, I will publish it in two parts. The first four points today, and the last point tomorrow. From here, I will turn it over to Halil:

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

So glorify God when you reach evening and when you rise in the morning; for all praise is His in the heavens and on earth, and towards the end of the day and when you have reached noon.

Brother! You ask me concerning the wisdom in the specified times of the five daily prayers. I shall point out only one of the many instances of wisdom in the times.

Yes, like each of the times of prayer marks the start of an important revolution, so also is each a mirror to Divine disposal of power and to the universal Divine bounties within that disposal. Thus, more glorification and extolling of the All-Powerful One of Glory have been ordered at those times, and more praise and thanks for all the innumerable bounties accumulated between each of the times, which is the meaning of the prescribed prayers. In order to understand a little this subtle and profound meaning, you should listen together with my own soul to the following five ‘Points’.

FIRST POINT

The meaning of the prayers is the offering of glorification, praise, and thanks to Almighty God. That is to say, utteringGlory be to God by word and action before God’s glory and sublimity, it is to hallow and worship Him. And declaringGod is Most Great through word and act before His sheer perfection, it is to exalt and magnify Him. And saying All praise be to God with the heart, tongue, and body, it is to offer thanks before His utter beauty. That is to say, glorification, exaltation, and praise are like the seeds of the prayers. That is why these three things are present in every part of the prayers, in all the actions and words. It is also why these blessed words are each repeated thirty-three times after the prayers, in order to strengthen and reiterate the prayers’ meaning. The meaning of the prayers is confirmed through these concise summaries.

SECOND POINT

The meaning of worship is this, that the servant sees his own faults, impotence, and poverty, and in the Divine Court prostrates in love and wonderment before dominical perfection, Divine mercy, and the power of the Eternally Besought One. That is to say, just as the sovereignty of dominicality demands worship and obedience, so also does the holiness of dominicality require that the servant sees his faults through seeking forgiveness, and through his glorifications and declaring Glory be to God proclaims that his Sustainer is pure and free of all defects, and exalted above and far from the false ideas of the people of misguidance, and hallowed and exempt from all the faults in the universe.

Also, the perfect power of dominicality requires that through understanding his own weakness and the impotence of other creatures, the servant proclaims God is Most Great in admiration and wonder before the majesty of the works of the Eternally Besought One’s power, and bowing in deep humility seeks refuge in Him and places his trust in Him.

Also, the infinite treasury of dominicality’s mercy requires that the servant makes known his own need and the needs and poverty of all creatures through the tongue of entreaty and supplication, and proclaims his Sustainer’s bounties and gifts through thanks and laudation and uttering All praise be to God. That is to say, the words and actions of the prayers comprise these meanings, and have been laid down from the side of Divinity.

THIRD POINT

Just as man is an example in miniature of the greater world and Sura al-Fatiha a shining sample of the Qur’an of Mighty Stature, so are the prescribed prayers a comprehensive, luminous index of all varieties of worship, and a sacred map pointing to all the shades of worship of all the classes of creatures.

FOURTH POINT

The second-hand, minute-hand, hour-hand, and day-hand of a clock which tells the weeks look to one another, are examples of one another, and follow one another. Similarly, the alternations of day and night, which are like the seconds of this world -a vast clock of Almighty God- and the years which tell its minutes, and the stages of man’s life-span which tell the hours, and the epochs of the world’s life-span which tell the days look to one another, are examples of one another, resemble one another, and recall one another. For example:

The time of Fajr, the early morning: This time until sunrise resembles and calls to mind the early spring, the moment of conception in the mother’s womb, and the first of the six days of the creation of the heavens and earth; it recalls the Divine acts present in them.

The time of Zuhr, just past midday: This resembles and points to midsummer, and the prime of youth, and the period of man’s creation in the lifetime of the world, and calls to mind the manifestations of mercy and the abundant bounties they contain.

The time of ‘Asr, afternoon: This is like autumn, and old age, and the time of the Final Prophet (PBUH), known as the Era of Bliss, and recalls the Divine acts and favours of the All-Merciful One present in them.

The time of Maghrib, sunset: Through recalling the departure of many creatures at the end of autumn, and man’s death, and the destruction of the world at the commencement of the resurrection, this time puts in mind the manifestations of Divine glory and sublimity, and rouses man from his slumbers of heedlessness.

The time of ‘Isha, nightfall. As for this time, by calling to mind the world of darkness veiling all the objects of the daytime world with a black shroud, and winter hiding the face of the dead earth with its white cerement, and even the remaining works of departed men dying and passing beneath the veil of oblivion, and this world, the arena of examination, being shut up and closed down for ever, it proclaims the awesome and mighty disposals of the All-Glorious and Compelling Subduer.

As for the nighttime, through putting in mind both the winter, and the grave, and the Intermediate Realm, it reminds man how needy is the human spirit for the Most Merciful One’s mercy. And the tahajjud prayer informs him what a necessary light it is for the night of the grave and darkness of the Intermediate Realm; it warns him of this, and through recalling the infinite bounties of the True Bestower, proclaims how deserving He is of praise and thanks.

And the second morning calls to mind the Morning of the Resurrection. For sure, however reasonable and necessary and certain the morning of this night is, the Morning of the Resurrection and the spring following the Intermediate Realm are certain to the same degree.

That is, just as each of these five times marks the start of an important revolution and recalls other great revolutions, so through the awesome daily disposals of the Eternally Besought One’s power, each calls to mind the miracles of Divine power and gifts of Divine mercy of both every year, and every age, and every epoch. That is to say, the prescribed prayers, which are an innate duty and the basis of worship and an incontestable debt, are most appropriate and fitting for these times.

(Afterward Note: Thank you to Halil not only for being a good friend, an excellent translator and a wealth of information, but for being willing to share his heart with so many others. Halil’s fifth and final point will be posted tomorrow.)

All Work and No Pray, Part II

The other day, I posted a column about listening to the call to prayer echo through Tarlabaşı. One of my favorite students, Halil, sent me an email yesterday with a parable explaining, in part, the role of the call to prayer in Islamic life. So, here is that story in full, which I suspect he has translated himself. Thank you, Halil for your support and friendship!

If you want to understand with the certainty that two plus two equals four just how valuable and important are the prescribed prayers, and with what little expense they are gained, and how crazy and harmful is the person who neglects them, pay attention to the following story which is in the form of a comparison:

One time, a mighty ruler gave each of two of his servants twenty-four gold pieces and sent them to settle on one of his rich, royal farms two months distance away. Use this money for your tickets, he commanded them, and buy whatever is necessary for your house there with it. There is a station one days distance from the farm. And there is both road-transport, and a railway, and boats, and aero planes. They can be benefited from according to your capital.

The two servants set off after receiving these instructions. One of them was fortunate so that he spent a small amount of money on the way to the station. And included in that expense was some business so profitable and pleasing to his master that his capital increased a thousand fold. As for the other servant, since he was luckless and a layabout, he spent twenty-three pieces of gold on the way to the station, wasting it on gambling and amusements. A single gold piece remained. His friend said to him: Spend this last gold piece on a ticket so that you will not have to walk the long journey and starve. Moreover, our master is generous; perhaps he will take pity on you and forgive you your faults, and put you on an aero plane as well. Then we shall reach where we are going to live in one day. Otherwise you will be compelled to walk alone and hungry across a desert which takes two months to cross. The most unintelligent person can understand how foolish, harmful, and senseless he would be if out of obstinacy he did not spend that single remaining gold piece on a ticket, which is like the key to a treasury, and instead spent it on vice for passing pleasure. Is that not so?

O you who do not perform the prescribed prayers! And O my own soul, which does not like to pray! The ruler in the comparison is our Sustainer, our Creator. Of the two traveling servants, one represents the devout who perform their prayers with fervor, and the other, the heedless who neglect their prayers. The twenty-four pieces of gold are life in every twenty-four-hour day. And the royal domain is Paradise. As for the station, that is the grave. While the journey is mans passage to the grave, and on to the resurrection, and the hereafter. Men cover that long journey to different degrees according to their actions and the strength of their fear of God. Some of the truly devout have crossed a thousand-year distance in a day like lightning. And some have traversed a fifty-thousand-year distance in a day with the speed of imagination. The Quran of Mighty Stature alludes to this truth with the ticket in the comparison represents the prescribed prayers. A single hour a day is sufficient for the five prayers together with taking the ablutions. So what a loss a person makes who spends twenty-three hours on this fleeting worldly life, and fails to spend one hour on the long life of the hereafter; how he wrongs his own self; how unreasonably he behaves. For would not anyone who considers himself to be reasonable understand how contrary to reason and wisdom such a persons conduct is, and how far from reason he has become, if, thinking it reasonable, he gives half of his property to a lottery in which one thousand people are participating and the possibility of winning is one in a thousand, and does not give one twenty-fourth of it to an eternal treasury where the possibility of winning has been verified at ninety-nine out of a hundred?

Moreover, the spirit, the heart, and the mind find great ease in prayer. And it is not trying for the body. Furthermore, with the right intention, all the other acts of someone who performs the prescribed prayers become like worship. He can make over the whole capital of his life to the hereafter in this way. He can make his transient life permanent in one respect…

All Work and No Pray

The call to prayer echoes through Tarlabasi the same way it echoes through most of the world – five times a day. Hearing the adhan (transliterated from Arabic) is a fact of Islamic life and when I first moved to Istanbul, I was told I would get used to it. However, I have not gotten used to it. To use these words would imply apathy, to say I ignore it. No, I have not gotten used to it at all. Rather, I’ve grown attuned to it. I look forward to it. I revel in it.

The mosque that calls my neighborhood is on a narrow street two blocks downhill from my apartment. If you look right, off my balcony, it puts your eyes level with the terraces atop the mosque’s two minarets. Some time ago this would have meant staring face to face with the muezzin as he sang out. Now, though, sets of experienced speakers hang from the rail where he once stood. They crackle and hum from time to time like an AM radio, distorting the Arabic in just the right way. And, though I am not Muslim, I can say that I too twinge with introspection each time the waves of the adhan flow through our neighborhood.

What is most striking about the call to prayer is the temporary rest it gives from daily life. Unlike church bells, which ring to signal a gathering of people, the adhan is a communal call for a personal time. Every one of the 18 million people living in the city is alerted together that it is time to do some individual soul searching. Here In Istanbul, most people do not go to the mosque at every call. Instead, they have specially kept prayer rooms in their homes or businesses. After washing, this is where they retreat. Some may use the time to give thanks and love, some to gather strength. This small act of withdrawal to take an eternal perspective of one’s own life and existence is pacifying. At least, it has come to be for me. After all, it isn’t only Muslims who are notified that it is time to pray. Each time I hear the call, I am reminded of the masses stepping aside from business, from superfluous chatter and most importantly from their worries to have some one-on-one time with the man upstairs. I am by no means a religious person, but I find myself making a momentary paradigm shift along with those who are. Five times a day, I am prompted to use a wider lens for looking at life. If nothing else, the call to prayer keep things in perspective.

Perhaps this is why Istanbul can be such a friendly city. If you find yourself in any place other than a traffic jam a warm greeting and an offering of tea are not far off. The short break from small squabbles works wonders for keeping the wounds of daily annoyances from festering. I have tried to picture what a call to prayer, or some kind of similar moment of meditation, would do to a western city like Los Angeles or Seattle. I can’t see it. Like an artist’s rendering, I have tried to mentally put the transparent call to prayer over the photograph of western life. I simply can’t imagine it. It may be because to many westerners daily life is life. Most of us do not walk through our days with a conscious notion of a greater and grander scale on which to measure ourselves. Which, I guess, is why we could use the reminder in the first place.

I try not to compare America and Turkey, but on this point I just can’t help it. Were Americans to take a few minutes a few times a day to consider their actions and circumstances the way the devout do here in Turkey, they may find themselves becoming better, happier people. All work and no pray will make Jack an irritable man.