Turkish Muslims perform the prayer ritual (namaz) five times daily, according to the tenets of Islam.
The Ezan: Call to Prayer
The ezan (call to prayer) summons the faithful to the mosque for prayers:
| Allahu Ekber Eşhedû en lâ ilâhe illallah Eşhedû enne Muhammeden resulullah Hayya ale-salah Hayya alel-felah Allahu Ekber Lâ ilahe illallah | God is Great There is no god but God Muhammed is the Prophet of God Come to prayer Come to salvation God is Great There is no god but God |
(Thanks to Mr. Tosun Saral for the Arabic transliteration.)
Although it’s not required that prayer take place in a mosque, it’s felt to be more appropriate and congenial in the sacred space with other Muslims.
The ezan is chanted six times daily. The exact time of the ezan changes from day to day and from place to place, according to longitude and latitude, sunrise and sunset, and geographical relationship to Mecca (Mekke, Makkah).
You can check the exact times for the call to prayer for any place in the world on the website of the Republic of Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) so as to plan your visits to the city’s great mosques. More…
A Typical Day
Here are the names (in Turkish and Arabic) of the calls/prayers and sample times for the ezan in mid-May in Istanbul:
İmsak (Fajr; 03:38 am): two hours before dawn, to awaken the faithful for prayer (pretty much the middle of the night!)
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Güneş (Shuruq, Tulu;05:42 am): Dawn, before the sun appears
Öğle (Dhuhr, Zuhr;13:12, 1:12 pm): Midday, when the sun passes the zenith
İkindi (Asr; 17:07, 5:07 pm): Afternoon, when the shadows cast by objects are equal to their height
Akşam (Maghrib; 20:21, 8:21 pm): Sunset, when the sun has disappeared below the horizon; beginning of a new day in the Islamic calendar
Yatsı (Isha; 22:08, 10:08 pm): When the last light of day has disappeared
Then 5-1/2 hours’ sleep before the next call….
What it Means to You
If you are not a Muslim, avoid visiting a mosque at prayer-time, that is, at or within a half hour after the ezan is chanted from the minarets.
Non-Muslim’s should also avoid visiting on Friday late morning through early afternoon, which is when the weekly group prayers and sermons take place. In short, if the mosque is busy with worshippers, it’s polite to return later to visit.
Here’s more on Turkish mosque-visit etiquette.
—by Tom Brosnahan
| Mosque Etiquette |  |
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