Shortly before dawn, Noor ul Islam climbs the steps of one of the largest mosques in the world in Islamabad, enters the monumental hall and whispers a prayer to himself, away from a crackling microphone.
Then this 32-year-old muezzin takes a long breath of air and sings the call to prayer for believers, a powerful and melodious song that resonates throughout the capital of Pakistan and marks the beginning of the daily fast on this Ramadan month.
“The voice is a gift from God,” he told AFP in the Faisal Mosque, an imposing marble monument symbolizing the religious devotion of the Pakistani nation. “If your intentions are pure, your voice will have the power to touch people’s hearts,” he said.
Throughout the Muslim world, muezzins like Noor ul Islam recite the adhan, the call to prayer, called azan in Pakistan, five times a day. During Ramadan, the faithful pay even greater attention to it.
The prayer is chanted in Arabic and broadcast through loudspeakers placed in the minarets. She reminds Muslims that “God is the greatest” and that they must “hasten to pray”.
In the most renowned mosques, the function of muezzin is highly coveted. And there is an implicit hierarchy.
A reciter with a particularly melodious intonation increases the prestige of a mosque. A person looking for a house can thus judge the quality of the adhan in the neighborhood before deciding to buy.
The three muezzin posts at the Faisal Mosque – a national landmark opened in 1986 that can theoretically accommodate up to 300,000 worshipers – are among the most popular in the world outside the holy sites of Mecca and Medina.
When Noor, still a teenager from his hometown a hundred miles away, first visited Islamabad, he was captivated by the fervent appeal emanating from the Faisal Mosque.
“Every Muslim aspires to say the adhan, to lead the prayer or to give a sermon in a famous mosque,” he continues. “Every devout Muslim dreams of this.”
– “A pure heart” –
His chance came in 2018, when a position opened up and he beat nearly 400 applicants to get it. When he advances in front of the microphone, he covers his ears with his fingers, to isolate himself from all sounds other than those emitted by his voice.
“The adhan, when rendered with a beautiful and precise pronunciation, resonates with people,” said Aziz Ahmed, a 57-year-old businessman seen outside the mosque.
Some muezzins nurture their vocal cords like rock stars or opera singers, avoiding catching cold, drinking honey-flavored drinks or refraining from eating fatty Pakistani cuisine. “I’m negligent on that,” Noor agrees with a laugh. “I can not resist.” But he considers his vocation seriously.
“The basic purpose of the adhan is to invite people to God. You can only really accomplish this if you have a pure heart,” he says. “Any delay or insincerity in performing the adhan might erode our faith.”
The adhan is disappointing when the muezzins make it a mere “formality”. While a talented recitation can “touch straight to the heart”, he continues.
His role gives him a certain celebrity. Believers sometimes come from afar to hear the call of the Faisal Mosque and do not hesitate to ask for selfies.
In Swabi, his birthplace, Noor is a local hero. But when he gets there, he just leads a “normal life”.
He now dreams of becoming muezzin of the great mosque in Mecca. “I can’t explain these feelings,” he says. “Every Muslim should try to create this link between him and God (…) There is peace there.”
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