A
muezzin or
muzim, is the chosen person at a
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
who leads the call to prayer (
adhanThe adhān is the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin at prescribed times of the day. The root of the word is meaning "to permit"; another derivative of this word is , meaning "ear"....
) at Friday services and the five daily times for prayer (
salatSalah is the practice of formal prayer in Islam. Its importance for Muslims is indicated by its status as one of the Five Pillars of Sunni Islam, of the Ten Practices of the Religion of Twelver Islam and of the 7 pillars of Musta'lī Ismailis...
, Turkish
namaz) from one of the mosque's
minaretA minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s; in most modern mosques, electronic
amplificationLoudspeakers in mosques are generally used for Adhan or "call to prayer", or sometimes for Khutbah or sermons. External loudspeakers are generally mounted on tall minarets. Mosque loudspeakers are used for a call to prayer, five times a day...
aids the
muezzin in his task.
The professional
muezzin is chosen for his good character, voice and skills to serve at the mosque; he however is not considered a cleric, but in a position rather comparable to a Christian
sextonA sexton is a church, congregation or synagogue officer charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger...
. When calling to prayer, the
muezzin faces the
Qiblah, the direction of the
Ka'bah in Mecca, while he cries out the
adhan. During the worship service, the
muezzin in some mosques stands on a special platform (called the
müezzin mahfiliThe müezzin mahfili is a special raised platform in a mosque, opposite the minbar, where a muezzin kneels and chants in response to the imam's prayers....
in
TurkishTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
), which is opposite the
imamAn imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
's
minbarA minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...
and gives responses during the imam's sermon, the
khutbah.
The institution of the
muezzin has existed since the time of
MuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. The first
muezzin was
Bilal ibn RibahBilal ibn Rabah or Bilal al-Habashi was an Ethiopian born in Mecca in the late 6th century, sometime between 578 and 582.The Islamic prophet Muhammad chose a former African slave Bilal as his muezzin, effectively making him the first muezzin of the Islamic faith...
, who walked the streets to call the believers to come to prayer. Although 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, all of these are elements of the
muezzin's role during the
adhan.
After minarets became customary at mosques, the office of
muezzin in cities was sometimes given to a
blindBlindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
man, who could not see down into the inner courtyards of the citizen's houses and thus could not violate privacy.
The call of the
muezzin is also considered an art form, reflected in the melodious chanting of the
adhan. A recently released documentary, "Muezzin", by Austrian filmmaker Sebastian Brameshuber, shows Turkish muezzins competing in an annual nationwide call to prayer competition.
However, this may be about to change: The Minister of Religious Foundations in Egypt wishes to introduce a centralized muezzin by the end of the year. A single muezzin voice will be broadcast live on a radio channel simultaneously to all government mosques.
Notable muezzins
- Bilal ibn Ribah
Bilal ibn Rabah or Bilal al-Habashi was an Ethiopian born in Mecca in the late 6th century, sometime between 578 and 582.The Islamic prophet Muhammad chose a former African slave Bilal as his muezzin, effectively making him the first muezzin of the Islamic faith...
- Rahim Moazzen Zadeh Ardabili
Rahim Moazzen Zadeh Ardabili was a prominent Shia Moazzen in Iran.He was born in Ardabil Province in a very religious family. His father Abdul Karim Moazzen Zadeh Ardabili was himself the first Moazzen to call azaan. When Sheikh Abdul Karim Moazzen Zadeh Ardabili called out to prayer , his voice...
- Ali Ahmed Mulla
Sheikh Ali Abdul Rahman Ahmed Mulla is the veteran muezzin at the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Ali Ahmed is up to date the longest serving muezzin for the Masjid al-Haram and has been following his family tradition in this profession for over 31 years...
External links