Called to Prayer 5 Times Daily in Algiers
Algiers, Algeria
Capital of Algeria, North Africa
The following is a fictional story based on real events.
Rachid loved to look out across the white buildings of Central Algiers. They reflected the dazzling sunlight back toward him perched on his fourth floor balcony near the Main Post Office. Rachid strained to see a ship arriving from the Mediterranean Sea just beyond the harbour. To the south he could see the towering national Martyrs monument and to the north he could see parts of the casbah (the old city). Traffic was jammed near the Main Post Office. Car horns and many passing ears got no rest as impatient drivers sought to escape the blocked street. Just before 1:00 PM the muezzin began his call to prayer over the local mosque's loud speakers. Soon dozens of mosques were echoing the same refrain throughout the city in Arabic.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar
(Allah* is the greatest)
I bear witness that there is no god except Allah (x2)
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God (x2)
Come to prayer (x2)
Come to prosperity (x2)
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar
There is no god except Allah**
Several men in the street below starting to move toward the local mosque. Rachid did not usually have the habit of participating in the prayers even on Fridays. However, the recent death of his uncle had made him start reflecting about getting serious with his religious duties. He also needed to get married. His late evenings in neighbouring Tipaza partying with his young friends were probably going to have to end. Rachid knew that the seriousness of life would soon overtake him.
All over the world Muslims are called to prayer five times per day. In many cities it is possible to hear the call from dozens of local mosques at once. In the early morning the phrase "Prayer is better than sleep" is added to the call.
Algeria
Prayer requests:
* Over two million people live in greater Algiers. There are possibly several hundred Christians from a Muslim background among the Arabs and Berbers who make up the population. Several thousand new believers in the Messiah live among the Berbers of Kabylia a few hours to the east of Algiers. A 2006 national law essentially forbids any Christian evangelism efforts (Acts 5:27-29).
* Many of Algiers young people are torn between western youth culture and their traditional roots. May they find the father. (Luke 15:11-32).
* Pray that house groups may flourish in the following districts of the city and suburbs (Acts 20:20, 21:8, 28:30, Romans 16:5).
*Please note that the word Allah is used by Muslims and almost all Arab Christians when referring to the God of Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus. However there are profound differences in Muslim and Christian understanding of the God of Abraham (see our Understanding Islam articles).
Background information, maps and statistics about Algeria are on our 30-days.net site here>>
+ Google Map Link: Algiers, Algeria, North Africa
+ YouTube Video Link: 7.19 minutes, video of the beautiful places in algeria
+ Listen to or download two Gospel recordings in Algerian Arabic:
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Allah is the same as Jehovah?? Help me here! Allah is not a Biblical Name for Almighty Jehovah, and the Scriptures say: God (Jehovah - God of the Hebrews) has already stated: I will have no other gods before me.
I appreciate your work, but disagree with this statement. I have several converted Muslims, and they have confirmed my statement.
Thanks for your work and response.
I am an ex-Muslim myself! I appreciate your work and will be praying earnestly for my people!
Amal-
It is striking to me that probably very few Christians spend 5 times a day in prayer. Would that we do this and reach others with our fervency!
More amazing Cee, is to watch video of Muslim families at the Hajj spending hours, with little children, listening to the ceremony for up to 8 hours with almost no movement ... there is a reverence which is awesome, but a reverence to what ... a dead god, a being which Satan called into place ... striking to me is who is believing what ...
O Kord, help me not to judge my brother until I have walked a day in his moccasins. How much of the Muslim rejection of You is based on our misrepresentations of You? Bless all who in Your name seek to be ambassadors to our muslim brothers and sisters.
I understand that it could seem like blasphemy to say that Allah is the same as Jehovah. However, many "scholars agree that 'Allah' is the Arabicised form of the biblical Aramaic 'elah,' corresponding to the Hebrew 'eloah,' which is the singular of 'elohim'..." and "elohim" is translated as "the Most High God" in the Old Testament. (souce: Encounterin the World of Islam, pg. 20).
Did you know that the English word "God" is derived from the German word "Gott" which refers to pagan gods? So, "Allah" is actually a closer translation of the word.
What you pointed out demonstrates the power of culture over our perception of God, and I think this translates over into what I've been noticing as I'm reading the prayer requests from Muslims all over the world: we're praying for them from a Western perspective.
As Christians in America, we enjoy freedom and the right to get up on our soap box, and our ability to spread our wings and be a "non conformist." We seem to want this same thing for Christians everywhere.
For example, the Christians in Kuwait are working toward partnering with the government to further Christianity and be allowed to take it OUTSIDE of the four walls of their legal church building. As American Christians, it's natural for us to pray for more freedom and tolerance toward our brothers and sisters in Kuwait.
It's very ethnocentric if you ask me, as is presuming one linguistic expression of God is better than the other. The Hebrews of the Old Testament didn't even speak God's name.
Just some thoughts.
Victoria - Thank you for your comment about American Christians praying for freedom and tolerance for other nations. I serve as a trainer for overseas workers and it's so essential that we remove the word "western" from the word Christianity. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in a country through prayer. Sometimes intolerance and persecution is the way the Lord brings people to Himself. It's evident in Asia and other places yet we attempt to fight for their freedom and the church is growing, thriving and mobilized!
Tertullian (an early church father) said that "persecution is the seed of the church". We don't understand that in our 20th century western mind but God, Allah or Jehovah does. It's His job to bring people to Christ in His own way. We need to pull our grimy hands off of this at times and let God work! Allow the nationals to write their own worship music, set up their worship service in their own way and allow them to witness in a way that is appropriate for them in their culture. They know best and so does God!