A letter

Dear Mosque,

First time caller. I have been around you before, but I am now making a concerted effort to understand you. I recognize your importance in a way that I had not previously. I have several questions that I am hoping you can help me with. To start:

1. What is that you are saying so loudly to me 5 times daily? Are you praying?
2. What are these pillars on which the faith of those who attend you are built?
3. Who is Fatima? Why is her hand on many of the door knockers in town?

Any help that you can give would be much appreciated.

Regards,
Seeking Understanding Please

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Dear SUP,

First off, the idea that I can reply to you is somewhat odd and may possibly be offensive. You are but a child though and have no knowledge of absolutely anything around you. It is obvious to me that you are trying to write a readable blog post, so I will entertain you this time.

1. I am certainly not praying over my loudspeakers. I am calling all Muslims to prayer. It is called the Adhan and is heard at dawn, at the midday, about the middle of the afternoon, just after sunset and at nightfall (about two hours after sunset). The Sunni version (the predominant religion in the country you are in) goes something like this:

Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar
-- Allah is greatest, Allah is the greatest,
Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah - Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah
-- I bear witness that there is no divinty but Allah
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah
-- I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah.
-- I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger
Hayya la-s-saleah - Hayya la-s-saleah
-- Make haste towards prayer, Make haste towards prayer
Hayya la-l-faleah - Hayya la-l-faleah
-- Make haste towards real success, Make haste towards real success,
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar
-- Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest
La Ilaha ill Allah
-- There is no divinity but Allah

At daybreak, I also say "Prayer is better than sleep", because as you know, that is true.

2. As you are starting to see, Islam is pretty complicated. Just like there are 1000+ Christian groups, people do things differently depending on their flavor of faith here. Grossly simplifying things appears to leave us with (one source):

Sunni's have:

Shahadah (profession of faith)
Salah (ritual prayer)
Zakat (almsgiving)
Sawm (fasting during Ramadan)
Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)

Shia's add three more:

Taharah (cleanliness and purity)
Walayah (love and devotion for God, the Prophets, the Imam and the dai)
Jihad (meaning struggle or striving in the way of Allah)

So depending on how you look at it, there are 5,7 or 8 pillars of Islam.

3. Fatima is the daughter of the prophet Muhammad from his first wife Khadija. As for the hand, remember when you were cooking dinner with that dude Kamaal and he said that there were too many stories regarding this history? Well that appears to be true. The going theme of all of them though is that she wards off the evil eye and can be found on jewelry and yes, door knockers.

SUP, I may not be able to speak to you again, but I wish you good luck.

Ma’a salama,
A Mosque