“Allahu Akbar”, once
you live in a predominantly Muslim dominated community you hear this a lot ahead of every
call to prayer. Islamic prayer (Salat) is traditionally said 5
times a day, which is spread throughout various time points during the day.
Islamic prayer has had an impact on the way i live my life since i moved to Upper west of Ghana especially the capital Wa which has quite a substantial number of Muslims. Why? Because the “call to prayer” helps me see my life unrolling
right in front of my eyes thus making me get a better sense of how i’m spending
my days.
Living in predominantly Islamic neighborhood
you hear all the five calls to prayer. “Allahu Akbar” literally translates
as “Allah (God) is Great” and precedes most of the calls to prayer. First of the
prayers is the “Fajir” i often hear the call at 5 am whiles the prayer is said
around 5.15-5:30am this is a call for me to wake up myself and pray, meditate
and have a moment of self-reflection after which i plan my day. I have read so many times on how 'early risers' are more efficient and very effective. This has somehow proven to be true for me I usually plan the day mentally to have a fair idea of the things i want to achieve
throughout the day. Because knowing the kind of person i am, “your typical
type-A, has too many ideas, excited about everything and ends up doing nothing”
it’s really helpful to have focus and a goal.
Then there is the
afternoon prayer called “Zuhr”, the prayer is said around 1.15 -2pm but I
personally call it “go get lunch” prayer. Whiles eating my lunch which is
usually fufu, i check up on my mental to-do list to see what i have been able
to get done in the past 6 hours and gear myself up for what is left to be done.
The third prayer is
known as “Asr” said around 3.15 -3.30 in the late afternoon, at this point i label my to-do list a
going down the drain chore because technically my “working day” is grinding to
an end. At this prayer point, my eyes and my body are just begging me for a nap since i woke up early. This is the point where I cancel “go to the bank” off my to do list and
push it to the next day. Meanwhile,i’m texting my friends asking where are we 'hanging out' in the evening.
6.10pm call to prayer
known as ”Majud” this is where the technical part of my brain is gradually making
a beeline for the finish whiles my right brain comes alive. HAPPY HOUR? YES!!!
6.15-11.30pm prayer is
the final prayer called “Isha” this is such an important prayer call for me
because it just reminds me to take stock of my life and reflect over the success
and the missed opportunities, the defeats and how i can live a better life. And the fact that it is
in a wide range just signifies that there is still time to do what you really
want to do nothing is ever too late.
So next time when you
hear “Allahu Akbar” from a distance, Muslim or not it’s a clarion call for
proper time management…
Thanks to Zainab for helping me out with this one...
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