"Al-la-hu, Ak-bar! Al-la-hu, Ak-bar!" uttering each syllable distinctly.
It was the Muezzin calling the people to prayer. Looking up we saw him on a little balcony near the summit of a minaret which stood within the enclosure of the adjoining Mosque of Ahmed. Then he disappeared and we heard more faintly his call from the farther side of the balcony. It is the Muezzin's duty to repeat his calls from the four sides of the minaret, to north, east, south, and west. His words were interpreted for us: "God is great," repeated four times on each side of the minaret.
Faithful Moslems on hearing the call repeated his words.
"There is no God but God," he called again, reciting it twice.
His hearers repeated this declaration.
"Mohammed is the prophet of God."
The people responded in the same words.
"Come to prayer."
"I have no power or strength but from God most high and great," all true believers replied.
"Come to do good," again the Muezzin called.