Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/78



! God is most great! God is most great! God is most great! God is most great!" Thus sang out the muezzin from the top of the high minaret of the great mosque in Damascus as he gave the Moslem call to prayer in a high falsetto voice. It happened to be Friday. I was standing with some friends in a beautiful little garden by the tomb of Saladin. I remembered those fierce and worse than useless struggles of the Crusades when this famous Saracenic warrior led his Moslem troops against the Christian forces of Richard the Lion-hearted all of which reminded us that the Crusades were great pageantry, but poor Christianity.

And then this beautifully weird call to prayer suddenly broke in upon our meditations, with its four times repeated "Allahu akbar!" We all stood at attention to hear it to the end. The day was the Moslem Sabbath, and it was a thrilling sight to see multitudes hurrying to the mosque in response to that call. It was as though the forces of Mohammed the Prophet were being mobilized again for action, so ready was the response as the faithful listened to the muezzin with his melodious voice sing out in stately Arabic, "God