80 July 2014 www.womanthismonth.com she says The Call to Prayer by BEHNAZ SANJANA I’ve been musing over the powers that we believe in. Is there a better time to reflect on our faith than at the brink of this spiritual season? We trooped out of a little eatery on an alleyway smack in the middle of Manama. With our satiated stomachs, we came onto the main street in quite a hubbub with our children chattering aloud, the grown-ups clumsily handling the prams, holding onto bags and snapping selfies. The unique flavours of a quintessential Bahraini brunch still lingered on our taste buds as we started on our way towards the car park. This rustic, local, alfresco dining experience was well worth writing home about. Little did I know that what I was about to witness next would be the ultimate salve for the spirit. The cleric’s call to prayer rose up in the Friday sky; it felt like there was an instant hush on earth. The otherwise grey sidewalk was now covered with prayer rugs of variegated hues; on them stood hundreds of devotees — all shoulder to shoulder. The seemingly endless rows of gahfiya caps were the cynosure of our eyes. Modest white cotton ones hobnobbed with the more intricately designed crocheted ones, all bowed, rose, turned to the right and then to the left in perfect tandem. The air was thick with reverence, infusing our core being with tranquil. We could hear no traffic sounds. The kids had mellowed down from their usual hyperactivity. They had stopped their jibber-jabber and looked around in amazement as they tiptoed on. We gingerly walked the road, lest our shuffle broke the serenity. This may be a usual occurrence every Friday, but it stirred something inside me and will be a sight I will always remember. Do you indulge in prayer? Ok, my atheist friends, don’t shy away just yet. I like to think of prayer as an acknowledgment of the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient supreme force that created the cosmos and oversees the grand scheme of things. A simple acknowledgement with a little thank you note thrown in. Thank you for the BD20 I found in my jeans when Mango announced their sale. Thank you for this healthful life you have blessed us with. Thank you for Earth being your favourite blue ball in all of space. Sometimes we forget the presence of the force; so we get a gentle reminder — an overwhelmingly picturesque scene, like the sleepy smile of a newborn, a tiny blooming bud or maybe, the obeisance of a hundred souls on a sidewalk.
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