As the prayers came to an end, however, the sight of billowing black smoke from a burning car caught the attention of protesters who began surging en masse towards it.
Saad el-Katatni, the speaker of the Parliament and a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, tried to interrupt the very persistent Mr. Ismail, but when the call for prayers came to the words "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah," his hands were tied.
Countless times, the words "Come to prayer, Come to well-being," prompted me to step back from my day and remember what was most important.
Often the Serenity Prayer comes to mind as a way to cope.
After that scene, a Native American prayer came to my mind, "I seek strength not to be greater that my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy, myself".
His goal is to prevent the bloody brawls that have erupted each time the Vancouver, Wash.-based group Patriot Prayer comes to town.
A small piece of Truman Capote's famously unfinished novel "Answered Prayers" has come to light.
Hineni, he-ani mi-ma'as... (Here I am, a person of impoverished acts...) In reflecting on the words of this prayer, I have come to view it as much more than a preamble for the Musaf service on the High Holy Days.
But here nonetheless, amid the tinkling of bells and chanting of prayers, many British Hindus come to scatter the ashes of their dead.
The adhān was originally a simple "Come to prayer," but, according to tradition, Muḥammad consulted his followers with a view to investing the call with greater dignity.
