In his series with the National Geographic, Morgan Freeman tours the world to understand God in different religions. When he heard the Adhan (Call to Prayer) in a Masjid (Mosque) in Cairo, he thought it was one of the most beautiful sounds in the world.
Morgan Freeman: I’ve decided to return to Cairo to try and understand who God is to Muslims. Islam believes in the same God as Jews and Christians but I want to know if there are differences in how they think about the divine historian of Islam Ahmed Ragab has brought me to the Al-Hussein mosque and you can just come in here just like the catholic church so it’s always open to prayer if you want to come in here and you can hang out with yourself and Allah yeah absolutely.
I’m just in time to hear what Muslims believe is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world the call to prayer (Adhan) for the faithful the song of the Muezzin is a manifestation of God himself, So that’s the end of the prayer is by saying AsSalam-u-Alaikum much like when you end an encounter with anybody and it is because the prayer is essentially a meeting with god collection like “hey you know see you later nice talk see you the next time”
Prayer to Allah seems like a conversation with a person but how do you speak to a person who has no human form? To help me understand Ahmed has arranged a meeting with the mosque spiritual leader Imam Al-Ameer Mahfooz, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Morgan Freeman: in the Christian religion, God is so manifested but there is no such thing in Islam so who am I talking to do I envision anything.
Imam: you cannot imagine God. God is beyond imagination whatever you would imagine with our human minds god would be different from it.
Morgan Freeman: one of the most heartening and beautiful sounds in the world is the Muslim call to prayer, what was the origin of that?
Imam: one of Prophet Muhammad’s companions had a vision while he was asleep where he heard this call for prayer and then when he woke up he went to Prophet Muhammad and told him about it and he’s made it into this ritual of using it to call for prayers every day, five times every day.
Morgan Freeman: The Muezzin? How is he chosen? Do you hold auditions?
Imam: There are auditions where they would listen to people and the one who has the best voice would be given the position.
Mosques are designed to be filled with beautiful sounds and images that delight the senses from elaborate architecture to verses of the Quran written in the finest calligraphy. Many Muslims see this beauty as a manifestation of God himself. Islam sees god in all things that are beautiful because god has no physical form. It can be experienced anywhere with any of the senses. but these experiences are only ever aspects of the divine. God is always more than we can imagine
