JEDDAH, 26 March 2005 — Faithful in a Makkah mosque were left pondering a unique puzzle when the muezzin (caller to prayer) at the mosque would just disappear after making the prayer call and not be seen in the congregation. Also, the person making the second call (iqamat) just before the start of the prayers would be different. Their puzzle: Pray, where is the muezzin who made the first call? But, as it turned out, the mystery of the disappearing trick was nothing but a case of the man doing double duty. The worshippers, over some days, would see the muezzin make the call to prayers, and soon after he would simply vanish. Some, in search of answers to this mystery, kept a close watch over the muezzin, and to their surprise found the man doing a double shift, Al-Madinah reported yesterday. The amateur detectives found the man leading prayers in another mosque near the first one. The muezzin had worked out a system that saw him make the call in the first mosque and move quickly to the second one. He got his father or other relatives to make the iqamat in the first mosque, while he led the prayers in the second, the paper added.
