I found myself overwhelmed by the feeling of thankfulness and the simultaneous fear of depravity while praying my Maghrib prayers in Faisal Masjid.

My take on the adhaan is not supported by any Verse or Ahadith. Yet the feeling is so strong.

When I went for Umrah last April, I experienced something entirely new to me: having to hear the adhaan in a country other than mine. I have travelled to most of Europe, even Turkey, the United States and Canada. I had not been to a place where I had heard the call to prayer.

I was moved to tears not only because I was in the courtyard of the first mosque built for Allah, but also because I realized what I had missed all my life. I take the adhaan very personally, as I try to take all other blessings Allah has Given me. The adhaan is for me. It is calling me to prayer. I can hear it because Allah Deems me worthy of His worship. Similarly I feel that to not be able to hear it, to keep searching for it is almost symbolic of seeking Allah's Pleasure and not being able to find it.

I do not remember the source of the hadith but I will update my post soon enough to cite it. I had once read that Rasool Allah SAWS said that the Muslim Ummah has been blessed with three things that no other Ummah in the past was given: earth has been made pure for us (tayammum), we have right over maal-e-ghaneemat (spoils of war) and the entire world is a masjid (place of prayer) for us.

Hearing the adhaan in Haram Pak, Masjid-e-Nabi SAWS, and then in Faisal Masjid was the final resolution of the depravity I would feel in other countries without the adhaan, the times I could hear the adhaan in my head and wake up in the morning, and also during the day when I found myself setting my watch to the sounds inside my head. Allah's Call to prayer is irreplaceable and it's importance can only be imagined when one has to do without it.

The adhaan is for me, and alhamdo lillah my yearning to hear it is also for me.