Dueling LOUDspeakers- Another Hot Flash from Sonia

Two-thirds of Chad’s population being Muslim, everyone is subjected to hearing about Salat, the second pillar of Islam, five times each day. A Muslim is required to pray at daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and before going to bed. Here in Chad, the muezzins like to wake up the general population with loudspeakers pointed into the neighborhoods and turned on full-blast somewhere between 4 and 4:30 AM. The sun is barely peaking over the horizon at 6 AM, but since the heat of the day strikes early in the Sahel, most workers like to get an early start.

Chad is a former French colony, which means that from 1 to 4 PM shopping comes to a screeching halt for the lengthy, traditional European lunch and siesta time. Therefore, the muezzins generally delay their noon call to prayer until 1:30 PM for the benefit of all the Muslim shop owners. The other calls follow in two to three hour increments: about 3 PM, at sunset and around 7:30 PM. (When your day starts at four o’clock, bedtime needs to come early, as well.) We have noticed that during Ramadan—the Islamic month of fasting during daylight hours—sunset magically comes a few minutes earlier every evening, and platters of food appear next to the prayer mats for the immediate satiation of the adherents’ physical appetites.

Living here, surrounded by these sounds which are a part of our lives but unrelated to us, we have learned to tune out the mosques’ PA systems most of the time. If their message—get up and pray; it is more blessed to pray than to sleep—does break through the fog of slumber from time to time, I do just that…pray for my family back in the USA, for Bill, for the ministry and churches here in Chad, and for Muslims to find Jesus as their own Savior. Generally, I fall back to sleep within a few minutes.

We have now entered Christmas week. Sunday afternoon, the pastor responsible for the Moundou churches came to Bill’s office about the schedule of festivities for the week. One of his requests was for the mission’s sound system to use at 5 AM every morning of the week to “announce Christmas to the neighborhood.” Bill jokingly asked if he was trying to enter into competition with the mosques. At 4 AM this morning I realized that is exactly what the local pastors are trying to do! That was when the first of the area’s church PA systems blasted Christian music into the quarter. Of course, the mosques (a half dozen surround our house) followed their usual schedule, but it seems as though they all had power boosters on this morning. And not only did they call the faithful to prayer, they also broadcasted the prayer leader’s words to the city. Since then, numerous other churches have turned on their PA systems. I gave up on sleep long ago!

Tomorrow night—Christmas Eve—all this noise will come to a head when the cabarets add their disco music to the mix. They have been blasting away till after midnight each evening since Christmas vacation began last Friday. The night before Christmas here in Chad is definitely not “still as a mouse”! The churches will celebrate all night long with feasting, Christian videos, worship, skits, a message from the Word, and lots and lots of loud music. In the neighborhoods, the bars’ PA systems will be playing dance tunes all night long. At 4 AM, all this noise will be joined by the usual call to prayer. Shortly afterward, both the Christians and the unbelievers will stumble home to sleep most of Christmas day away. Is it any wonder that many Muslims equate unbelief with Christianity?

Although this gives us pause, we know the truth. Christmas and Easter—the two official Christian holidays here in Chad—are days when believers in Jesus can truly celebrate well. This week we remember the fact that God Incarnate came to earth as a baby, walked among us, was tempted as we are but without ever sinning, and became the perfect sacrifice for all our transgressions with His death on the cross. At Easter, we celebrate His resurrection from and triumph over death. The grave itself could not hold Emmanuel—God with us! He arose to give those who believe in Him power over sin and victory over death and hell.

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