Adjacent villages' calls to prayer confuse residents about iftar timings
by Anadolu Agency
KIRŞEHİR, TurkeyJul 03, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Anadolu Agency
Jul 03, 2015 12:00 am
The residents of the Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood in the Çiçekdağı district of the central province of Kırşehir, which is close to Yozgat's Yerköy district, cannot differentiate between which district the voice of the call to prayer belongs to during Ramadan. The situation causes the villagers to worry, as breaking the fast before the evening adhan results in them ruining their fasting. Fevzi Çakmak residents hesitate as they break their fast because the iftar time in Yerköy is sometimes one minute earlier.
Mehmet Doğan, who has been living in Fevzi Çakmak for 40 years, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that only a road separates the two districts and his house is situated where the two districts cross. He also said that the call to prayer of the Gültepe Mosque in Yerköy and the Ahi Mosque in Çiçekdağı, which are only 300 meters away from each other, are sometimes recited at different times. Doğan said, "After the people in the village began to migrate, the two neighborhoods started to merge with each other. When we call our neighbors and relatives in Yerköy, we have to dial the area code even though it is so close to us. We also hesitate on the call to prayer times. When the call to prayer is recited in Yerköy, the residents of Çiçekdağı break their fast as they think that the call to prayer was already recited. The call to prayer is recited in Yerköy next to us but we break our fast according to the iftar (the fast-breaking meal) time on the border of Çiçekdağı."
One of the neighborhood's residents, Kenan Keleş, said there is a time difference between the calls to prayer of the two districts on some days. Saying that they got used to this situation and began to make jokes about the call to prayer times, Keleş stressed they break their fast sometimes with the call to prayer of Yerköy and sometimes with the call to prayer of Çiçekdağı. He continued, "We do not know which one is correct. There is nothing to do, may Allah accept it." Dudu Kurnaz, a housewife, whose house is 150 meters away from the mosques that are close to the border of Çiçekdağı and Yerköy, said: "We live in Çiçekdağı but the mosque in Yerköy is very close to us. Sometimes the call to prayer in Yerköy is recited one minute earlier, so we get confused and sometimes we break our fast with the call to prayer of our mosque." Mufti officers from the two districts tried to negotiate to avoid the difference in the call to prayer times.
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