The day, like all days, begins with the Adhan, the call to prayer, from a nearby mosque. Am assuming recorded, although it may be live and certainly is in some places. The first call is pre-dawn and includes the words prayer is better than sleep. Doesn’t
succeed in getting us out of bed if we hear it.
These days Muslims anywhere in the world can go online and check the prayer times in their locality but obviously past days required simpler methods. The noon(ish) prayer, dhur, is meant to be when the length of your shadow is equal to your height. And the afternoon prayer, Asr, when your shadow is twice the length of your height. Pretty easy for anyone to assess anywhere, and reminds me of the rule, understood by quite small children, that you need sunscreen if your shadow is shorter than you are.
So today we are sitting in the sun on the deck when the first notes of the afternoon prayer begin. Think that surely it can’t be time yet. Twenty past two. But stand up and sure enough my shadow looks to be twice my height. We’re approaching the shortest day of the year, although at our latitude, 35.3364 degrees north, the days are not all that short. Asr in Sioux Lookout today would have been at 1:51 pm, and the day - sunrise to sunset - eight hours and three minutes instead of Lapta’s nine hours and
forty-six minutes.