Wondrous Sound

I generally post a photo here but a while back I was visiting the mosque and madrasa of Sultan Hassan in Cairo with a friend when one of the men offered to show us how the construction of the mosque facilitated the transmission of sound from the area where the sheikh would be preaching to the people sitting in the large courtyard. This mosque was built in the 1100's long before anyone could dream of microphones, but the effects are extraordinary.

Prayer Beads

A man in Khan el Khalili strides past a shop selling prayer beads. Islamic prayer beads come in strings of 33 or 99 beads, for the 99 "names" or attributes of Allah. It is thought that prayer beads originated with the Hindus, were passed on to Buddhists, then to Muslims, and on to Christians who say that the Dominicans had the rosary revealed to them in the 1300's. Every religious group has a different number of beads and a slightly different pattern of usage, but the essential idea is the same, a way of reminding people of God during a busy day.