New York Heard the Call to Prayer This Ramadan. The Rest of America May Be Next
Islam is not tiptoeing into America. It is knocking.
Picture this. 5am in Brooklyn. Loudspeakers. The Islamic call to prayer cutting through the neighborhood before your alarm gets a chance. Five times a day. And the internet is on fire. Everybody has something to say. And none of it sounds like the Holy Spirit. Does the Church know what to do when the sound plays? Walk with me.
The word adhan comes from the Arabic root adhina to hear, to be informed. An announcement broadcast into public space expecting a response. The predawn call adds one line: As salatu khayrun minan nawm. Prayer is better than sleep. Over the streets of New York, a sound is going out: there is a God, He is great, come to salvation. This pattern is not new. And when I read it, I could not help but think of something that happened in Babylon 2,600 years ago. Open Daniel 3.
Nebuchadnezzar builds a ninety-foot gold statue and gathers officials from every nation under his rule. The announcement goes out to "all nations, races, and languages": "At the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery... you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up." Daniel 3:5 (NKJV) In the Aramaic, hear is sh@ma the same root as the Shema. To truly hear was to obey. The sound goes out. The expectation is submission. Former Muslim commentator Danny Burmawi puts it plainly: the public adhan is a declaration we exist publicly, this space belongs to us.
Nebuchadnezzar ran this same play. When the music played, all the people fell down and worshipped. All of them. Except three. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had simply already decided before the moment who they belonged to: "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us... But if not, let it be known that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." Daniel 3:17-18 (NKJV) Settled identity before the sound played. That is what made them unmovable. The question this moment is asking is not: are you offended? It's: have you already decided? Ramadan began this week. We are in it right now. The question is not whether you are offended by the sound. The question is what you are going to do about it.
If you have a righteous indignation and feel prompted to act on that, good. But consider where that outrage actually belongs. The Church has been outside of Babylon commenting on it, posting about it, being offended by it, instead of being inside it operating with the Holy Spirit. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not out in the streets protesting the decree. They were already inside the system, serving in it, when the moment came. And because they were positioned there and held their holy posture, the most powerful man in that system was compelled to declare Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Daniel 3:28 (KJV) The decree did not change. The furnace stayed. But the king promoted them and publicly declared there is no other God who can deliver like this.
That is what a holy believer positioned inside government can produce. The favor of the Lord has never played fair. Blood bought, born again, on fire believers of Jesus Christ need to be in government and politics, ready to occupy that space in a holy state. Not lukewarm. Not performing. Holy. Because that is what this hour requires. However, for those not called to that arena, the Lord has shown us an option that is just as effective. Stay on post. Stay in prayer. Remain consistent in your posture before God regardless of what is being broadcast in the atmosphere around you. Daniel received the news that a decree had gone out across the land governing how people were expected to bow. He went home, opened his window, and prayed. Three times that day. Same as he always had. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Daniel 6:10 (NKJV)
Lord, raise up believers who are bold enough and holy enough to occupy every space this hour requires. And for those You have stationed in prayer, keep us consistent. Settled. On post. In Jesus' name amen.
Stay forever locked in Christ.