Muslims Log On to a Cyber Congregation
ABC News: Muslims Log On to a Cyber Congregation
“Oct. 15, 2004 � Oct. 15, 2004 – From desert camps, hillsides, rooftops, mosques and minarets, the call for the evening prayer during the holy month of Ramadan has drawn Muslims across the world to worship for nearly 1,400 years.
As the first cries of the taraweeh — or special Ramadan prayers — are heard through a raised voice, a bullhorn, or nowadays a rigged-up amplifier, life in villages, towns, cities, and in some cases entire nations, comes to a standstill as the faithful heed the summons in communal displays of faith.
But if many Ramadan rituals have gone unchanged through the centuries, the times are catching up with the world’s fastest-growing religion.
In the next few weeks, millions of Muslims will simply log on to their computers and with the click of a mouse, tune into a live or downloaded broadcast of the taraweeh prayers from the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. “