room or hall. In the Indian subcontinent, Muslim women pray at home. Before praying, the worshiper must make ablutions.
Before every congregational prayer, a formal public call to prayer is made from a minaret of the mosque by the muezzin (from azan, ôcall to prayerö). In recent times the call has been made over a microphone so that those at some distance can hear it.
Special early afternoon prayers are offered on Fridays in congregational mosques. These are preceded by a sermon from the pulpit by the imam, also called the Khatib. On the two annual religious festival days called Ids (one immediately after the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and the other immediately after the pilgrimage to Mecca), there are special prayers followed by sermons in the morning. These prayers are not held in mosques but in a wide space outside set apart for this purpose (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1999 CD-ROM version, entry on Islam).
The third cardinal duty of a Muslim is to pay zkhat. This was originally the tax levied by Muhammad (and later by Muslim states) on the wealthy mem
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