The History of the Mesaharaty: Ramadan’s Night Caller
by Shahinda Abdalla
One of the most iconic sounds of Ramadan is that of the night caller, known in arabic as the Mesaharaty. Traditionally to be a Mesaharaty, you needed to have a pleasant and loud voice with good lungs that could carry your voice long distances and into people’s homes waking them up from the slumbers of their sleep so that they may have one last meal before dawn arrives and the fast of the new day begins. The role of the mesaharaty used to be an integral one particularly before the advent of technology especially when people didn’t have their own alarm clocks at home to wake them up. In those times, a mesaharaty served a very precious role. Though not paid a salary, a mesharaty would receive donations by members of the community.
The exact origins of the mesaharty are not known for certain. Some attribute the act of calling to people in the night all the way back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad when Bilal bin Rabah, the first muazzin in Islam (prayer caller) used to also warn people from the top of the mosque to refrain from eating shortly before he called out for fajr (dawn) prayer. In Egypt, the tradition as we know it today is said to have started in the year 238 AH (Hijri) or 852 AD with Antaba bin Ishaq, who was then the country’s ruler. He used to walk from Fustat City to Amr Ibn Al Aas Mosque calling out to Muslims to have their suhour (the last meal before dawn).
In the Abbasid period, the mesaharaty sang verses of poetry called “Al Quma” throughout the nights of Ramadan. In the era of the Tulanian state, the role of mesaharaty was opened up to women but instead of walking the streets late in the night, they would sit behind the mashrabiya (wooden interlaced window) and sang with a loud voice to awaken people of the neighborhood for sohour. The job of mesaharaty was not one you could just take up. It was an inherited role that passed down through families. Eventually, the mesaharaty used the assistance of a musical instrument to ensure that people heard the wake up call. In Egypt, the mesaharaty used the drum and in the Levant countries such as Syria the Arabic flute or nay was more commonly used. Often accompanied by a small child holding a lantern to light the way, the mesaharaty would repeat the words ‘Isha ya Sayem, Wahed Allah’ (Wake Up O Fasting One, Proclaim the Oneness of God).
Though iconic, the wake up call of the mesaharaty roaming the streets of Cairo is barely heard anymore. Now merely a folkloric memory for many, night callers have declined dramatically over the last three decades. Many attribute this decline to the advent of mobile phones, people staying up all night in Ramadan watching series or going out so not needing to be woken up, and Cairo becoming tremendously louder and noisier that the mesaharaty’s voice and instrument are barely audible. Even though a mesaharaty might not be the most functional waking up system for suhour anymore, their presence and sound still fill our hearts with joy reminding us of our beautiful shared heritage.