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The Turks also built, close to each mosque, one or more candle-shaped towers, called minarets. About midway of a minaret is a balcony, and five times a day a priest appears on this balcony and calls the people of the city to prayer. This is done instead of ringing church bells as they do in Christian churches, for Mohammedans do not use bells, even in their own homes. When they want to call a servant they clap their hands. The first call to prayer is about five o’clock in the morning—sort of an alarm clock—when the priest says, “Come to prayer. Prayer is better than Sleep.”

Not many people get up at that time to pray, however. When he calls out, a very good Mohammedan goes into the nearest mosque to pray, or he gets down on his knees and bows his head till it touches the ground. Whenever he goes into a mosque he must first wash his face, hands, and feet, so almost every mosque has a pool or fountain, sometimes on the steps, sometimes in the courtyard, where the people can wash before they enter. For this reason also there are a great many fountains throughout Istanbul. They are not for drinking—they are not for beauty; they are for washing. The mosques are for men only. Women used to be allowed in little hidden cells in the mosque, where they could not be seen, for women and children were supposed neither to be seen nor heard. The Mohammedans’ Sunday is our Friday. The Mohammedan goes to the mosque every day if he can, but always on Friday.

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土耳其人还在每座清真寺旁建造至少一座形似蜡烛的塔楼，叫做宣礼塔。在塔的中层有一个阳台，宣礼员每天五次出现在阳台上，呼唤城里的信徒参加祈祷，而不是像基督教教堂用钟声来提醒基督徒做祷告，因为伊斯兰教徒不用钟，甚至在自己家里也不用，需要召唤仆人时，他们就拍拍掌。第一次呼唤祈祷大约是在早上五点——有点像闹钟的作用——这时宣礼员就会说：“来祈祷吧，祈祷比睡觉更有益。”

然而，并没有很多人那么早起身去祈祷，当宣礼员呼唤时，特别虔诚的伊斯兰教徒就会到最近的清真寺去祷告，或者双膝跪地，低下头礼拜直到头触到地面。伊斯兰教教徒无论何时进入一座清真寺，都必须先洗脸、洗手、洗脚，所以几乎每座清真寺的台阶上或者院子里都有水池或喷泉，让人们进寺前可以清洗自己。也正是这个原因，伊斯坦布尔有很多喷泉。它们不是用来饮用的——也不是用来美化环境的，它们是用来洗濯的。清真寺只允许男人进入。女人过去只被允许待在清真寺中隐蔽的小房间里，待在那儿她们不会被别人看见，因为女人和孩子不应该出现在清真寺。伊斯兰教徒的星期天是我们的星期五。只要有时间，伊斯兰教徒每天都去清真寺，但他们在星期五总是去清真寺。