Soundscapes of the Adhan, the Islamic Call-to-Prayer: A Semiotic More-Than-Digital Analysis

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Postdigital Science and Education

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Abstract

Taking the Islamic call-to-prayer as a case, or the Adhān as it is known in Arabic, this study examines its more-than-digital dynamics as a soundscape of profound sociocultural meanings, semiotic and multicultural interpretations. The novel semiotic more-than-digital framework is designed to consider how the call-to-prayer soundscapes are a doctrine of signs which are comprised of historical, Islamic religious, technological, and modern affordances. Within the study’s broadly two-step methods, situated soundwalks were conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as via analytical walkthroughs of sites dedicated to the call-to-prayer on Facebook and TikTok. While the ancient call-to-prayer represents the longue durée of centuries, the study reveals contemporary aspects of the multifaceted soundscape, which include the live song and recordings of prayer from mosque minarets, public speakers, and mobile devices across the Muslim world, diaspora communities, and social media platforms. The findings reveal a complex more-than-digital semiotic system and emerging infrastructure that represent the various processes of modernity, integration, and inclusion of Muslims in the modern age. However, theorising suggests that the relational temporality, meanings, and political effects of soundscapes cannot be reduced to religiosity, bounded media, or individualised paradigms alone. Conversely, the call-to-prayer soundscapes are objects of ritual as well as pivotal sign arguments which can territorialize, reterritorialize, and deterritorialize interpreters in time, place, and spaces of belonging within the fragmented auditory communities of communicative capitalism.

ISSN

2524-485X

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Call-to-prayer, Communicative capitalism, More-than-digital, Postdigital, Semiotic, Soundscapes

Scopus ID

85195311100

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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