The muezzin’s call to prayer first triggered medieval Latin curiosity about Islam.

Evidence

I frequently heard the Saracens invoke that horrendous monster Machomet by the sound of their voice, so that they can worship him in their bacchanalia, calling on him and worshiping him as a god. Astounded, I came back from Jerusalem to Antioch, where I found a certain little Greek man (Greculus) who knew both Latin and the Saracen language. From him I carefully sought to learn what I should believe about the birth of this monster. … Adelphus, it seems, went to Jerusalem either with the first Crusade or sometime shortly thereafter, returning via Antioch. It is the contact with Islam that piques his curiosity. More precisely, it seems to be the call of the muezzin, the voice invoking Muhammad and “adoring him as a god,” that makes him seek to learn more about Islam. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 744

Categorization

• XREF: A striking inversion of the modern soundscape theme — here the call to prayer is literally misheard as worship of a monster god, echoing how sound mediates cross-cultural misunderstanding.