I nearly jumped out of bed as the siren of a deep and somber voice ripped through the quiet night. Every dog throughout the city of Kars erupted in a howling barrage at the onset of the day’s first call to prayer session. I have never traveled in a Muslim country before, and the concept was completely foreign to me. Each minaret, the tall tower attached to a mosque, carries a battery of loud speakers and five times a day they ring out, opening and closing the day’s prayer sessions.