Keen Islamic prayer activists bring a new dawn to Gaza
These days, Gaza residents are being jolted awake before dawn to a raucous mixture of Quranic phrases, Islamic supplications and prayers delivered by loudspeakers to their doorsteps.
The "Grand Fajr Campaign" is the work of fervent religious activists, many affiliated with the ruling Hamas militant movement, seeking to spread the message of Islam in an already deeply conservative society.
But not everyone is ready to listen.
The campaign has set off a heated debate over whether it is appropriate to force religion on the masses. One leading religious scholar has even warned that it is un-Islamic to "annoy" people.
After beginning in several Gaza City neighborhoods, the campaign has spread across the Gaza Strip with organizers eager to see mosques as full at dawn as at Friday noon prayers.
