Ali Ahmed Mullah
Ali Abdul Rahman Ahmed Mulla (Arabic: على أحمد ملا) is the veteran muazzin (caller for prayer) at the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Ali Ahmed Mulla is the longest serving muazzin for the Masjid al-Haram and has been following his family tradition in this profession for over 31 years. He is widely respected across the Muslim world and recordings of his Adhan are widely bought, thought and enjoyed by Muslims and non-Muslims around the world through radios, CDs, tapes, and other forms of media. He also has stated that his main job other than a muazzin at the holy mosque is working in his self-owned business. Sheikh is married 4 times has 3 children with each wife.
Career
Ali Ahmad Mulla began performing adhan at the mosque when he was 14, calling for prayer from the minarets in the absence of Abdul Hafeez Khoja, his maternal uncle, Abdul Rahman Mulla, his paternal uncle, and Ahmad Mulla, his grandfather, who were all muezzins at the mosque. Mulla began performing before the introduction of loudspeakers, when muezzins stood at each of the seven minarets such as the Bab Al-Umrah Minaret, Bab Al-Ziyara Minaret, and Bab Al-Hekma Minaret and called for prayer. The timing to deliver the adhan was given by the chief of muezzins from Al-Shafie Maqam, near the Zamzam Well and each muezzin repeated what the first muezzin said until the adhan was completed. It was a tradition started by the Ottomans, which is continued today in Turkey. After graduating from the Institute of Technical Education in Riyadh in 1970, Mulla worked as a teacher at Abdullah ibn Al-Zubair Intermediate School. He was officially appointed muezzin at the Masjid al-Haram in 1984. He has also had the honor to perform adhan at the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi in Medinah on one occasion. Performing adhan at the Masjid al-Haram, for Muslims the holiest mosque in the world, has been claimed by him as a very great honor.