Six muezzins sit before a loudspeaker inside the Damascus Great Umayyad Mosque in Syria to collectively recite the call to prayer that can be heard across the ancient quarters of the Syrian capital.
They are among 25 muezzins who take shifts intoning the call to prayer in groups, using a technique of collective recital that is unique to the centuries-old mosque.
The mosque was closed in mid-March as part of measures to stem the novel coronavirus pandemic that Damascus says has infected 29 people, two of whom have died -- but its calls to prayer live on.
Mohammad Ali al-Sheikh, the eldest of the muezzins, said the tradition runs in his blood.
"I come from a long line of muezzins," the man in his eighties told AFP.
"I have been a muezzin for 68 years, as was my father until he died."
Muezzins may have day jobs or be retirees but are all selected for their extraordinary voice.
Sheikh was drawn to the role as a child, encouraged by his father's colleagues who complimented him on his voice, one he now cherishes as a gift from God.
"God prepares the muezzin with a voice, one that is gifted to him, to elevate God's word," he said.
Sheikh raises the call to prayer, with five other muezzins chanting along in unison, using the technique known as Al-Jawq.
It yields a unique sound when it rises from the Umayyad Mosque, which sends out the azan from three towering minarets overlooking the capital.
A nephew of Sheikh, Abu Anas, is also a seasoned muezzin, having recited the call to prayer every day for 10 years.
The tradition "has been passed on from father to son, for at least five generations", he told AFP.
"It's not a hobby, it runs in our blood."
Meanwhile, as the rising sun gently begins to illuminate Jerusalem's golden Dome of the Rock and the city slowly awakens, Firas al-Qazzaz's hypnotic voice echoes softly through the Old City, AFP reported.
He is the latest member of his family in 500 years to lead prayers from the minaret at the cherished Al-Aqsa mosque.
"When you pull someone from sleep to prayer at dawn, take him kindly," Qazzaz said, explaining the different tones for the five daily Islamic prayers.
The site, where Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammed travelled on a winged horse before ascending to heaven, lies in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City, home to places holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.
However, the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus means the cobbled streets leading to the compound, normally heaving with life, now lie eerily quiet.
The mosque may be closed and empty but Qazzaz's call can be heard echoing above the silence of a city in lockdown.
Unimpeded by car horns or noisy cafe chatter, his voice soars upwards clear and crisp amid sweet birdsong.
His ancestors moved from Hijaz in modern-day Saudi Arabia to take up the mantle as the mosque's muezzin in the 15th century, and since then the family has passed the title from generation to generation.
His father held the prestigious post for more than 40 years and Qazzaz himself never dreamed of anything else.
However, for more than a month, muezzins from major Arab cities have urged the faithful to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in mosques.
