Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.” ~Nicholas Kristof

Actually, calls to prayer by muezzins are justly famous for their lyrical quality, though this tends to be a feature of any kind of singing or chanting done in Arabic.  Like many a language unappreciated by those with only a superficial acquaintance with it, Arabic lyrics can be quite beautiful.  Take, for instance, a favourite of mine, a CD of Byzantine liturgical hymn-singing by the Maronite nun, Sister Marie Keyrouz.  Needless to say, while fluency in Indonesian Malay and childhood Qur’an classes may go over well with columnists at the Times, most Americans are not impressed by this and will be positively worried by some of it.  Maybe that shouldn’t be the case, but it is.