{"id":42061,"date":"2026-02-28T00:04:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42061"},"modified":"2026-02-28T00:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:04:41","slug":"sehri-call-karachi-drummer-keeps-tradition-alive-wins-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42061","title":{"rendered":"Sehri call: Karachi drummer keeps tradition alive, wins hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"
As the night deepens in Ramazan and much of the city falls silent, a steady beat still echoes through a cluster of streets in Karachi the rhythmic thud of a drum.<\/p>\n

From Nipa to Gulshan, residents have come to recognise that sound as the mark of one man: Muhammad Chand.<\/p>\n

For the past 10 to 12 years, he has walked these streets before dawn, waking families for ‘suhoor’, the pre-fast meal.<\/p>\n

“I have been doing this for the last 10 to 12 years. By the grace of God, it makes me happy,” he says. “When I wake people up in the morning, it brings joy to my heart.”<\/p>\n

Each night during Ramazan, he leaves his home at around 03:00 and spends nearly an hour moving through different lanes, beating his drum.<\/p>\n

“I go from Nipa to Gulshan, through all the streets,” he explains. “I just play the drum, I don’t knock on doors.”<\/p>\n

For Mohammad Chand, this is more than seasonal work. It is a family tradition.<\/p>\n

“I am continuing this from my father’s side,” he says with pride, suggesting that it is not merely a source of income, but an inheritance.<\/p>\n

Outside Ramadan, he works mornings at a factory in Sohrab Goth. Sleep is limited.<\/p>\n

“I work here at night and then go to the factory in the morning. I only sleep two or three hours,” he says. “Thank God, everything is going well.”<\/p>\n

The work is demanding, but he frames it as both devotion and service.<\/p>\n

“Whatever people give happily, that is good,” he says. “On Eid, when they give Eidi, it makes us very happy.”<\/p>\n

His earnings come mainly at the end of the holy month. On Eid, residents offer him a collective payment in recognition of his efforts.<\/p>\n

“Usually, I receive between 30,000 and 35,000 rupees. Sometimes it goes up to 40,000,” he says with a smile. “Before, it was around the same. God is the provider on Eid day we find out how much it comes to.”<\/p>\n

There is also an unwritten code among the drummers.<\/p>\n

“Everyone has their own area. No one enters someone else’s territory,” he explains.<\/p>\n

The practice of waking people for suhoor predates alarm clocks and mobile phones and forms part of a wider Islamic cultural tradition.<\/p>\n

In Egypt, the Mesaharaty has roamed neighbourhoods for centuries, beating a drum and calling out residents by name. In Turkey, the Ramazan Davulcusu a custom dating back to the Ottoman era continues to patrol the streets during the holy month.<\/p>\n

Similar traditions endure in parts of Syria and Jordan, albeit in evolving forms.<\/p>\n

Although technology has reduced the practical need for such wake-up calls, for men like Mohammad Chand the role carries deeper meaning.<\/p>\n

From the first fast of Ramadan to the final pre-dawn meal, he steps out each night with the same resolve.<\/p>\n

“No one has ever told me, ‘Why are you making noise?'” he says. “I come to the same area every year. Everyone knows me.”<\/p>\n

In a city defined by speed and change, where many customs fade into memory, the sound of a drum before dawn is a reminder that some traditions are not only about necessity but about connection, continuity and shared blessing.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the night deepens in Ramazan and much of the city falls silent, a steady beat still echoes through a cluster of streets in Karachi the rhythmic thud of a drum. From Nipa to Gulshan, residents have come to recognise that sound as the mark of one man: Muhammad Chand. For the past 10 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}