I can’t speak for the rate of religious observance among Muslims outside the UAE. I suspect it is more intense in, say, Saudi Arabia and perhaps Qatar and Afghanistan, and perhaps something less intense just about everywhere where.

But I can vouch for the fact that a significant number of the people living and working here observe the calls to prayer. All five of them. Per day.

And I wonder how many places in the world boast citizens who spend that much time every day practicing their religion.

If I understand this correctly, at no place in the nation’s big cities is a mosque more than 200 yards away.

That allows the faithful to get on over for those five calls to prayer.

The first is called Fajr and apparently is the most significant of the five daily prayers. I know it is the most difficult to observe, unless the believers get up with the roosters. This time of year, the call (via electronic loudspeakers from all minarets) is at 4:30 a.m., which is seriously early. (If I hear this call to prayer, I’ve been sleeping lightly … or I’ve stayed up way later than I should have.)

Above, I said I know people observe all five prayer calls … but to be honest I can’t vouch for Fajr, which requires people to get up, get dressed and get over to the local mosque … because I am never out and about at 4:30 or even 5:30 — which is about as late as the Fajr prayer ever is.

The only saving grace here is that believers are allowed to observe the Fajr prayer until full sunrise — which in this part of the world is an hour-plus later.

The others, however, I know about.

Dhuhr is the noon-ish prayer. In Abu Dhabi it tends to fall from 12:15 p.m. till about 12:30. For nonbelievers, it’s a sort of aural reminder that it is lunch time.

Asr is the third prayer, and falls here from about 3:30 p.m. till 3:50. (Some nonbelievers find this call annoying because of where it falls in the day. For those working a 9-to-5 schedule, it has a “better get busy” feel to it.)

At The National, which is part of the Abu Dhabi Media complex, believers can walk just outside to a mosque in the courtyard for prayers. Nonbelievers walking past will notice men washing their feet before they enter the mosque, which is small and nearly bare inside and oriented towards Mecca.

The last two prayers are the Maghrib prayer, performed just after sunset, which is about 6:45 p.m. this time of year, and the Isha prayer, which comes about 90 minutes later. I suppose the fifth prayer could be seen as a sort of “come to the mosque, then get to bed” prayer, particularly if you are going to observe Fajr about eight hours later.

The two late prayers are most obvious to me in relation to domestic soccer. Kickoffs for matches shift slightly forward and back during the year so that the prayers fall just before a match … or at halftime … or just after a match.

Depending on kickoff time, it is not unusual to hear the Maghrib or Isha prayer go off about one minute into halftime, and see most of the crowd file out to pray at the onsite mosques, and be back in the stands in time for the second half.

Which is a long detour back to … how many other religions keep up this pace? Does Hinduism? Buddhism? Judaism?

I have a sense that attending mass daily was considered important in Roman Catholic countries within the past 200 years. And if you visit castles that go back to medieval times, it is not uncommon to find a chapel inside, built for the occupants.

However, very few modern Christians, anywhere, go to services daily, and many don’t make it even on Sunday — yet still consider themselves Christians. More or less.

Making a point of getting to a house of worship five times a day, every day of the year, as many Muslims do … that’s a high level of commitment. And then you’ve got a whole month of fasting, which also is followed faithfully here.

Also, the noon-ish Friday prayer involves something resembling a Christian sermon, which lasts longer than the typical recitation of prayers. Depending on the independence of clerics, it can be inspirational or fiery or overtly political. In the UAE, every sermon in the country is the same at every mosque, by government fiat.

(However, in some parts of the Muslim world, political upheaval often occurs after “Friday prayers” because the average Joe has the day off, and he and everyone else is at the mosque, and even the most repressive regime doesn’t dare ban believers from assembling for Friday prayers.)

Few religions ask as much of its adherents as does Islam … and perhaps none get such a high level of response. At least here in the Gulf.

It will be interesting to see if the level remains as high, as secularization continues what seems a steady creep into daily life here. Check back in 2022, and see.