"Without electricity, the muezzin cannot call the faithful to prayer. And in any case they don't come," explained the guardian of the vast emerald-domed mosque that towers over Al-Zubair, where power has been shut down for more than 10 days amid the bloodshed.

According to him, this town not far from Iraq's second city of Basra is torn by twin schisms: between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and between supporters of President Saddam Hussein and those -- like the US and British forces -- who want him to go.

Inside the city, militiamen have entrenched themselves within the civilian population, striking fear and forcing many to declare that they "love Saddam."

"In conditions like these, people would rather not come to pray for fear that a fight will break out at a sacred site," he said.

The people of southern Iraq, where Shiites form the majority, are deeply religious and steadfastly respect the traditions of Islam, including the five daily calls to prayer.

Sectarianism is a dividing line between the Shiites and Saddam, who like most in the high echelon of the regime, is a Sunni Muslim. A Shiite-led uprising in the wake of the 1991 Gulf war was ruthlessly crushed by Saddam after US-led forces failed to help out, and people here have lived out the subsequent 12 years in dire economic hardship.

"For days we've been praying in our homes. We wash ourselves, perfume ourselves and perform our five daily prayers," explained Kisma, a mother who lives with her family in the heart of Umm Qasr.

Umm Qasr, a town of 40,000 on Iraq's southern tip, was one of the first places to fall to the coalition troops.

When she prays at home, Kisma hopes more passionately than ever for a peaceful Iraq for her children -- one without Saddam Hussein but also one with full Iraqi control, "as we can't expect anything good from countries like the United States and Britain that want to destroy Islam.

"We're asking God with more fervor than ever that He keep us safe and sound from this war," said Sadia, a 33-year-old whose husband has been taken in as a prisoner of war.

She, like dozens of other people who clamored at the gates of a prisoners camp here in search of news of their loved ones, want nothing more than to perform their prayers in freedom under the noon sun.

"But it's difficult to worship in a time of war, with a dirty body and a soul that has feelings that are scarcely pure," said Ali, nervously passing from one hand to another a string of plastic prayer beads.

SPACE.WIRE