Justin Bieber stops Istanbul performance twice to honor Muslim call to prayer

Justin Bieber was playing a sold out show at the ITU Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday, when he paused his act two times to allow fans to step away for the Muslim call to prayer, according to E! Online.

Referred to as Azan, or Adhan as it is called in Turkey, the religious ritual is performed five times a day as followers pause their actions to reaffirm their spiritual ideology.

The prayer is an important one for Turkish citizens, who even mention the practice in their national anthem.

Fans immediately took to Twitter where they were both shocked and delighted by his choice to honor the religious practice.

“Justin Bieber stopped his concert twice in Turkey before the azaan so people can go pray. Alhumdulilah, I’ve got respect for this guy now,” user @taznin_ wrote Friday, adding “all is well” in Arabic.

“I have MAD respect for Justin Bieber for stopping his performance in Turkey during prayer, twice. #RESPECT,” @hudabeauty said.

“Arab artists DON’T stop their shows…Go Justin,” user @maysoonzayid wrote.

While Justin Bieber, 19, made no mention of it on his highly followed Twitter account, he did share some snaps of his time spent in the Arab nation.

“Turkey is crazy right now. We ready,” the teen idol wrote to his nearly 40 million followers.

Justin Bieber also shared a selfie as he drove through the country – which was instantly liked by over 800,000 fans.

“Turkey what’s good,” the Canadian singer captioned.

He also retweeted images from his entourage as the group arrived in Turkey – one image showing a sea of fans staring ahead at the stage as they waited for the show to begin.

“50k people in Turkey about watch lil homie perform. Wow God is good. Witnessing History,” user maejorali captioned the photo.

After Istanbul, Justin Bieber headed off to Dubai as he wraps up the international leg of the Believe Tour.

“Turkey was right. 4 more shows to go. Dubai is next,” he wrote Thursday.

The choice to honor his Turkish fans was seen as positive step for Justin Bieber, whose tour has been plagued with missteps.

A show in Oman was reportedly cancelled because the nation deemed his act “too sexy”, and only hours later as he and his entourage were stopped by security at the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul for failing to show the proper travel documents.

Justin Bieber also drew ire for travelling with a Capuchin monkey named Mally, who was confiscated by customs officials in Munich, Germany.