Among narratives that circulate concerning the call-to-prayer are stories centering on the power of this voiced sound to convert through affective response. One such legend relates the story of Neil Armstrong’s conversion to Islam after hearing the recited call in outer space. Predominantly, yet culturally diverse, Muslim countries have disseminated versions of this story since the time of Armstrong’s lunar landing and such stories are now entrenched in the urban mythology of cyberspace. The Armstrong narratives tend to support and emphasize central pan-Islamic tenets, most specifically the ability of the voice, separately from the text, to imbue a meaningful and persuasive affective experience (since the narratives emphasize Armstrong’s inability to understand and decode Arabic). Moreover, the setting of the lunar landing resonates as a powerful symbol of Islam and its deep connection to the moon. Yet, at the same time, these Armstrong narratives can reflect local, contested, and complicated experiences of Islam in the public sphere, an inherent feature of a public sonic expression such as the call to prayer. This paper highlights the way in which the voice is the persuasive and meaningful object and the way in which the Armstrong celebrity narratives utilize Islamic symbols to engage the wider Muslim community. Simultaneously, local narratives, collected during fieldwork in Istanbul, are examined to see how the story is manipulated to reflect local discourse and contested positions concerning religious authority and aesthetic in call-to-prayer rendition.