COLUMN ONE - Prayers amid the pleasures - Muslims employed at Egypt's racy resorts believe that God blesses the working man. They hope he will also forgive them for what they see.

They are at once ubiquitous and unseen, a service industry army of matching uniforms and smiles, cobbling enough English, German and French to charm the tourists lying on beaches and lingering in polished courtyards. They move briskly in the moonlight, bowing their heads and speaking in perfected cadences:

"Good evening, sir. How are you, sir? Have a nice time."

Learned phrases stretch only so far and much is left unsaid along the coast where the desert meets the sea. This poor country relies upon the tourist dollar, and Islam resides cordially, if uneasily, with a sunburned, thong-wearing, whiskey-tippling West.

"I pretend I don't see what's happening around me," said Hossam Helmy, a janitor in blue coveralls and a ball cap that read: Staff. "My religion protects me. It has kept me from sin. When I see a half-naked woman I feel guilty and I feel this is not my country anymore. But work is scarce and I need this job. What can I do except get used to it?"

Many of this city's 310,000 tourism workers complain of humiliation, anger and temptations too salacious to ponder. Most come from rural provinces where tradition and the Koran rule strong and the lure of the forbidden is not as enticing as it is amid beach umbrellas and speedboats. Their villages offer no jobs and, on the advice of an uncle or a friend, they head south toward the resorts that glow along copper mountains tapering into gentle blue water. They live on the outskirts, often five or six to a room, and earn between $50 and $200 a month.

Paydays are not as sweet as they should be, as if the gain is ill-gotten, even as much of it is sent home to support their families. Some workers say they are scared of losing their faith. They prostrate themselves and pray, scurrying between shifts to the mosques, where preachers tell them that God blesses the working man and guards him against sin, especially during this month of Ramadan when Muslims fast, do charitable deeds and seek sanctity and humility by reciting verse from holy texts.