Open Minds - 'Are you troubled by call to prayer volumes?'
There was recently a heated debate in the letters pages of 7DAYS about the volume of the call to prayer in some areas and a reader has asked for my opinion on what to do if the speakers are too loud.
Well, in one way or another you should communicate with the caller to prayer and to the Imam of the mosque.
They both live next door to the mosque, within the grounds, certainly within the compound. If they don’t speak English, I’m sure one of your neighbours speaks Arabic and possibly goes to that mosque.
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Bake them a cake, take them a sweet, take them something and say: ‘Please, we live in that villa, you see right there, across from the speaker. You see the speaker over here, above in the minaret? That one is exactly on my window and my kid wakes up and I wake up. What can we do?”
And usually they work it out, they say: “Tonight I’m going to keep my mouth away from the microphone.”
That’s one way to lower the volume. Another thing is to lower the volume from the system itself, but then some people might complain because they’ll say: “Well, I’m on the other side but I didn’t hear the caller, because Muslims do want to be woken up by it.”
The other thing that could happen is if a group of people complain from several villas and then the speakers are tilted up a little bit.
So these are three solutions.
The other way around is to directly complain to the Department for Islamic Affairs. There is a special department for volume and mosque sound systems. But my advice is to go and get to know the Imam and the caller yourself as a group of guys from the neighbourhood, it’s a nice thing to start a good relationship with them.
They are not there to hurt you, disappoint you, annoy you, they do their job. And the volumes are sometimes already set. Sometimes they forget and their mouth is too close to the microphone, sometimes it depends on the caller, some callers come and they are low in volume, sometimes they are high in volume, it depends on the person.
If I was having a problem, I’d be smart enough to take something sweet once a month so they’ll always remember - maybe in the beginning once a week - until they REALLY know you want the volume lowered on
the speakers!
That should work. As an Imam or a caller you should be a kind person. But if it doesn’t work, you can go through the official channels. As a last resort, people can send their info, location of the mosque, location of the neighbourhood, their name, address and number to openminds@7days.ae.
I will personally promise to deliver their details to the department and have them go to every mosque and explore the possibility of improving the situation.
And nobody should be worried that if they complain they are going to get in trouble. This is nonsense!
Comments
by Chocs01
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 1:44PM
“It's a very difficult subject and whilst the call to prayer can be very pleasant to listen to, as the Grand Mufti was quoted elsewhere, it's for Muslims to be able to carry out their religious obligations but should NOT be a disturbance. The authorities have in place guidelines controlling how loud it should be for this very reason, so if the call to prayer is above those restrictions and makes some peoples daily lives difficult, then why should they not ask for it to be brought within the guidelines? No one has asked for it to be banned and no one has questioned about it being able to be heard by everyone, but at a reasonable volume, which I don't think anyone would object to.”
by Livingpeace
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 12:43PM
“This country is providing a living Environment where people can live peacefully, and tax free, where it is not possible in our own country.we are earning from this country but actually we are not paying anything for that.Infact many of our families are living because of this country, I love to live in here in Dubai, because I love to live in a peacefull clean Environment . so we have to respect this countries culture.”
by meeribr3
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 10:40AM
“Let ask you the same question: 'Are you troubled by volumes noise caused by aircrafts taking off or landing in Dubai airport every 5-10 minutes?”
by M.A.T.
Monday, September 10 2012, 5:41PM
“As the comment by Abu Issa says:
We Muslims are obliged to pray in congregation at the mosque
So why then must the PRAYER be broadcast at very loud volumes in areas which are deliberately designated for foreigners i.e. freehold developments with a majority non-Muslim population. I'm pretty sure that people complaining about what they think is the Athan, which is brief and melodic, are actually talking about the prayer which goes on for very much longer . I agree there is an aspect of expats living in their bubble here without actually realising the distinction which leads to so much of the unnecessary argument. It's the prayer volume, particularly Fajr (and Laylat Al Qadr for hours in the middle of the night), not the Athan, that causes the issues. Prayer broadcast is not allowed in Abu Dhabi, so clearly is not part of the UAE culture, yet Dubai mosques are able to get away with broadcasting prayers at volumes which would be considered unsafe in an industrial environment.”
by ISHAQIKHAN
Monday, September 10 2012, 4:01PM
“dear dxbgal as a Muslim the we must wake up at 4:am in the morning for our obligatory prayer for which is compulsory for all Muslims as per their faith.”
by Abu Issa
Monday, September 10 2012, 11:29AM
“he whole purpose of the call to prayer (Athaan) is to call or announce to people (Muslims) that the time for one of the five congregational prayers is here. We Muslims are obliged to pray in congregation at the mosque so hearing the Athaan is very important to us and it is a part of our every day life. Please understand this before you make your irrational comments about lowering the volume.
UAE is very accommodating to all of its residents unlike many places but we should not forget its religion, culture, and people should always be respected. It is an utmost disrespect to ask for one of the fundamental aspects of Islam, the Athaan, to be lowered to suit your needs.”
by dxbgal
Monday, September 10 2012, 12:05AM
“There are no church bells in UAE first of all, and second of all, there are no church bells that go off at 4am when people are sleeping! Get an education!”
by NewCrunch
Sunday, September 09 2012, 4:20PM
“Obviously, many of the commentators did not read the article and chose to be very defensive about the whole matter. I am a Muslim, and I do find the VOLUME of some mosques to be annoying. In some places, you cannot even have a conversation at your own place because of the volume. Moreover, some of the Moazzins have exteremely bad voices.
It's simple physics: the volume has nothing to do whatsoever with the content of the message.”
by sarah.almehairi
Sunday, September 09 2012, 3:59PM
“It is the foreigner's responsibility that they've chose to migrate/visit an Islamic country. Furthermore, you are obliged to respect Muslims, obey and help yourselves in overcoming such "disturbances" without outraging a whole nation for your own sake of comfort.
We all know how loud church bells are but we, Muslims, never thought of asking any person responsible to reduce the duration of the ringing bells because we were instructed to respect other religions based on Islamic teachings. Unlike you, we completely understand why church bells are loud in the first place.
'he athan isn't 'noise' or 'sound' to lower the volume, it's a call to praise Allah'”
by UAE National
Sunday, September 09 2012, 10:05AM
“If I was living in one of those foreign countries and specifically in a neighborhood which has a church and was bold enough to complain about loud bells that could be heard throughout an entire city , will that neighborhood's native people understand and act on it for my convenience?
I don't understand why expats are suffering and connecting their personal problems with UAE's religious manners / tradition or culture. I thought they are happy to live in a country which doesn't ask them to pay frequent taxes – unlike their own countries. I find it so ironic and contradicting from people who claim to be civilized, educated nations to act in such a disrespectful way.
Dear all, learn to appreciate and stop nagging like a kid about such topics which I'm sure you are totally aware of how sensitive they are. If you can't bear it, I'm sure you can very well arrange to move. We always appreciate the existence of those who appreciate our country's tenders to them. It is our religion that teaches us to be good hosts for the " guests " in our country… please don't abuse it!”