The long Azaan!

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I thought a part of “enlightened moderation” was regulating the moulvi’s use of the loudspeaker. But he seems to be increasingly empowered to abuse the loudspeaker.

Contrary to the teachings of Islam, there is now not one time for Azan or prayer. Each moulvi is waiting for the other to finish before saying his Azan. The result is that each morning our neighbourhood has Azans for 45 minutes. Is this not sacrilege? Should there not be one call for a prayer?

Not every moulvi is a good muezzin, yet each chooses to yell into a mike that is full volume. I thought that the tradition was for the person with the best voice to call for prayer.

An Azan by a moulvi who has no talent for it and into a distorted loud amplifier really takes away from the beauty of the Azan. And to keep on hearing it being repeated over and over again for 45 minutes cannot be in keeping the teachings of our beloved religion.

In many Muslim countries that I have been to the rule is that in each neighbourhood there will be only one Azan. In addition, they also have a taped Azzan by a reputable Kari that is played over a speaker system. Then most of us also know that the volume of a public address system has to be set in mid range. Setting it too loud distorts the sound ruining the music.

The state is ready to regulate everything but the moulvi. Sounds bizarre! Why does the ministry of religious affairs not regulate the moulvi and his behaviour? He should not be above the law and stick to the fact that the time for prayer does not vary according to the whims of the moulvi.

Comments

  1. M Ali Kemal's Blog3 August 2009 at 02:07

    I know in some of the cities it is a competition that who has most speakers and in every miles there are more than 10 mosques. I am not saying it is bad but people are looking forward to listen to azaan in their own masjid and then go for prayers.

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