Bid to silence muezzins
2004-09-14 13:34
Cairo - Plans by Egypt's religious affairs minister to silence myriad muezzins' calls to prayer in mosques and prayer rooms - some 3 000 in Cairo alone - have provoked an unholy row among the religious who want a deaf ear turning to the idea.
"People complain bitterly about the cacophony from loudspeakers in the mosques," said Mahmud Zaqzuq to justify his ordering a study on the possibility of a centralised or "unique call" to prayer.
This would rule out mosques making their own individual calls in keeping with a tradition that goes back to the beginnings of Islam.
The minister told the daily Al-Akhbar his only concern was the "search for calm and the well-being of the people, especially those looking after the sick, or pupils who need to be able to concentrate on their homework".
Jealously guarded autonomy by the mosques inevitably produces a slight difference in timing for the call to prayer. The result is a clashing and unharmonious noise of competing calls.
Complaints come mostly from those who live near the mosques, whose sheer numbers ensure that thousands of people are affected.
Most objections focus on the muezzins' call at dawn, summoning the faithful to the first of Islam's five daily prayers.
The minister is studying the installation of a network linking different mosques in the same town or district so that a single call goes out at the same time throughout the zone covered by the network.
He says this method, along with choosing the most melodious muezzin's voice, would enable the noise-level to be controlled.
Another suggestion is to allow only the biggest mosque of an area to make the calls to bring the faithful to prayer - ruling out prayer rooms and less well-attended mosques.
The religious affairs ministry is responsible for some 90 000 mosques and prayer rooms throughout the country, with some 3 000 rooms and mosques in the crowded capital.
Imams fear the reform project will undermine Muslim liturgy. The call to prayer, instituted from the first years of Islamic preaching, was entrusted by the Prophet Mohammed to a freed black slave, Bilal, whose call still remains the example for muezzins to follow today.
- SAPA