I wouldn’t have a problem with a mosque being built in the neighborhood, but I would consider it to be the height of inconsideration to blast calls to prayer announcements starting at 6 am five times a day, 365 days a year, especially if I lived in Michigan.
Growing up I used to hear the Catholic Church bells ring on Sundays at about 10 am, but that’s once a week and not at the ungodly hour of 6 am.
When I was in India we stayed at a hotel in Agra near the Taj Mahal. I thought the daily calls to prayer were kinda cool to hear, but I wouldn’t want the calls to be near my home,especially if they started at 6 am.
Isn’t there some kind of noise ordinance that would prohibit this?
Noise ordinances vary from one place to another, but 60 decibels seems to be the norm in most American cities. As long as the mosques stay below that, they’re probably ok legally.
I live by a train that honks around 5:30 every morning; you get used to it. Still, it seems like the kind of thing that creates unnecessary tension in an already-tense situation.
I don’t see why there shouldn’t be a Muslim-majority neighborhood in America. Lots of other groups have their places. Just part of the quilt of cultures that makes a great country, right?
Lived in Abu Dhabi for 4 years, and learned to live with it, as mentioned above. It seldom lasts more than 60-90 seconds. Only problem is if there is 2-3 mosques near each other, and they start 30-45 seconds apart…
I dunno, that sounds plenty sensitive and considerate to me. On the other hand:
That reminds me of the classic criticism of another ethnic group, who frequently have been accused of being clannish, while at the same time poking their nose into other people’s affairs.
First part; we were by a crossing and for us it was all night. After a couple days, I never heard it.
Second part; I’m a little surprised. I just saw a rerun of the episode of Andrew Zimmer’s show that included that neighborhood and on it the mayor was all smiles and love about how well the cultures were getting along. Sure - I knew there had to be a different reality but I didn’t expect it to be what I’ve seen tonight through my Google-Fu. That place has been seriously tense for a while.
Well, maybe if it was a little shorter, but other than that, it can’t be any worse than church bells. There’s a church two blocks over, and I hear the bells all the time. Like people say, you get used to it after awhile.
I lived in Dubai for 3 years and have spent probably another year traveling in Muslim countries. I don’t mind the call to prayer at all. It is nice to wake up to. For a while I had my computer here set up to play it too as I missed it after moving back to Prague from Dubai. The one that was played in the western part of the Old City of Sana’a was quite different and a bit creepy, but it still didn’t really bother me.
the “6 a.m.” part might piss me off, since (IIRC) most areas’ noise ordinances state you have to stay quiet between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. but other than that, I don’t expect the outside world to be silent. I don’t get wound up about kids playing outside, or delivery trucks driving down the street, or the tornado sirens activating for their monthly test, or whatever else.
It’s like the snowplow in the winter, after a couple of times your subconscious mind doesn’t even wake you to acknowledge it.
Having spent some time travelling where the call the prayer is broadcast every morning I have to say you do get used to it and it does become like church bells, just background sound in your life.
Sometimes it’s horribly loud, or an old awful broadcast system. Sometimes it’s a bad old recorded thing, that’s scratchy and awful. But every now and then it would be shy young boys singing it live, in beautiful clear young voices. It was sometimes with dawn just breaking it was quite magical in fact!