# How would you handle daily calls to prayer starting at 6 am? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317 "2015-11-22T23:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/1 "2015-11-22T23:19:46Z")
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? > **[In the first majority-Muslim U.S. city, residents tense about its future](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/for-the-first-majority-muslim-us-city-residents-tense-about-its-future/2015/11/21/45d0ea96-8a24-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html)** > > The same city has elected a majority-Muslim city council. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/2 "2015-11-22T23:28:40Z")
It would be intrusive, at first, but I’m sure I’d get used to it after awhile. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/3 "2015-11-22T23:55:34Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/4 "2015-11-22T23:57:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/5 "2015-11-22T23:58:30Z")
They might have to reduce the volume of the 6 am call, because many communities have stricter noise level laws for “night time” hours. Where I live, the permitted level drops to 50 dB from 10 pm to 7 am. Existing laws should be perfectly adequate. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/6 "2015-11-23T00:02:06Z")
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? As for the azhan, I doubt it would bother me. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/7 "2015-11-23T00:10:34Z")
We lived near the mosque in north Seattle, and I don’t ever remember hearing a call to prayer. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/8 "2015-11-23T00:13:08Z")
> [@](#): > > The town’s transformation caught Mike Bugaj off guard. When the Hamtramck native left to join the Air Force in 1972, the city was widely referred to as “Little Warsaw.” When he returned from the military in 1995, “the Muslims were here,” said **Bugaj, who is of Polish and Native American descent.** > > The new majority Muslim council has Bugaj worried that old traditions, like the Polish festival and Fat Tuesday’s paczki day, soon will be wiped away. I see that irony is a powerful force in Mike’s life… he’s worried that all these darn foreigners are going to change his way of life. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/9 "2015-11-23T00:46:38Z")
I’d be pissed too if I couldn’t get packzi. And if you ever had them, you would too. What exactly does a “call to prayer” sound like? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/10 "2015-11-23T00:54:39Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > 'What exactly does a “call to prayer” sound like? Like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIQ4v2r-FRg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIQ4v2r-FRg) 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… ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/11 "2015-11-23T01:06:11Z")
The good news is that there is a snooze alarm… …The bad news is that Allah has to slap down a minaret to activate it. !!!WARNING!!! ^^^This Is A Joke^^^ !!!WARNING!!! “…five more imams Ma… just five more imams…_SNORE_” ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/12 "2015-11-23T01:28:52Z")
Been there, done that. You get used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/13 "2015-11-23T01:29:29Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > 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. > [@](#): > > Many longtime residents point to 2004 as the year they suspected that the town’s culture had shifted irrevocably. It was then that the city council gave permission to al-Islah Islamic Center to broadcast its call to prayer from speakers atop its roof… > “The Polish people think we were invading them,” said Masud Khan, one of the mosque’s leaders, recalling that time in an interview earlier this month. “We were a big threat to their religion and culture. Now their days are gone.” I dunno, that sounds plenty sensitive and considerate to me. On the other hand: > [@](#): > > Wayne Little, who has been a pastor for nearly 40 years at Corinthian Baptist Church, said many of the city’s African American residents are also waiting to see whether the new Muslim-majority city council will represent their interests. > > “They are clannish and stick together. . . . The jury is out on them.” Little said. 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. Wait, it’ll come to me… ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/14 "2015-11-23T01:41:28Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/15 "2015-11-23T01:44:08Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/16 "2015-11-23T01:49:32Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/17 "2015-11-23T02:02:04Z")
I used to live by a train station. People visiting would go “what was that noise?” and we’d go “what n… oh yeah, just a train.” As long as nobody expects ME to get out of bed, you’re all good. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/18 "2015-11-23T02:30:42Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/19 "2015-11-23T02:44:24Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317/20 "2015-11-23T02:51:52Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIQ4v2r-FRg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIQ4v2r-FRg) > > 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… That’s really pretty. I wouldn’t mind waking up to that at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-handle-daily-calls-to-prayer-starting-at-6-am/738317.md?page=2)