I’m not talking about code violation and / or consequences. **Monty **is the one who brought up ordinances in response to snfaulkner, whose response I interpreted as being in the actual spirit of the thread: how he’d *feel *about it, not what legal recourse he would have. Obviously we can’t change every law we disagree with but that doesn’t stop it from pissing us off. To that end, just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s not a dick move. Blasting anything at 6 AM is a dick move, whether or not I can stop it.
Some people just don’t like to be awakened, and it can be taken at face value. I am completely on board with that. I have never lived anywhere where there were church bells ringing at that hour every day, so I’m not sure where they do that. I have only heard them in connection with Sunday services.
The other facet of such a discussion is the cultural integration aspect. Even if call to prayer were limited to later hours, no doubt some people would still complain about it as annoying, just because it’s foreign to them. People who grew up in Muslim countries probably find it comforting. You like whatever you grow up with.
I have been to Egypt about 7 times and personally I never got used to that call to prayer over loudspeakers at the first light. Never really noticed throughout the day but that first one is always jarring. I wouldn’t like it if it started in my own neighborhood.
But also, me playing my music in my house for my own enjoyment and i accidentally leave a window open is one sort of negligent dick move thing. But purposely setting up speakers on the outside of my house for the explicit reason to be heard all over the neighborhood is a super special dick move. I don’t care what time of day.
I also have to add/ask, sort of like the call to prayer apps, but not as 21st century, can’t the mosques and/or churches get into at least the 20th century and have a calling list to spam with their nonsense? Just purchase Frink’s AT-5000 autodialer.
You don’t understand. They don’t care if their 6 am call to prayer bothers you. Actually IMHO, they like the fact that you are disturbed by their 6 am call to prayer. Maybe you’ll move.
I agree. Meet the local noise ordinance or shut it off (if you can’t tone it down). Doesn’t matter whether it’s a mosque or a popsicle truck. Meet the motherfuucking noise ordinance or turn the motherfucking call to prayer down!
A Muslim can explain this better than I can, but I’ll give it a shot. The type of prayers being discussed aren’t “have a conversation with God and become a better person” type prayers. They are a set of actions that for whatever reason, God has requested that people do five times a day. It’s a ritual that you are supposed to do because you are supposed to do it, not a personal development project (though it’s supposed to have some positive individual benefits as well.)
These rituals are expected to be performed at prescribed moments. These moments are determined by the length of the day, and thus will vary seasonally. In times before people had smart phones (or even watches), the call to prayer served to keep people aware of when the prayer times were. Without it, everyone would have to spend a chunk of the day squinting at the sun trying to figure out what time a prayer was needed.
In Muslim communities, prayer times become a part of the way that people structure time in their head, and thus experience the day. Rather than thinking “morning, mid-morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, evening, night” they may think in terms of prayer times and the spaces between them. So while the call to prayer is primariyl religious in nature, it also has a role in daily life as a whole.
I’m glad to see even sven has a similar take on the quality of the azan - the Dubai one is sweeter but the other one is fine.
Why Not, a bad call to prayer is when it is done by an elderly person who is apparently going senile or who at the very least has badly compromised vocal cords, except no one has the heart to tell him he sucks. Or when they let a six year old with more enthusiasm than pitch sense give it a try. Or when the loudspeakers are dreadful quality. I’ve lived through all of that and more, but prefer to be tolerant and good-humored rather than nasty about it.
Those of you who disdain the sound of the azan remind me of when Bill Clinton wore a batik shirt for APEC and some Murkins nearly had heart attacks because he was wearing clothing they perceived as savage or too casual or something. It was painful to witness, as Indonesian batik is a highly sophisticated art form and the shirt Clinton was wearing represented the best of a long artistic tradition. But no, some people just don’t seem to have any flexibility or adaptability when it comes to unfamiliar things.
I really don’t know how to defend myself against the barely articulated accusations of racism here. All I can say is that is not what’s going on here. You’re making this more complicated than it has to be. I’m just as against 6 am church bells, 6 am ice cream trucks and 6 am garbage pickups. 6 am is simply an unacceptable hour for public noise. Period. I don’t care what you’re doing, although I’ll allow that emergency vehicles have to be noisy sometimes because of safety. No one else does. Shut up. Wait until 9 am when I’ve had my coffee and I’m almost human again.
They follow the same noise ordinances everyone else follows, period. We don’t need to create special rules for the azan that don’t apply to anyone else. How is that complicated?
I am not accusing you or anyone else in this thread of “barely articulated” racism. Some people in this thread (not you) are articulately it pretty well.
American Legal Publishing
Bolding mine. Religions are getting a special exemption to the noise ordinance, the only ones allowed to make public noise from 6-7am. That’s, to put it delicately, bullshit.