F

strong>Feb. 17, Online

A Muslim resident of Banda Aceh says he has received death threats since he made a series of requests that local mosques turn down the volume of their loudspeakers.

Sayed Hasan said that the loudspeakers could have been used as a form of bullying by mosques and certainly had disrupted his daily prayers.

“I feel very uncomfortable with the volume they set,” Sayed Hasan told The Jakarta Post recently. “My illness just makes it even worse.”

Sayed had asked representatives of the Al Muchsinin Mosque, the Banda Aceh city administration, the Islamic Syariah Agency and the Aceh Ulema Consultation Council to request that the local mosques turn down the volume of their loudspeakers.

Your comments:

This unnecessary sound blasting from mosque speakers is an Indonesian thing, not like the beautiful sound that can be heard from mosques in the Middle East.

If they want to adhere to an imported religion why not learn it the proper way, including how to make the call to prayer.

Sanna

My most sincere compliments and highest praise go to Sayed Hasan, who had the courage to complain against the excessive, infuriating and annoying noise of prayers and Koran recitals broadcast through speakers that are simply too high.

It is a sad but true fact that a great many uneducated, narrow-minded Muslims seem to have brains and belief systems permanently set in concrete.

They prefer to believe that they actually please Allahu Subhannahu Wa’Taala by broadcasting the prayer calls and Koran recitals as loudly as possible, thereby forgetting that Bilal, the first Muslim to sound the Azan, did so without the use of modern appliances.

I am fortunate that in my neighborhood, the call to prayer is in accordance with the way Bilal must have done it: melodious and a veritable joy to hear. Even my foreign friends love it.

But in many other places, calls to Azan and Koran recitals, by adults and children, are often, aside from being excessively loud, also a veritable offense to the ears of those within listening distance.

Those who pride themselves on being devout Muslims should realize that, aside from the fact that the Creator is not hard of hearing, as many of them obviously believe, the very act of torturing defenseless listeners by overly loud and abrasive, raucous, unmelodious prayers and Koran recitals is a kind of terrorism of the worst sort, which actually damages the good image of Islam.

Tami

I quote: “Of the dozens of people who live in the area, why is it only he who feels disrupted by the sound?” he said.

Perhaps everyone else knew that a death threat might follow!

Why not follow the example of the past? No loud speakers were needed to call the faithful in the days of the Prophet. They seemed to manage fine without them.

John

One of the main problems in Indonesia’s neighborhoods is increasing noise levels. Noise brings stress and headaches.

Mosques that turn their loudspeakers up only add to noise pollution throughout the country.

Filippo

The call is a thing of beauty and should be as perfect as possible. Sadly, so many mosques have badly set up sound systems and people who sound as if a dog is chewing their balls while the call to prayer is made.

Minimum standards should be set and a national broadcast be used so the call brings us to the mosque instead of us wishing the mosques shut up quickly.

Mohammad

This is a serious problem in most towns and cities of Indonesia. These loudspeakers are not required I am sure — some legislation should be made to soften the noise.

Not only do they call to prayer but also conduct the prayers via the speaker, which can go for hours. Surely there is some way of overcoming this problem.

Just turn the volume down or soften the noise.

Ian Shaw

Good luck Sayed, you represent the all-seeing light of intelligence.

As an aside, the police are duty bound to prosecute those who threaten others.

Decent clerics would condemn these people who use death threats. But this won’t happen.

I wonder why?

Brien