At a time when celebrities (read: Sonu Nigam) are ranting against Azaan- the call for prayer recited five times a day- and are shaving their heads off after fatwas and as the debate around noise pollution grows, a group of mosques in Kerala have come up with the most peaceful solution to regulate the noise pollution. In their bid to reduce the noise pollution, 17 mosques in Vazhakkad in Malappuram have decided to call out a single Azaan for all of them.
“There are seven mosques in the Vazhakkad junction alone and 10 more in a radius of a few kilometers. It has come to our notice that the call for prayers by these mosques at different times, multiple times in the day, had caused inconvenience to educational institutions, to the public and for merchants in nearby areas,” TP Abdul Azeez, President, Vazhakkad Mosques Committee, told The News Minute, adding that some of the mosque committee members had convened a meeting to discuss the issue. While the majority held the view that sound pollution should be curbed, the decision was reached only after several rounds of deliberations. However, it was a unanimous decision.
The agreement signed by the members of the Mosques Committee states that a single Azan will be called out from the Valiya Juma Masjid, which is the biggest in the local Muslim council called Mahal. The other 16 mosques will repeat the call without the loudspeakers.
“We have been practicing it for the past five days,” Azeez said in the same report. A five-member panel has also been formed to regulate the timing of all the Azaans. The panel will meet the community leaders to arrive at a consensus.
The most interesting part of the agreement is that the consensus consists of various groups which are usually never in agreement with each other and have ideological differences within the Council. But since the past five days, all the factions including the Sunni, Mujahid (Salafi), Jamate Islami, and Tableeg Jamath have stopped the use of loudspeakers. The authorities of other mosques have also decided to not use the loudspeakers for various other religious programmes.
Now, isn’t that a peaceful way out? Maybe Sonu Nigam should learn a word or two from these mosques!
