Sitting in an office full of books overlooking a large prayer hall, Mohammed AshfaqKazi, a senior preacher in the largest Muslim community in Mumbai, looked at a decibel meter connected to a microphone before asking to be worshiped.”The volume of our azaan (prayer call) has become a political issue, but I do not want it to change society,” said Kazi, one of the most influential Islamic scholars in a large city on the west coast of India. As he spoke he pointed to loudspeakers connected to the colorful towers of Juma Masjid, located in the old trading post of Mumbai.
Kazi and three other pastors from Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, say more than 900 mosques in the west of the country have agreed to reduce the number of places they call prayer following complaints from a local Hindu politician.
Raj Thackeray, the leader of the Hindu regional group, demanded in April that mosques and other places of worship be kept within the confined limits of sound. If they do not, he said his followers would sing Hindu prayers outside the mosques protesting. Thackeray, whose party has only one seat in a 288-member regional conference, said he was simply emphasizing that court decisions on sound levels should be followed.”If religion is a secret affair then why are Muslims allowed to use loudspeakers every 365 days (a year)?” Hackeray told reporters in Mumbai, India’s financial center and capital of Maharashtra.
Loudspeakers
“My dear brothers and sisters, my Hindu sisters and mothers are reunited; Be united in lowering the volume, ”he said. India’s 200 million Muslim leaders see the move, which coincides with the holy Eid festival, as another strong Hindu attempt to undermine their rights to freedom of religion and religious expression, through the silent agreement of the ruling Hindu party Baratiya Janata Party (BJP). In recent weeks, a senior BJP leader began pushing for a change in marriage and inheritance laws based on a common religious code, aimed at rules that allowed Muslim men, for example, to have four wives. BJP did not respond to a request for comment on Thackeray’s action. It denies that it is aimed at the minority, and says it wants continuous change that benefits all Indians.
At Juma Masjid, Kazi said he had complied with Thackeray’s demands to reduce the risk of violence between Muslims and Hindus.Deadly clashes have erupted all over India since independence, most recently in 2020 when dozens of people, mostly Muslims, were killed in Delhi following protests against civilian law that Muslims say discriminates against them. While strong Hindu leaders wanted to undermine Islam, Kazi said, “we (Muslims) must remain calm and calm.”
Senior police officials met with religious leaders including Kazi earlier this month to ensure that the bombs were rejected, as they feared clashes in Maharashtra, home to more than 10 million Muslims and 70 million Hindus.
On Saturday, police opened a criminal case against two men in Mumbai usingloudspeakers to say the morning azan and warned Thackeray party staff to gather near mosques. We will never allow anyone to cause trouble in the community and the court order must be respected, ”said V.N. Patil, Mumbai police chief.
The chief executive of the Thackeray group said the program was not intended to highlight Muslims but was aimed at reducing the “noise pollution” caused by all places of worship.
“Our party is not happy with the small community,” said KirtikumarShinde, adding that police had issued warnings to 20,000 party workers this month.The subject of prayer in prayer extends beyond Maharashtra. BJP politicians in three provinces have called on local police to remove or reduce the use of loudspeakers in places of worship.The deputy Chief minister of a densely populated country, Uttar Pradesh, said more than 60,000 unauthorized speakers had been removed from churches and temples.
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