Mumbai mosques turn volume down on call to prayer after Hindu’s demands

0
47

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Sitting in an workplace lined with books overlooking a large prayer corridor, Mohammed Ashfaq Kazi, the primary preacher on the largest mosque in Mumbai, checked a decibel meter connected to the loudspeakers earlier than he gave the call to worship.

“The volume of our azaan (call to prayer) has grow to be a political concern, however I do not need it to take a communal turn,” mentioned Kazi, some of the influential Islamic students within the sprawling metropolis on India’s western coast.

As he spoke he pointed to loudspeakers connected to the minarets of the ornate, sand-coloured Juma Masjid in Mumbai’s outdated buying and selling quarters.

Kazi and three different senior clerics from Maharashtra the place Mumbai is situated mentioned greater than 900 mosques within the west of the state had agreed to turn the volume down on calls to prayer following complaints from a neighborhood Hindu politician.

Raj Thackeray, chief of a regional Hindu social gathering, demanded in April that mosques and others locations of worship stored inside allowed noise limits. If they didn’t, he mentioned his followers would chant Hindu prayers outdoors mosques in protest.

Thackeray, whose social gathering has only one seat within the state’s 288-member meeting, mentioned he was merely insisting that court docket rulings on noise ranges be enforced.

“If faith is a non-public matter then why are Muslims allowed to use loudspeakers all three hundred and sixty five days (of the 12 months)?” Thackeray instructed reporters in Mumbai, India’s monetary hub and capital of Maharashtra.

“My pricey Hindu brothers, sisters and moms come collectively; be one in bringing down these loudspeakers,” he mentioned.

Leaders of India’s 200 million Muslims see the transfer, which coincided with the holy competition of Eid, as one other try by hardline Hindus to undermine their rights to free worship and spiritual expression, with the tacit settlement of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In current weeks, a senior BJP chief started pushing for swapping marriage and inheritance legal guidelines primarily based on faith with a uniform civil code, taking goal at guidelines that permit Muslim males, for instance, to have 4 wives.

The BJP didn’t reply to a request for remark on Thackeray’s initiative. It denies focusing on minorities, and says it needs progressive change that advantages all Indians.

POLICE STEP IN

At the Juma Masjid, Kazi mentioned he complied with Thackeray’s demands so as to scale back the danger of violence between Muslims and Hindus.

Bloody clashes have erupted sporadically throughout India since independence, most not too long ago in 2020 when dozens of individuals, principally Muslims, have been killed in Delhi following protests towards a citizenship legislation that Muslims mentioned discriminated towards them.

While hardline Hindu leaders have been in search of to undermine Islam, Kazi mentioned, “we (Muslims) have to keep calm and serenity.”

The state took Thackeray’s initiative significantly.

Senior police officers met spiritual leaders together with Kazi earlier this month to guarantee microphones have been turned down, as they feared clashes in Maharashtra, dwelling to greater than 10 million Muslims and 70 million Hindus.

On Saturday, police filed a felony case towards two males in Mumbai for utilizing loudspeakers to recite the early morning azaan and warned staff of Thackeray’s social gathering from gathering round mosques.

“Under no circumstances will we permit anybody to create communal stress within the state and the court docket’s order should be revered,” mentioned V.N. Patil, a senior Mumbai police official.

A senior official for Thackeray’s social gathering mentioned the initiative was not designed to single out Muslims however aimed to scale back “noise air pollution” created by all locations of worship.

“Our social gathering doesn’t appease the minority neighborhood,” mentioned Kirtikumar Shinde, including that police had issued warnings to 20,000 social gathering staff this month.

The concern of calls to prayer extends past Maharashtra. BJP politicians in three states requested native police to take away or restrict the usage of loudspeakers in locations of worship.

The deputy chief minister of nation’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, mentioned over 60,000 unauthorised loudspeakers had been faraway from mosques and temples.

(Editing by Mike Collett-White and Raissa Kasolowsky)



Source link