How many in our culture would be able to handle living in a Muslim community?

Question

The reason I ask this is I was working in a neighborhood where I heard on this loudpeaker outside was what I found out to be their "Call to Prayer". If you've ever heard it in a movie or on a newsstory, to hear it in person is a whole other jarring experience. Believe you me a "For Sale" sign would have been up if I had not got that racket stopped. And anyone wishing to get on me about..."but Church bells don't bother huh?"...let me answer you quickly....as long as it aint midnight, no normal Church bells don't bother me on a Sunday or like this Catholic church rings in my area at 6 pm in the eve. Not a chance on this God's green earth am I listenin to that Muslim hooolabooola. By the way I think it was at the crack of dawn no less!

Answer 1

May I ask you for help? A Christian church a mile or two away has a tape of church bells that they play over a loudspeaker every morning for an hour, and every quarter hour. We are not close enough for it to bother us, but I can see it having dented the property values in the neighborhood it's in. How does one stop what amounts to noise pollution, no matter how well intentioned. If someone played rock music out of a loudspeaker this often, at this volume, they'd be cited by the authorities. I haven't complained about this church, but I am considering doing so. It's just wrong to broadcast this tacky bell tape all the time.

Answer 2

Actually, I live in a pretty religious community (Christian), and I'm surprised I hear very few church bells. In fact the only ones I've heard is a Methodist church on Sunday morning, and an Episcopalian church that actually chimes the hours. I would agree that hearing a call to prayer five times a day would get a little old, but I suppose you'd eventually get used to it. I got used to living next to a railroad (almost) and hearing the horn blast every time it goes by.

If they started using a "call to prayer" here, it wouldn't go very far. You have the right to freedom of religion, but that doesn't give you the right to harass people (a court ruled this against Jehovah's Witnesses who were driving around using loudspeakers). I also know of a church in a city I used to live in that made so much racket (it drowned out the neighbors' TVs in their homes) that the police threatened to ticket them for disturbing the peace.

Answer 3

I knew someone who was Jewish but lived close to a heavily Muslim community. The main issue he had with the muezzin was that it woke him up early in the morning, when he was trying to sleep. I don't think the real problem with the muezzin vs. the church bells here is so much about religion as much as it is about disturbing people with loud noise at awkward or touchy times. I know- in my neck of the woods, there was a Pentecostal Christian church that was the target of a crackdown. It held loud worship services that carried long distances and would keep people from falling asleep(Wednesday evenings)or wake them up(the 8 AM Sunday service).

Answer 4

This doesn't sound like a question. It should be more proper on your blog or whatever.


Many non-Muslims live in Muslim countries and they get along with it quite fine. Also, you are talking about a specific location. There are a few Muslim countries where mosques are located in every community. Call to prayer is a matter of 5 minutes, and it's not so loud to bother anyone.

In non-Muslims societies, we Muslims have to get used to avoiding things which bother us, like wines and liquors, clubbing, nakedness etc. There are so many issues in non-Muslim communities which directly and indirectly affect the Muslim lifestyle.

Answer 5

Call to prayer is just part of the milieu you are in. It is no harder to get used to than if you have a lot of traffic or trains. After a while, it is just part of your environment.

Other than in Saudi Arabia, Muslim communities tend to be pretty good places for Christians to thrive actually. The Catholics in Jordan or Lebanon are more openly Catholic than they are in the west, where any public religion at all is totally frowned on.

Answer 6

I would be able to handle it! What is it inside of a person that makes them harbor ill feelings about someone else's religious practices and go so far as to voice it in a public forum--Freedom of Speech? We live in American where tolerance of one's race, creed, color, and religion are what makes this a great nation. I live in a city where my close neighbors moved in and has a rooster that crows loudly every morning. It used to wake me out of my sleep but I made a choice to not to let it bother me because that is my neighbor's lifestyle and they where not in my house demanding that I wake up. When I accepted it this way, it no longer bothered me. What about nearby trains, Church bells, loud music in the wee hours of the morning, police helicopters and sirens, airplanes. Are these NOISE POLLUTIONS (Undesirable) or NECESSITIES (Desirable) of someones LIFESTYLES?

Answer 7

I don't think i could be a Muslim because.1 i don't believe there teachings.2. I wish to have a my own kind of realship with God and not being forced to do what everone else dose. (i'm a Catholic and I think that you should go to masS EVER sunday )3. during the fast i've seen people that are like straving and thats not good.

Answer 8

I will one day hear the calls from the minarets, almost got there last summer...got stuck at Bulgaria. Noise is noise...you get used to it. You live near a freeway?, a train crossing? It becomes routine and hardly noticeable.

Answer 9

I've never experienced this, but when the muezzin (?) issues the call to prayer, simply knowing that hundreds or thousands of people are going to be praying shortly just blows me away, and I think I'd feel quite honored to be in the midst of that. Who knows, I might be prompted to pray more myself. :~)

Answer 10

Change the place you are living and go to some other place where you can't listen to it if you are getting irritated and are so much intolerant that you can't allow them to live their lives in their OWN PLACE !!!