Ben-Gvir’s call to curtail volume of Muslim call to prayer mimics Saudi Arabia’s by David Isaac
https://www.jns.org/ben-gvirs-call-to-curtail-volume-of-muslim-call-to-prayer-mimics-saudi-arabias/
While Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has been accused of attempting to ignite a “religious war,” his push to limit the volume of Muslim calls to prayer follows similar efforts in several European countries and even in the cradle of Islam itself.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s announcement on Nov. 30 that he had instructed Israeli police to enforce noise ordinances on mosques by issuing fines and confiscating loudspeakers was met with outrage from Arab Knesset members, the Palestinian Authority and even Hamas.
The terrorist group urged Palestinians to “reject this criminal decision and take action to prevent the occupation authorities from tampering with our sacred sites and religious practices.
Arab-Israeli MKs Ahmed Tibi of the Hadash-Ta’al list and Mansour Abbas, leader of the Ra’am Party, accused Ben-Gvir of attempting to ignite a “religious war.”
Early-morning Muslim calls to prayer are a simmering problem in Israel. Ma’ariv reported in February that since the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War, Israeli police have noted that most mosques’ calls to prayer have increased in volume “in a significant manner, which caused serious harm to residents.”
Two imams from the Great Omari Mosque of Lod were arrested on suspicion of increasing the decibel level of its public address system, the report said. They were released with a warning.
Mordechai Kedar, a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, told JNS that “although they don’t explicitly say it,” the message these imams want to convey is “we are here to stay, and don’t mess with us because we’re the bosses here.”
The same situation plays out in Europe, he noted. “They build mosques in Europe and they use the speakers at a high volume. The message? ‘Hey guys, we’re here to stay and you can’t do anything about it.”
Several European countries have imposed limits on the volume of mosque loudspeakers. Ironically, so has Saudi Arabia, the seat of Islam. On May 31, 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Islamic affairs minister ordered mosque loudspeaker volume cut to one-third of the maximum, saying the decision was prompted by citizens’ complaints about excessive noise.
Similarly, Israel’s national security minister said he only wants to “stop unreasonable noise from mosques.” He has partnered with Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman to enforce the policy.
Following the torrent of criticism over the move, Ben-Gvir doubled down on Sunday, saying he had no intention of backing down and had received dozens of encouraging comments from residents of mixed cities, that is, those with both Arab and Jewish residents, telling him, “You are saving us.”
The Muslim call to prayer, the adhan, dates back to the time of Islam’s founder, Mohammed. A muezzin would proclaim the adhan five times daily. In modern times the muezzin’s reach has been amplified by loudspeakers.
Of the five prayer times, the most problematic is the dawn prayer, which in winter takes place around 5:00 a.m. and in summer around 4:00 a.m.
Ariella Sabo, a resident of the mixed city of Lod, told Israeli daily Ma’ariv on Monday, “Every morning, including today, it wakes me up. I wait a few minutes for it to end. I sleep with the window closed and it’s impossible not to wake up from it, at around 4:40 a.m.
“The noise is annoying at all hours of the day, but it’s unbearable when you’re woken up on a daily basis. I personally work with the Muslim population in the city and they told me more than once that it bothers them, too, but that they can’t complain. They expect us to do the job for them.”
They fear running afoul of their own extremists, according to Kedar.
“They won’t say anything because they are afraid to be depicted as anti-Islamist or anti-Muslim,” he said.
He characterized the problem as a health issue. No one wants to ban the Muslim call to prayer, but only some of the Muslim population wants to wake up to pray, he noted. To accommodate that minority, the majority are roused from sleep, including their wives and children, at precisely the time when they’re in the final stages of sleep, considered among the most important.
Early adhan shakes them out of deep sleep, leaving them “irritable, short-tempered, impatient and even violent…. [It] adversely affects the entire community,” he said, adding that the other four prayer times are less of a problem.
Kedar suggested that this is one of the reasons Arab Israelis are moving out of their neighborhoods, heading for places like Karmiel, Afula and Jewish neighborhoods in Acre—to get away from the noise.
“Arab violence is the first reason they give, but they talk about being out of a certain ‘range’ as well,” he said, suggesting they mean “out of range’’ of the muezzin.
What critics of Ben-Gvir’s policy overlook is that there’s no religious obligation to use loudspeakers, as such modern conveniences didn’t exist in the Prophet Mohammed’s time, said Kedar. Some would even call them “an invention of the infidels,” he noted.
Kedar offered a yet more modern solution—cellphones. “Those who want to get up will get a call on their cellphone. Let that person get up. Why should his children get up? Why should his wife get up? Why should the whole world get up? Those who want to get the message, let them get a phone call,” he said.
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