Politics over the use of loudspeakers at mosques continues to get louder in Uttar Pradesh. The latest to raise the issue is Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Swaroop Shukla who on Tuesday wrote to the Ballia district magistrate, asking that the volume of loudspeakers at mosques should be fixed according to the High Court orders. According to news reports, the minister has written that he “is facing difficulties in discharge of his duties”.
According to media reports, in his complaint Shukla stated, “Namaz is offered five times in a day, and throughout the day. As a result of it, I face problems in doing Yoga, meditation, puja (worship) and discharging government duties.” Shukla in his letter, refers to the Kajipura Madina Masjid in his constituency and states that there are a number of schools in the vicinity of the mosque and the use of loudspeakers “hampers studies”. However, Islamic scholar Zafarul-Islam Khan, the former Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission, Govt of NCT, said, “No mosque uses loudspeakers during school time” and added that “Loudspeakers volume everywhere should be controlled, not just mosques.”
According to Shukla, “Religious publicity takes place through loudspeakers. Information regarding donations for the construction of mosques is disseminated in an extremely loud volume. This has an adverse impact on students, elder citizens and the health of patients. The common public is facing extreme noise pollution.” He has asked that the volume of loudspeakers at the mosques in Ballia should be fixed according to orders of the Allahabad High Court while unnecessary ones should be removed.
This comes close on the heels of the complaint by Allahabad University’s vice-chancellor Prof. Sangita Srivastava who had her wish of uninterrupted morning slumber come true, as the mosque committee of Lal Mosque, decided to reduce the volume by 50 percent, and also change the direction of the speaker away from her house. Prof. Srivastava had written to District Magistrate Bhanu Chandra Goswami complaining that she was forced to wake up too early every day, due to the azaan being recited on a loudspeaker. She urged the DM to take action as her “sleep [gets] so disturbed [that it] does not resume even after trying very hard.” She had also complained about the announcements of sehri, the morning meal consumed by Muslims in the month of Ramzan. She had cited an Allahabad high court judgement from 2020 in her letter that said azaan was an essential part of Islam, but not its recitation through the use of loudspeakers.
In January 2020, the Allahabad High Court had ruled that no religion advocates the use of loudspeakers for worship. The petitioner had challenged an administrative order in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh where use of loudspeaker for azaan had been banned. The high court had said, “No religion prescribes that prayers are required to be performed through voice amplifiers or by beating of drums If there is such a practice, it should not adversely affect rights of the others, including that of not being disturbed.” The details of the Allahabad HC ruling may be read here.
Related:
Allahabad Univ VC can sleep better, Mosque reduces Azaan volume
Muslims must give up use of loudspeakers for religious purpose