The Allahabad High Court on Friday allowed the recitation of ‘azan’ by a single individual in Uttar Pradesh mosques without the use of any loudspeaker during the COVID-driven lockdown.
A bench of justices Shashi Kant Guipta and Ajit Kumar granted the relief to the Muslim community saying “azan may be an essential and integral part of Islam” but its “recitation through loudspeakers or other sound amplifying devices cannot be said to be an integral part of the religion.”
The bench gave its ruling on a bunch of pleas, including those of former Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Lok Sabha member from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari, among others.
“We are of the considered opinion that azan can be recited by muezzin (mosque caretakers) from minarets of the mosques by human voice without using any amplifying device and the administration is directed not to cause hindrance in the same on the pretext of the guidelines to contain the pandemic Covid¬19,” the bench ruled.
Published 15 May 2020, 15:42 IST