Muslim leaders in Kerala plan to reduce ‘Azaan’ sound

With many areas in Kerala having many mosques situated close by, the echoing of Azaan—Islamic call for prayer five times a day, often leads to inconvenience to the local community. Hence a section of Muslim leaders in Kerala has initiated a discussion on unifying Azaan and restricting its volume.

Kerala has over 7,000 mosques spread across the state. At many Muslim-dominated regions, especially in North Kerala, many mosques are situated close by. The two-minute-long Azaan is performed based on time, but there are slight variations in the time followed by each mosque. Hence at places where more than one mosque is present, Azaan often causes inconvenience to locals as it is either performed one after another or echoes together.

Kerala Haj Committee chairman C Muhammed Faizy initiated the fresh discussion on unifying the time of Azaan as well as restricting the sound levels so that the prayer call did not cause any disturbance to locals. Suggestions to have one single Azaan for a region on a rotation basis by the local mosques have also come up.

Faizy told DH that many Muslim leaders gave a positive reaction to the new proposals.

Panakkad Sayed Hyderali Shihab Thangal Thangal, who heads the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the vice-president of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, a supreme body of an Islamic scholar’s of Kerala, had earlier shared a similar view.

Saifuddin Haji, a secretary of the Kerala Muslim Jamaath, said it was a positive initiative by the Muslim leaders as Azaan should not cause inconvenience, especially to students preparing for examinations and aged people or patients.

In Abu Dhabi, a system of live broadcasting Azaan from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque to all mosques was in place. Such systems could be initiated in Kerala in the long run, said a Muslim leader.