FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Azaan: A Serene Call to Worship,
Not a Noise or Cacophony, not a Pollution
At the height of the insurgency in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the PA Systems installed in Masjids were confiscated, not on grounds of environmental pollution but of misuse for political propaganda. Throughout the country, during communal disturbances the police shut off the PA Systems in Masjids or turns the horns inside or by executive fiat bans the use of the PA System for Azaan, and even for Namaz, sometimes even confiscates it, partly because Masjids and PA Systems were used for sheltering the besieged or rallying them against mob-attacks or police raids, organising the defence of the locality. The chant of Allah-o-Akbar serves to boost the morale of the terrorised people but this is often perceived as a war-cry! PA System was banned in Meerut in 1987 and in Bombay in 1993. I am not sure whether the confiscated PA Systems once confiscated have been restored to the Masjids in various cities.
Here and there, in this vast land of our, wherever Muslims are economically weak or religiously not very particular or culturally assimilated, at the slightest frown on the face of the majority community - the authorities prohibit the Azaan for congregational Namaaz, certainly the use of a PA System for the purpose. All this without any administrative restriction on the regular recitation of mantras or ringing of the bells in the local temple, broadcast for miles through serial amplifiers, what to speak of night-long performance of jagrans, bhajans and kirtans, especially during festivals. Neither did the administration ever, anywhere, take notice of public meetings stretching far into the night, scattering pearls of political wisdom towards every house within the target area, nor of processions, religious or political, which, at times, frenziedly shout abusive and provocative slogans. Of course, whoever cares or takes notice of "No Horn Zones" even in the vicinity of schools and hospitals?
No, these are normal activities of a religious-minded, politically conscious, people. How does it matter? The Indian people tend to be loud and boisterous and how can anyone forcibly interfere with their religious and cultural rights, even if both religious rites and cultural events are blatantly multiplied through innovations? How can you interfere with political activity in a democracy?
But the axe must fall on Azaan - even though it takes not more than 2-3 minutes, before every Namaz, and about 10-15 minutes in all in 24 hours, even though it can hardly add to the noise level in municipal areas during the day or disturb the people, except the late-risers in the case of the Azaan for the Fajr (dawn) prayers, when its sound penetrates through the serene ambience. In the same early hours, in many temples the priests wake up the installed deity and service the devout, rather loudly.
In a Muslim locality no one objects to the Azaan, not even those who do not perform Namaz. Normally Azaan for the night ('Isha) prayers takes place almost 2 hours after sunset when the cities and towns are still teeming with life. So, the dimensions of the problem are reduced to one pre-dawn Azaan of 2-3 minutes duration, in a non-Muslim locality.
Many non-Muslims do not know the exact significance of the Azaan. An eminent journalist once argued against Azaan on the ground that the Almighty was not deaf! H thought that the Azaan was a call to Allah !! I took pains to explain to him that it was a call to the Faithful to remind them of the hour of the Namaz and to invite them to join the congregation in the local Masjid or to perform the Namaz in their homes. For congregational Namaaz, the PA System can be so adjusted as to transmit the voice of the Khatib (we call him Imam or Pesh-i-Imam in India) to the congregation. Normally the sound need not reach out, except on Fridays and the 'Ids when the congregation itself extends beyond the four walls of the Masjid to the open spaces, adjacently available.
An Azaan, emanating from a mosque is not intended for the whole city but for the people living in its neighbourhood, say, within 200 meters. A Namaaz is not a public meeting or a mass rally. Therefore, for the outside and for the inside of the Masjid appropriate low levels can be prescribed. A multi-religious society lives by practising tolerance and balance and not by the Executive and Judiciary adopting an anti-religious approach, atheistically denigrating religion or limiting the essentials rites of a particular religion, to the annoyance, inconvenience, nay, humiliation of the community concerned.
Theoretically, the ban applies to all but the Muslim Indians known well how partisanly the police and the magistracy behave; how they discriminate in practice between one community and the other. So, in practice, night long Jagrans and late-long Jagrans and Pujas would be permitted, on request, in the same localities where the 2–3-minute Azaan has been castigated as a threat to public health! The golden rule of legislation is not to enact laws and regulation which cannot be enforced and which are enforceable only at the discretion of the authorities.
One therefore, fails to understand or appreciate the Order of the Calcutta High Court of 1.4.1996 confirmed on 21 November 1996, which totally bans the use of the PA System for religious purposes including the Azaan from 9 PM to 6 AM and authorises the State Pollution Board to set noise standards in terms of decibels and the police to seize the PA Systems or penalise the Imams and the Muezzins and, by implication, the Mutawallis or the Managing Committees of the Masjids.
Initially some Imams of important Masjids in Calcutta were inclined to abide by the Order of the High Court in order to avoid a confrontation with the State. However, Muslim representatives placed their views before the Government of West Bengal which, finding the request reasonable, asked the High Court to exempt the Azaan. On 7:3.1997 this request was refused on the constitutional ground that there can be no discrimination on the ground of religion.
The Hon'ble High Court has failed to distinguish between the nature and extent of continuous noise pollution for hours at a stretch in political meetings, religious functions, publicity campaign, Jagrans, Kirtans, and musical events during festivals like Durga Puja and even social events, like birth and marriage, and in the intermittent Azaan which does not take more than 2-3 minutes at a time. The Hon'ble High Court has also failed to recognize that Azaan is serene and does not constitute noise or cacophony or misuse. What is important for policy makers is to realise that the order is bound to be interpreted, at least by a section of the Muslim community, as a curtailment of religious freedom and an interference in religious matters, which will add to its persecution complex and to its alienation from the State, throughout the country. The orders of a High Court, unless reversed by a bigger Bench or by the Supreme Court, constitutes the law of the land.
On 12.7.1989, the Madras High Court (CWP 9112 of 1989. Valliammal vs State) had dismissed the petition of the hereditary trustee of a temple in Madras and had declined to stop use of the PA System from a mosque in its vicinity. The High Court had said, inter alia, "the reason given by the petitioners that the PA System causes nuisance to the public is not convincing. In matters of this kind, certain amount of tolerance is needed especially in a country like ours the Court has a duty to strike a balance". The Court had, however, added that the authorities should see that "everybody uses the PA System only according to law".
One wishes that the Calcutta High Court had shown the same degree of balance and tolerance. The matter has now come to boil because several eminent Imams of Calcutta including the Imam of Nakhoda Masjid were hauled up before the High Court in June, 1997 by the State Pollution Board. The Imams have taken the stand that nowhere in the country the State Pollution Boards have tried to terrorise the Imams in this manner. Eminent jurist Sidharatha Shankar Ray has challenged the jurisdiction of the State Pollution Board to enforce a Central Act which does not authorise it or the State Government.
There are conflicting views in the Muslim community on the subject. Some say that the Muslim should unconditionally give up the use of PA Systems for Azaan and even for Namaaz; others see no objection in the ban as it applies to the all religions; some others feel that the order is partial as well as unbalanced since the High Court has not taken notice of much more serious noise pollution caused by transport vehicles including aircrafts, especially when taking off and landing, factories, fire-tenders, ambulances, generators, Static publicity in shops etc.
In its original order, the High Court has based itself on the constitutional position that Freedom of Religion and of Conscience are not absolute but subject to public order, public health and morality and that Freedom of Speech and Expression includes freedom not to listen and to remain silent. P.A. Systems infringe these rights of an individual. A citizen cannot be coerced to hear anything which he does not like or which he does not need to; he cannot be made a captive listener. The Hon'ble Court has also dilated on the harmful effects of exposure to sound on health and called the PA Systems "a serious threat to life and health". One wishes the Hon'ble High Court had applied this logic to all forms of noise pollution which is indeed a bane of modern life and a gift of modern technology and saved the people of India from physical, mental and emotional injury.
While dealing with the State Government's petition one Hon'ble judge of the High Court asked which religious book had made the use of the PA Syst for Azaan compulsory. Perhaps he assumed that the PA system existed in the 7th Century, in the time of the Holy Prophet! Why not ban all forms of modern transport on the ground of noise pollution because no law or law-giver, religious or secular, ever decreed that mankind must use power-driven vehicles! It is obvious that the PA System is a modern invention and did not exist in the age of the Holy Prophet.
But from this premise to argue that the PA System should not be used in Masjids is to deny the Muslims the right to modern technology - which is a common heritage of all mankind.
The attitude of a section of the mass media has blatantly reflected the inbuilt communal bias and its blissful innocence about matters religions.
The Muslim Indians should be ever prepared for just accommodation, for a fair compromise, for reasonable adjustment, but they should not be forced into the dock or treated with disdain and partiality or pushed to the wall.
Many years ago, in the 80's, local pressures against Azaan had led to communal violence in Pune. I had cautioned the Rajya Sabha, I was then a member, that religious rites are a highly sensitive matter. For a Muslim Indian, India is his mother land but Islamically it is not Dar-ul-Islam, but it is Dar-ul-Ahad and Dar-ul-Aman (Land of Covenant and of Peace) so long as there is religious freedom. Any interference with religious freedom turns it into a Dar-ul-Harb.
To sum up, Azaan is not performance of religion; it is the announcement and a public call to a prescribed religious duty. Azaan is not worship; it is a call to worship. Azaan is brief and intermittent and takes only 2-3 minutes; Azaan is serene and sonorous; it is not a noise or Cacophony. Even the Fajr Azaan is a wake-up call which may be beneficial to health of all, irrespective of religion. No religious group can and should be asked to abjure utilisation of science and technology which is the gift of Allah to Man.
The objection to Azaan is not rational but communal; it is nothing but assertion of superiority and dominance, of the majority over the minority. It is widely believed that the Hindu deities do not like Azaan and shun the localities in which Azaan is performed! Let there be a total, absolute and unconditional ban on all noise pollution caused by religious practices or otherwise, and the Muslim Indians shall voluntarily stop us of the PA Systems for the Azaan. But until then, No!
New Delhi,
1 July, 1997
