Riddles of Loud Speaker in India

Loudspeaker as innovation


Rituals in Islam

Loudspeakers are used in mosques all over the Islamic countries but no where it has been made as a riddle. Then why does it appear as a riddle in India only? It is in the nature of Muslims that when they are in sizable minority they make every issue as encroachment on Islamic practices and therefore to be protected disregarding the troubles it causes to others. The Hindus believe that as any issue is discussed more and more it can reveal the truth better and better. It is thus said in Hindu scripture that vade vade jayate tatvabodhah. But the loudspeaker issue, through the discussions over TV, in news papers and more so on social media, has become more as a real riddle for common Hindu in India. Mysticism or theological dictates in Islam, as is claimed, has tremendous capacity to transform any issue into riddle. The riddle of loud speaker is its solid proof. In Hindu society mysticism is never a public collective issue. It is highly personal, at best of a small group. But amongst Muslims there is nothing personal; it is all a collective issue and is most often dealt with as encroachment on Islamic practices as is interpreted by the so-called intellectuals in Islam. That is an ideal ground to make any issue a riddle for others.

Surprising fact

Though, to the outsiders, Islam appears as monolithic and hence it exhibits solidarity on any issue related to Islamic practices. Any one may believe that the issue of playing loudspeaker is one of the fundamentals of Islam as a religion. But surprisingly it is not at all true. One Supreme Court Judge from Pakistan was once asked to find out as to what are the common Islamic beliefs for all Muslims that make any one Muslim. After in depth study, he revealed that there are nearly one hundred and fifty varieties of Islam and no one seems to be authentic over the other. They are all either equally authentic or otherwise. Whether use of loudspeaker is common to all of them? The answer is that it is not all that common practice. That makes it more as a riddle than regular ritual. But quite surprisingly when it comes to dealing with Hindus, all sects of Islam get unified in their fight, physical or intellectual, against non-Muslims, here the Hindus.

Origin of riddle

Supreme Court of India has issued guidelines to keep the noise of loudspeaker below a certain decibel level. But is neither practiced nor implemented by any state government for the fear of losing votes. Hence it is related to vote-politics. Then it becomes a riddle. In Islam the 150 varieties make everything in Islam more as a riddle because of their insistence on one or the other practice. Anything becomes riddle when logic disappears and emotions dominate. There is competition to prove one’s own action as final truth, as compared to those of the others, disregarding the troubles it causes to others. Nobody is keen to examine the issue rationally. Nobody seems to be bothered about any of the practices that cause troubles to others dispassionately and in cordial atmosphere. It is arrogance in its extreme. Hence the riddle gets wrapped up in a mystery to further complicate the issue. The arrogance finally ends with the mental make-up as ‘I don’t care if it causes problems to others’. In a democracy personal freedom is not absolute. It has reasonable restrictions. But it is not appreciated in actions. Often the behavior appears to be deliberately chalked out to trouble others, at least by some, so called leaders in Islamic society. When, where and why does it happen? Strangely, it is not an issue in any Muslim majority countries. They all are Muslims and there is no point in troubling others. Even Soudi Arabia has reduced the volume of the loud speakers that are used to give Azaan six times a day. But in India it cannot be reduced in terms of decibels. It is not acceptable to part of Muslim society, is beyond logic. That is why it becomes riddle. In India every issue even remotely related to Islam becomes a point of honour and therefore a point of dispute with Hindus, even if they legitimately object to it. There seems to be deliberate attempt not to adjust with Hindus around. In a democratic set-up it thus becomes riddle. Then every issue has to be judicially decided and it takes ages to get the correct version. It deepens the riddle unnecessarily.

Origin of Azaan

When Islam was established by Prophet himself in the seventh century in Arabia he proclaimed that the followers should carry out worship of Allah at six fixed times during the day. In a desert like Arabia the population was thinly spread. Similarly the number of mosques was also limited. In the absence of clock or watches how would the illiterate population know the times to carry out the worship passionately? That is why Islam dictated that the moulvis from the mosques should announce loudly the time for others around to worship Allah. The moulvis had to shout the Azaan to the listeners to collect in the mosque to start prayer. The voice used to be loud or at high pitch to make the followers know the times of worship. Since it was expected that people who were far off should also be able to hear the announcements of the moulavis, minars were provided on the mosques for the purpose. It was like a warning bell in the form of Azaan. That is also why the mosques designs were made such that they would have towers (minars) on mosques for the moulvis (those who were up in Islamic theology) to stand at a height to proclaim the Azaan to make it audible over a large area in the desert. The followers of Islam were made to believe that whatever was truth and worth knowing, was revealed by Prophet Mohammed, once and for all time and it must be followed without changing even the quamas and full stops. This is the origin of Azaan. The way it is to be proclaimed, though mechanical in nature, also thus became a part of more or less Islamic theological practices. In reality it has nothing to do with theology of Islam.

As Islam spread over countries that were not deserts and had relatively thick population the practice of proclamation of Azaan from mosque, since it was taken as part of Islamic theology, continued and with the passage of time it became the dictate of Islam, notwithstanding the altered circumstances. Islam refuses to change even in minor matters from what has been conveyed by the Prophet in seventh century. The basic idea of Azaan is to know the time of worship (ibadat) and carry out the worship as dictated by Prophet himself, either individually or collectively in the nearby mosque. In the present times everybody has a watch to know the time and decide if one wants to go to the mosque to offer worship. When Muslims travel in train or bus or even airplane do they get chance to listen the Azaan? No, they see the watch and offer namaz. Does it still reach Prophet? It must be as is believed by Muslims. Then why insist on Azaan on loudspeakers in a locality where the noise level is already high? In India the Muslims and non-Muslims do stay almost together in any town or city. The Azaan may be useful to Muslim residents of that area as it is clearly audible to them. In that case people of other faiths have to compulsorily listen to the Azaan and get unnecessarily disturbed, particularly in the early morning. Nobody has the right to disturb others on account of anything. It amounts to intrusion in their privacy. In a democracy then, why insist on using loudspeaker in such areas? But while practicing own rituals the spirit of accommodation, consideration of freedom of others and so on seems to be missing in India.

Present reality

The practice of Azaan from loudspeakers continued unchallenged as long as Muslims were pampered by the ruling class for their block votes. But the situation has changed. The BJP consolidated the Hindu voters out of national spirit and the Hindus got awakened to these disturbing practices in the name of other religions. Now the Hindus also use loudspeakers in their rituals and carry out their religious programmes using loudspeakers that sometimes clash with Azaan and that creates the problems. The peace keeping police force is incapable of foreseeing the possible troubles in such cases and often do not take precautionary measures. Many times it finally results in pogrom between Hindus and Muslims. Consequently the Azaan has unnecessarily become a riddle. Hindus being tolerant and accommodative expect the Muslims to adjust their rituals in accordance with the Hindu rituals. No attempt is made, either by police or by learned ones from either side, to bring the two parties on the table in advance and work out the agreed programmes peacefully. Muslims are very rigid and they often tend to stick to their timings without yielding for accommodating the Hindu rituals. An average Hindu who has not studied Islamic theology finds this rigidity as nothing less than a riddle.

Democratic spirit

Earlier there were no such clashes between Hindus and Muslims as Hindus were somehow forced by the then ruling party to fall in line with the Muslim practices. This is typically revealed in West Bengal. Hindus never liked these undemocratic methods and discrimination but the ruling parties, whether at the centre or in states, invariably appeased the Muslims in all cases. But these events have aroused the Hindu society to such an extent that they have become conscious of their democratic rights and expect the Muslims to fall in line. Sensible Muslims must understand the loudspeaker issue and on their own constitute conciliatory committees of sensible Hindus and Muslims and work out the common agreeable solution to the problem of loudspeaker on mosques. But this does not seem to be happening. To an average Hindu it again appears as a riddle.

Reactions

The issue of loudspeakers on mosques has now become a great big social issue. The Hindus have now started to recite Hanuman Chalisa in front of the mosques using loudspeakers as its reaction. It is bound to result in physical clashes and a serious problem for police to handle and maintain peace. In India, police force works as per the dictates of the ruling party disregarding the right things to be done for maintaining peace. There are political parties who are out to plead the cause of Hindus now and cannot be disregarded as Hindus now realize the minority appeasement politics. The UP government under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath enforced strict discipline recently when the Hindu rituals like Ramanavmi, Varsha Pratipada or Hanuman Jayanti were celebrated and nothing, absolutely nothing, untoward happened in UP; where as problems surfaced in other provinces. Why can’t governments behave likewise, enforce discipline and establish law and order, more ruthlessly, as it is their primary duty, even with respect to issues like use of loudspeakers on some occasions and regular use of loudspeakers on mosques? It does not seem to be happening and that appears as riddle to the common folks.

Solution

It is the bounden duty of police to hold discussions between the possible involved parties, on any possible occasion of celebration, to work out the agreed norms of collectively celebrating any issue. Similarly no one should be allowed to play loudspeaker beyond a certain fixed level of sound quantified in decibels – that is the measure of sound intensity. The riddle can be solved readily but the party in power often would like the dispute to erupt and then try to solve the issue just temporarily keeping eye on the votes. This is the real riddle in our political life that prevents bringing out amicable solutions to possible disputes between different communities. But then there is the possible danger of losing the minority votes in elections. Most political parties avoid finding lasting solutions because then no one would come to see them to find solutions of such riddles.

(Dr. R.H.Tupkary, Former Prof and Head, Met. Engg. and Founder Chairman VNIT, Nagpur)