I Heard on a You Tube post that Saudi King had prohibited the use of loud speakers for the Azan or call to prayer and if done so to keep the volume at one third of its loudness and the post was against this prohibition accusing the King of being anti Islam. I have been having this similar feeling about the use of loud speakers from the mosques in my vicinity and am personally disturbed by the fact that i object to the loudness that this mosques are emitting to the point of it becoming an irritation. If it is to me how much so it must be for those who are non-Muslims who lives in the neighborhood where i live. The closest mosque to my home is not even considered a mosque by status but a 'Surau' or smaller mosque where Friday Prayers are not allowed to b carried out. This mosque has the volume cranked up to the maximum five times a day and it is not only for the Azan but the whole four 'rakaats' and including the doas which stretches the whole rite to more than 10 or fifteen minutes. I am not a devout Muslim by choice at least not in practice but i am a Muslim by conversion and my faith in Islam grew over time and not from influences by my peers or my parents and as such I see Islam with a little more critical view than most who were born and raised as Muslims. I just listened to the the loudest 'Subuh' or fajr. prayer being carried out a few minutes ago and felt ambivalent about the intention of the Malay Muslims who run the mosque administration, namely the Imam. What is the intention behind praying out so loud at five on a Sunday morning in a neighborhood of ninety percent non-Muslims? I feel sorry for my non-Muslim neighbors and understand how aggravating it must be for them to put up with this insensitivity.
Like it or not this is a multi - Racial country and especially this State of Penang where the population is predominantly more non -Malays. I am not saying that loud speakers should be banned, however if being used it should be used with moderation as not to be too loud and offensive to the rest of the community. It is ironic that this small mosque or surau sits in the midst of the largest Chinese cemetery on the island. Next to politics, religious sensitivity has become a contentious subject in the country and anytime there is a cause to raise an issue the general public will be put on high alert like the use of the Allah letter on socks that is still a hot issue pursued by politicians who has nothing else to use to propagate their status on or when they have run out of subjects to champion in the name of their faith. Often common sense and tolerance is cast to the wind and negative sentiments is stoked till the is civil unrest in the making and the government is put to the task to solve the problem like they have nothing better to do. Insensitivity is the product of ignorance and the only way to overcome this dilemma is through right understanding and this is achieved through right education. Most schools today have little or no classes on religious studies, they have religious schools but not studies on comparative religions or the understanding of other faiths and religions like they used to in my school years in the 50s-60s. What children understand about religion is only that of their own especially those in the rural areas. Most youth today only see the ugly side of the other's faith having been conditioned by their own religious upbringing albeit Malay, Chinese, Hindus, Christians, among others. Without a comparative study of religions being promoted among the younger generation our country future will face a dire situation where religion will become a tool for exploitation by those who are unscrupulous about their political ambitions and this applies to all, not only the Malay Muslims in this country.
For the past 70 odd years i have lived my life grappling with my faith and religious understanding and till this day I still am not one hundred positive of where i stand except that i believe in the One Supreme Power that governs this Universe and as a Muslim I call my Lord, Allah, anyone can Google it and find out what this word really means in Arabic. Others call theirs as God, Elohim, Yahweh, Brahman, Shiva, The Tao, The Great Spirit and so forth and i believe they all aim at the same entity. The divine is in each and every one of us if we only see and feel it and not in what is out there or created by other's interpretation and it is up to us to awaken to this Divinity through genuine understanding of who we truly are and our relationship to our Divine Nature. When we fail to come to an understanding of our true nature we have forfeited our right to frown or judge upon the other's faith or belief. As I keep reminding myself that death is knocking on my door, I am in more Ernest in finding the truth about the nature of life, death and the afterlife. I will not swallow whole what is written in the holy books nor the words spoken by religious minds, but I will investigate and negate what is not the truth and accept what i feel is the true and real in my life. This is what i have learned thus far during the fasting Month of Ramadan.
WallhuAlam! Only the Lord holds the Truth.
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