Rock music vs. prayer calls

Rock music vs. prayer calls

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 | Aviel Schneider

The muezzin calls to prayer five times a day. During the daytime, no one is annoyed by it, but during the night and early morning the Islamic prayer is particularly bothering the non-Muslims eager to get some sleep.

For many years now, the Jewish residential quarter of French Hill, Jerusalem, has been afflicted with the noisy prayer calls of their Arabian neighbors from Isawiya. Now, however, things seem to be changing as the Jewish residents are determined to teach their neighbors a lesson. “We are going to play some rock music one hour before the muezzin's call to prayer, at 4:00 a.m. sharp,“ a disturbed Jewish activist told the news website Maariv. “By taking this measure we would like to show the other side how difficult it has been for us for all these years. We cannot bear this any longer,“ he continued.

The mayor of Isawiya promised to tackle the situation by talking to the muezzin and convincing him to reduce the megaphone’s volume but that didn't help. Now, however, residents believe the four huge loudspeakers in the direction of the village will make their Muslim neighbors change their mind.

Initially considering the option of Hasidic or Oriental music, the dwellers of French Hill have finally opted for the loud rock, aimed at showing the level of their annoyance. Hailed as the fight between the Muslim and Jewish muezzins in the Israeli media, some people believe that should the experiment prove successful, there will be other neighborhoods eager to follow suit by implementing the same technique.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23290/language/en-US/Default.aspx