“My main concern is people's comfort and peace of mind at their homes,” said Zaqzouk

By Subhy Mujahid, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO, September 15 (IslamOnline.net) – A plan by Egypt's Ministry of waqfs (religious endowments) to unify Adhan nationwide has caused a furor and split Al-Azhar, the Muslim world's highest Sunni authority, down to the middle.

The pro said the move is a must to get rid of the cacophony caused by mosques' loudspeakers that inharmoniously call to prayers. The against, however, smelled a rat.

Minister of Waqfs Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk defended his plan as a way to put an end to the noise of poor-quality loudspeakers.

"My main concern is people's comfort and peace of mind at their homes, not to mention the sick, the elderly and the students. Additionally, we want to maintain the spirit and glamour of Adhan," Zakzouk told Egypt's Al-Akhbar newspaper Friday, September 10.

The minister is studying the installation of a network linking different mosques in the same town or district so that a single call goes out at the same time throughout the zone covered by the network, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday, September 14.

He says this method, along with choosing the most melodious muezzin's voice, would enable the noise level to be controlled.

Another suggestion is to allow only the biggest mosque of an area to make the calls to bring the faithful to prayer -- ruling out prayer rooms and less well attended mosques.

Organization

The former Egyptian Mufti saw nothing unlawful in unifying the call to prayers in the country.

"It has everything to do with organization at the end of the day," Nasr Fareed Wasil told IslamOnline.net.

"We have to admit the chaos caused by today's muezzins whey they call to prayer let alone some of them have really got coarse voices. So it is a good thing to choose a well-tuned Adhan and unify it nationwide with local times taken into consideration."

Professor of Islamic jurisprudence in Al-Azhar University Abdul Maksoud Basha said the some 20,000 mosques in Cairo necessitate creating a unified Adhan.

"Most of the mosques are adjacent to one another causing a jangle of voices at slightly variant times due to the competing calls," he said.

Professor Mohammad Al-Shahat Al-Gindi, member of Al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Academy, said the plan has its own pros and cons.

“It is positive that Adhan will be unified, but this unification will undermine the role of muezzins, which is some kind of worship and sets stage for prayers. It will also affect the sanctity of the Adhan.”

“Smells American”

Matani feared that the people could believe that the government has bowed to the US pressures

Opponents, however, fear that “American hands” are behind the move as part of the US reform initiative in the region.

Abdul Azeem Al-Matani, professor at Al-Azhar University, said the people could believe that the government has bowed to the US pressures.

He said the government has to backtrack on this measure and seek other alternatives to protect national unity.

Other professors, including Ahmad Al-Saeh and Abdel Sabour Shahin, went far beyond that, fearing that the move is aimed primarily at silencing the call to the Dawn prayer.

A single call to prayer would not conform to Shari'ah (Muslim law), according to Ahmad Sayer, a professor at Al-Azhar university, while his colleague Mohammad Sayed Ahmad Yassir said he feared "one would finish by calling for cancellation of Friday prayers in the mosques and be satisfied with prayers put out over the radio."

Another opponent echoed this, asking "if we are not going as far as limiting Muslims to pray behind an imam officiating on television."

Fears for the jobs of the 200,000 muezzins working throughout Egypt have also been expressed, although the minister has promised not to sack any of the 70,000 muezzins officially working for the state. He says they may be redeployed to other jobs within their mosques.