Jerusalem sheikh says blaring loudspeakers is "freedom of worship"

This morning, residents of Pisgat Ze'ev went to the house of Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and woke him up with a loud recording of the Muslim call to prayer, amplified to approximate what they have to hear every morning:

For years, many residents in various neighborhoods of the city, including Gilo, French Hill, Pisgat Ze'ev and others, have complained that the municipality does not enforce the noise ordinances.

Last night, after he heard about the planned demonstration, Barkat instructed his Director General to formulate, in cooperation with the police, an action plan for regulating the noise levels from the call of the muezzin. He asked the commander of the Jerusalem district police, Yoram Halevy, to help reach a solution.

Ikrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, is very upset over this, claiming that obnoxious calls to prayer is part of Muslim tradition and Palestinians have "the legitimate right" to amplify calls to prayer, saying that today's amplified calls are similar to the ones done by the first Jerusalem muezzin Bilal bin Rabah in the seventh century.

I didnt know Muslim science was that advanced in the early days of Islam.

Sabri even said that limits on amplification are a violation of Palestinian freedom of worship, which is another wonderful innovation that only applies to Palestinians. Muslim countries themselves have imposed limits or debated about the volume and number of muezzin calls that bother everyone who lives nearby.

But only when Israel tries to enforce laws against disturbing the peace do people get upset.

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