How loud is too loud? Competing rights to religious freedom and property and the Muslim call to prayer (Adhan or Azan) in South Africa
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Date
2021
Authors
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Publisher
MPDI
Abstract
This article approaches the position of the call to prayer (adhan or azan) in South Africa
from the perspective of both legislation and case law. Although only an unamplified adhan has
religious status in Islam, Muslim religious authorities (ulama) have since the twentieth century
also approved of, and permitted, an amplified adhan. The adhan has been rendered in both forms
from South African mosques (masjids) for some 223 years. However, the unamplified adhan has
recently come under the legal and judicial spotlight when the volume of its rendering by human
voice was restricted. In August 2020, after prior attempts at municipal level and mediation had been
unsuccessful, a high court in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, ruled that the sound of the unamplified
adhan emanating from a mosque located on the premises of an Islamic institution (madrassa) in the
city of Durban should not be audible within the house situated on nearby property belonging to a
Hindu neighbor. Wide media coverage reported that the ruling was publicly decried and met with
criticism. The Madrassa lodged an appeal in September 2020 and the matter is ongoing.
Description
Keywords
Muslim call to prayer (adhan or azan), Loudspeakers, Freedom of religion, Cultural heritage, Religion, Property rights
Citation
Moosa, Najma ‘How loud is too loud? Competing rights to religious freedom and property and the Muslim call to prayer (Adhan or Azan) in South Africa’ Religions 12:5 (2021) pp. 1–33