For Beringin Kusuma whose living quarters
are only a short distance from a mosque, the Muslim month of Ramadan is not only a time for
fasting, but also for plugging his ears before bed every night.
Year-round,
like most urban dwellers in the world's largest Muslim nation that boasts 800,000 mosques, the
22-year-old university student has to contend with the "azan" that
begins at dawn and calls worshippers to prayer five times a day.
But
during Ramadan the mosques go into overdrive. Their crackling speakers blare
out not only the azan, but also calls to worshippers to wake before the
pre-dawn sahur breakfast that begins the day-long fast, and Koran recitations
that go on almost all day and night.
"It's
worse during Ramadan," complained Kusuma, who for the past three years has
lived in a rented room only 20 metres (65 feet) from the closest mosque.
In
Indonesia, Ramadan -- a time of year when Muslims forgo food, drink and sex
between dawn and dusk -- started on July 21. Eid al-Fitr, the feast marking the
end of the fasting month, falls on August 19. Dates may vary elsewhere.
But
while it is regarded as one of the most spiritual periods in the Islamic
calendar, for many it is also the most noisy.
"Most
people wake up just before 4:30 am for a quick sahur, but the speakers start
calling the people to wake up at 2:30 am," said Kusuma.
"They
repeat it many times, along with Koran recitations -- and then comes the azan
at dawn," he said.
Kusuma
compares the sound to "someone screaming in my ear" and says he usually
tries to return home after 9pm when at least the special evening Ramadan
prayers are over.
"If
it wasn't for ear plugs, I wouldn't get a wink of sleep during all of
Ramadan."
With
hundreds of thousands of mosques in this nation of 240 million people, most
city and town dwellers are accosted every dawn by the intermingling cacophony
blaring out of three or four mosques, each broadcasting its own azan.
For
some people -- especially non-Muslim foreigners unfamiliar with the routine and
naive enough to rent a place without checking the distance from the closest
mosque -- it can all be too much.
Two
years ago, an American running a guesthouse near a mosque on the tourist island
of Lombok snapped during a prayer reading and yanked the wire connecting the
speaker. He was sentenced to five months in jail for blasphemy.
Anita
Rizki, a 22-year-old secretary at a private hospital in Jakarta, said the
mosques were bad enough throughout the year, but became impossible during
Ramadan, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.
"I
feel guilty for my non-Muslim neighbours, because the noises keep them up all
night," said Rizki, who lives 100-metres from a large mosque.
"People
have different faiths. Our devotion doesn't need to be broadcast through a
loudspeaker. It only shows a lack of religious tolerance."
According
to ear specialist Ronny Suwento, "the noise level can reach dangerous
decibels for those who live very close to mosques, and that can cause hearing
loss over time."
Historically,
the prayer leader at a mosque would climb the minaret and deliver the call to
prayer without amplification.
Kusuma,
the university student, said he believed that mosque loudspeakers are outdated.
"It
doesn't work at all in our times. Thanks to technology, we can now even
download an alarm which plays the prayer call at its designated time."
Mosques
are still governed by regulations from the religious affairs ministry that are
more than three decades old. The 1978 directives allow the use of loudspeakers
for calls to prayer, Koran recitations as well as sermons and religious
gatherings.
Earlier
this year, Vice President Boediono called on mosques to tone down their noise
and asked religious authorities for new guidelines on the use of loudspeakers.
"The
soft sounds of azan heard faintly at a distance resonate more strongly and
reach deeper into the heart than those that are loud, scratchy and too close to
our ears," he said in April.
Boediono's
remarks received mixed reactions, with some people berating him for saying that
prayers to Allah should be toned down, and others praising his bravery for
speaking out on a sensitive topic. But his comments encouraged others to speak
up.
Before
the beginning of Ramadan earlier this month, a governor in central Kalimantan
province asked local mosques to refrain from having their soundsystems working
overtime.
"Don't
use loudspeakers when reciting the Koran. Take pity on people of different
faiths who want to rest," local media quoted Achmad Diran as saying.
But
Nasir Zubaidi, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesia Ulema Council that is
the nation's top Islamic body, said that mosque loudspeakers were important,
especially to women at home.
"It's
good to use loudspeakers to broadcast Islamic sermons. Women at home can listen
while they are cooking so that they will eventually become enlightened."
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