By Walid Shoebat
In Jerusalem and all throughout Judaea, right after a Jew loves his wife at midnight, smoked a cigarette and then began snoozing, three hours later, he is awakened by moaning of a different kind:
In the Muslim world, depending on the day on the calendar, everyone must wake up 3 to 5 hours past midnight for the Fajr (Dawn) daily prayer when they hear this loud recitation.
After decades of this every day, the Jews of Israel had enough. It was too much to deal with, so the Jews want to forbid the use of these outdoor speakers in residential areas from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. This will cut off the moaning till noon since the next prayer after dawn is the noon prayer where the moaning can go on four times till 8-9 P.M at night.
But the Muslims are having a fit. This call to prayer is the Muslim alarm-clock since its mandatory that everyone wakes up be they Muslim or not.
And if you think double-pain windows or ear-plugs might help alleviate the sound, it simply doesn’t work. I lived in Israel and can tell you that in Bethlehem it was three minarets that blasted the ear piercing sound minutes apart with echoes and shockwaves. I once visited a friend whose balcony was yards apart from the loudspeaker. The sound nearly blasted the tea cups.
And just in case you heard the blasting sound and decided to go back and snooze, the caller even shouts at the end of the chant Al-Salatu Khayrun Mina-Al-Nawm “Prayer is better than sleep” a few times to remind you of the sin you committed for not waking up.
Islam mandates you must wake up, gargle with your right hand three times after washing your private parts with the left. Then wash your hands face and feet three times and then begin to pray facing Mecca. But Allah forbid you loved your wife that night, then its a mandatory bathing for the both of you at 3, 4 or 5 A.M.
But the Jews had enough of it. After a stormy debate that included mutual insult-hurling by the Left and Right, by Muslims and Jews, the Knesset voted 55-48, in its preliminary reading of the controversial “muezzin [call to prayer] bill,” a proposal to prohibit religious institutions from using outdoor loudspeakers that is understood to be directed at the country’s mosques.
Muslim are upset since Islam argues:
“What is meant by the words “prayer is better than sleep” is that the obligatory prayer that Allah has enjoined is better than sleep, and what people should do is get up for it.”
The Jews, being stubborn about it, insist they do not want to wake up.
When the bill was first announced the reaction by the Muslim community in Jerusalem was to have every Muslim get up on the rooftops and each do the call to prayer all together in unison so that all Jews wake up.
Trust me, you never seen or heard this:
So if you think your weekend Mexican neighbors party was bad enough, try living as a Christian or Jew in Jerusalem and the nearby villages.
There were angry scenes in Israel’s parliament last Wednesday as preliminary approval was given to the bill that would restrict the use of these outdoor loudspeakers.
Two versions of the so-called “muezzin bill”, which would mostly affect Muslim calls to prayer, passed their first readings by slim majorities.
Some Arab MPs insisted everyone must wake up to pray “prayer is better than sleep” so they ripped apart copies of the legislation during a debate.
Of course, in solidarity insisting that Jews and Christians must be disturbed at the wee hours of the night, the tallest building in the world “Burj Khalifa” (Tower of the Caliph) in Dubai in solidarity with Palestinian Muslims blasted the call to prayer for all tourists to hear:
Welcome to Hotel Mecca, where you can check-out any time you like but you can never leave.
Pray till the wee hours of the night that no branch of this “Hotel Mecca” comes near you anytime soon. I don’t know about you, but at 3-5 A.M, I’d rather pray in my dream.