Hey /r/Islam,
I am a non Muslim with a question about the call to prayer. I apologize if this seems like a stupid question; I don’t really know that much about your religion, which is why I am asking.
A few years back I was in a discussion group with American and Israeli Jews (me being one of the Americans) about the relationship between Muslims and Jews in Israel. Big topic, I know, so I’m just going to focus on one aspect of it here.
Some of the Israelis were arguing that while they want Muslims to be treated fairly and have equal rights, they also think it is better for Jews and Muslims to live in religiously segregated communities (in Israel) because their traditions are not entirely compatible. The main example they gave of this is the call to prayer. Apparently Jewish families would find it disruptive of their lives to hear the call to prayer broadcast several times a day.
I asked the group why this was seen as such a big issue. (I am setting aside for the moment the argument that it doesn’t really seem that disruptive to me...I was more curious why they thought that no Muslim would ever want to live in a place where a call to prayer wasn’t broadcast. Especially when that place might offer better schools, better opportunities etc.) I grew up in a town in the US with a decently sized Muslim population. While I am sure many members of the community chose to pray 5 times a day, and while there is a mosque in my town, there wasn’t a call to prayer broadcast. And as far as I know this was never an issue. I always thought the prayer itself was the necessary part, not the broadcast.
But when I brought this up, several people shut me down immediately. “Don’t you know? Muslims HAVE to pray five times a day. It’s not optional.” I would have liked to push back and explain that yes, I know this, but that doesn’t mean every Muslim needs to live close enough to a mosque to hear the call to prayer. Everyone seemed to be acting as if a broadcast call to prayer is 100% necessary for a community with Muslims and no Muslim would ever choose to live in a place without it. But the discussion moved on and I didn’t have a chance to clarify this.
This didn’t make sense with my experience at all, but my experience is pretty limited. Is this highlighting a difference between how Islam is practiced in different countries? Am I naive for thinking that Muslims in Israel might be happy living in an integrated community without a broadcast call to prayer, if there were other major benefits in terms of civil rights and economic prosperity? Or were the other people in the group just misinformed about how important it is to have a call to prayer in order to practice Islam? (And possibly making excuses to uphold a system of segregation in Israel?) I would really love to hear your thoughts.
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from Islam http://bit.ly/2LTfsvD
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