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Jerusalemites recite call to prayer from their rooftops

By Middle East Monitor
November 18, 2016

“Israel is a state that respects the freedom of worship for all believers and it is committed to protecting those who suffer from noise which is caused by the loudspeakers.”
— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

In response to the Israeli government’s plan to prohibit the call to prayer in the city, Jerusalemites climbed onto the roofs of their houses and recited the call to prayer all together.

Over the past two weeks, Israel has been working to ban the Muslim call to prayer, the athan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has supported the a bill to outlaw the religious calling, saying: “Israel is a state that respects the freedom of worship for all believers and it is committed to protecting those who suffer from noise which is caused by the loudspeakers.”

In video footage which is circulating on social media, residents can clearly be heard reciting the call to prayer in protest of the law to ban it in Jerusalem.

Churches in Nazareth showed solidarity by broadcasting the call to the night prayer in response to attempts to prohibit the call of prayer being broadcasted from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In defiance to the actions of the Israeli Knesset, Arab Israeli Knesset members Ahmed El-Tibi and Teleb Abu Arar performed the call to prayer, independent of each other, in the Israeli parliament (Knesset).

[Continue reading here . . . ]

Israel bans Muslim call for dawn prayer from 3 mosques in Jerusalem

The events in Abu Dis came a day after a number of Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Pisgat Zeev protested in front of the house of Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barakat over the “noise pollution” caused by the Muslim call to prayer.

Israeli authorities reportedly banned the Muslim call to dawn prayer from being made from three mosques in the Jerusalem district town of Abu Dis today, according to local sources.

Lawyer Bassam Bahr, head of a local committee in Abu Dis, told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided the town just before the dawn prayer this morning.

According to Bahr, Israeli forces raided the Al-Rahman, Al-Taybeh and Al-Jamia mosques in the town, and informed the muezzins, the men responsible for the call to prayer — also known as the athan, which is broadcast five times a day from mosques — that the call for dawn prayer through the loudspeakers was banned.

Bahr added that the forces did not provide any reason for the ban, and also prevented locals living in the eastern part of the town from reaching the Salah Al-Din mosque for dawn prayers.

Tag: athan

Call to Prayer from Jerusalem Rooftops

Jerusalemites recite call to prayer from their rooftops

Jerusalem Bans Muslim Call to Prayer

Israel bans Muslim call for dawn prayer from 3 mosques in Jerusalem