Jakarta Globe, February 25, 2013
Acehnese Sayed Hasan reads an Islamic book at his house in Banda Aceh on February 25, 2013. (AFP Photo/Chaideer Mahyuddin) |
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Banda Aceh.
An elderly Indonesian said Monday he had won a rare victory against a noisy
mosque, despite being forced to withdraw legal action after an angry mob
threatened to kill him.
Complaints
against the loud speakers issuing the call to prayer have been met with extreme
opposition in Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation that is
home to about 800,000 mosques.
And when
Sayed Hasan, 75, filed a lawsuit in December in the city of Banda Aceh, in
which he complained of being disturbed by lengthy recordings of Koranic verses,
it was met with strong protests from the community.
But Hasan,
a Muslim, said despite being taken to see the deputy mayor and Muslim leaders,
and then being escorted to the court where he was forced to withdraw his legal
suit, he had ultimately won a rare victory.
“I was
forced to withdraw my lawsuit as an angry mob threatened to kill me,” he said.
“But after I dropped my case, the volume was significantly turned down by about
half.”
A local
Muslim leader said the imam had decided to reduce the noise.
City
dwellers in Indonesia are often woken up before dawn by intermingling calls to
prayer from three or four nearby mosques. Many also blare Koranic verses or
broadcast day-long events through loudspeakers.
Ninety
percent of Indonesia’s 240 million citizens are Muslim. While most practice a
moderate form, Aceh province has implemented Sharia law, which is enforced by
special Islamic police.
Agence France-Presse
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