Let's work together to stop this Gundaagardi....

Couple of days back Sonu Nigam complained about being woken up by the morning Azaan, calling it “forced religiousness” and a sort of “gundaagardi”. Though he later explained that he was intended to Temples and Gurdwaras too...Well, I personally believe his words that he was talking of every religion and not about Azaan only, now it’s up to you to decide what he intended actually...But let’s not forget that Mr Sonu Nigam had no problem participating in all-nighters "Mata ki Chowki" during his initial days...

Anyway, let’s not talk about what he was intended to, let’s talk about the issue he raised. Undoubtedly most of us can relate to his irritation, hence instead of raising questions over his intentions, I want to thank Mr. Sonu Nigam for starting this discourse.

The sole purpose of Azaan is to alert people in the locality that time of prayer has come, so that people can stop their worldly affairs and come to the mosque to pray. There was a time when people had no wrist watches, no smart phones, no printed time tables etc. Hence Azaan was certainly required to let the people know that it’s time to pray. The scenario is no more same now, we have so many gadgets and apps to remind ourselves for prayer timings, and hence I personally feel that loudspeakers are not something that is going to have any effect on our prayers, whether we have them or not.

I have a strong believe that each and every Muslim, who understands Islam, will agree that loudspeakers are not something necessary in Islam. We all know that the religion of Islam has not spread worldwide due to loudspeakers. It’s rather the message that Islam carries has fascinated its followers and made it worldwide religion. Not to mention that, there were no loudspeakers during life time of our beloved Prophet(S.A.W), yet within few years Islam spread in entire Arab. The remarkable spread of Islam even outside the Arab took place without loudspeakers.

Just to let you all know, there is a Muslim gentleman "Babu Khan" in Maharashtra, who is working successfully against the use of loudspeakers in mosques and till now he has removed it from many mosques simply by making people understand that loudspeaker is not a necessity for following Islam rather using them at religious places have become the cause of communal tension. Unfortunately our “Indian Media Circus” does not have time to make it a prime time story.

Apart from all this our Muslim brothers and sisters must not forget that Islam never permit us to hurt or displease our neighbors, we are raised with stories and values on kindness to those around us. Hence as Muslim we need to bring some correction in our behavior. If use of loudspeakers or any other action from ourselves has become a reason for discomfort to the followers of other religion, then we must think of stopping those acts without any further controversy and not make it an issue...

At the same time, people from all community also must understand that loudspeakers being used at mosques or any other places of religious worship and celebrations are creating same nuisance, in fact every such noise is forced and hence should be declared "GUNDAAGARDI". We must understand that use of loudspeakers in public during night or early morning is certainly a nuisance for any civil society. Therefore people from all community should come forward to ban loudspeakers from all kinds of religious and social activities in the name of culture and tradition. Let's all work together to stop this so called "GUNDAAGARDI".

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