MUMBAI
\nSitting in an office lined with books overlooking a giant prayer hall, Mohammed Ashfaq Kazi, the main preacher at the largest mosque in Mumbai, checked a decibel meter attached to the loudspeakers before he gave the call to worship.
\n\u201cThe volume of our azaan (call to prayer) has become a political issue, but I don\u2019t want it to take a communal turn,\u201d said Kazi, one of the most influential Islamic scholars in the sprawling metropolis on India\u2019s western coast.
\nAs he spoke he pointed to loudspeakers attached to the minarets of the ornate, sand-coloured Juma Masjid in Mumbai\u2019s old trading quarters.
\nKazi and three other senior clerics from Maharashtra where Mumbai is located said more than 900 mosques in the west of the state had agreed to turn the volume down on calls to prayer following complaints from a local Hindu politician.
\nRaj Thackeray, leader of a regional Hindu party, demanded in April that mosques and other places of worship be kept within allowed noise limits. If they did not, he said his followers would chant Hindu prayers outside mosques in protest.
\nThackeray, whose party has just one seat in the state\u2019s 288-member assembly, said he was merely insisting that court rulings on noise levels be enforced.
\n\u201cIf religion is a private matter then why are Muslims allowed to use loudspeakers all 365 days (of the year)?\u201d Thackeray told reporters in Mumbai, India\u2019s financial hub and capital of Maharashtra.
\n\u201cMy dear Hindu brothers, sisters, and mothers come together; be one in bringing down these loudspeakers,\u201d he said.
\nLeaders of India\u2019s 200 million Muslims see the move, which coincided with the holy festival of Eid, as another attempt by hardline Hindus to undermine their rights to free worship and religious expression, with the tacit agreement of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MUMBAI Sitting in an office lined with books overlooking a giant prayer hall, Mohammed Ashfaq Kazi, the main preacher at the largest mosque in Mumbai, checked a decibel meter attached to the loudspeakers before he gave the call to worship. \u201cThe volume of our azaan (call to prayer) has become a political issue, but I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7086,7088,7087],"class_list":{"0":"post-259805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-hindu-leaders-demand","9":"tag-mumbai-mosques","10":"tag-volume-down"},"yoast_head":"\n