From the burning of the Oxford Martyrs in 1555 to the revolutionary Oxford Movement in 1833, the university city has long been the scene of religious conflict.
But a very modern battle of faiths is brewing amid the ancient dreaming spires, which could result in the Islamic call to prayer being broadcast over one of the nation’s earliest and most important seats of Christian theology.
Senior members of the Oxford Central Mosque are seeking permission to broadcast a two-minute Adhan, the traditional Muslim call to prayer, through loud speakers in the minaret three times a day.
However, rather than being welcomed as a sign of multi-culturalism, the proposal has outraged many East Oxford locals.
I would allow the call to prayer but reach agreement with mosque leaders on how loud it would be. There’s no need to sound-blast the neighborhood, and I doubt they want to. Note that they’re only asking for three of the five calls to prayer, presumably omitting the nocturnal ones.
PS: Arriving after dark at a Turkish guest house one pleasant summer night, I failed to notice that a small mosque stood right across the street. About 3:30 a.m., loudspeakers let out a prerecorded prayer call as loud as a thundering freight train. Small mosque, big sound. I nearly jumped out of bed. But thanks to the wonders of technology, the muezzin who uttered the prayer call was at home, perhaps still sleeping soundly.
They definitely need to enforce decibel limits on the prayer call. In my apartment in Cairo I can hear three of them clearly, and we’re nowhere near a mosque. The mingling of the over-amplified calls, sung in slightly different keys and beginning at different moments, is a cacophony, not music. Even worse in Egypt is the Friday midday prayer. They broadcast the whole thing, including the sermon, which is an angry-sounding rant. My husband has asked Muslim colleagues if the sermons are indeed angry, and they say, yes. It’s politics, often anti-American ugliness.
England must begin with strict limits on the time and decibel level and stick to it, otherwise this will overwhelm the public space.
Reading the universally hostile comments, I’m fairly sure this ain’t gonna happen. & if it does, somebody will take the law – & a pair of wirecutters – into his own hands.
The bishop of Oxford is disappointing – & rather spineless & mealy-mouthed – in his comments. He’s a nice guy but basically a liberal evangelical, which is to say, he lacks the strength of conviction to carry the most committed Christians. The see of Oxford was vacant for a long time after arch-liberal Richard Harries (champion of rejected gay bishop Jeffrey Johns) retired. The largest & strongest churches there are conservative evangelical, & they were at war with Harries.
I say they strike a deal. The day Christians are allowed to build a church in Mecca and ring bells Sunday morning we’ll allow this call in Oxford…