The NEMA and various other law enforcers including the cops, for some reason are also more prone to listening and acting on such issues.
Unfortunately, for us here at Coast Province, as soon as one enters Mombasa, one is overwhelmed by noise, lawlessness of many kind, stench from various sources and one gets the impression that one has entered a place where there's little regard for the rights of others - extreme selfishness!
Though, I've mentioned this observation umpteen numbers of times in my numerous emails in the past, I will continue mentioning this logic ad infinitum, till NEMA and other officialdom will act on it.
First, why are mosques, churches, etc., allowed to be built indiscriminately everywhere?
Second, and if they are for the convenience of the residents, then, why is there the need for public address systems to call the faithful to prayer and even have the whole prayer and/or sermon be heard on the PA system for all the world to hear whether they want to or not?
Third, since there are so many of these houses of worship within close proximity to each other and all of them start making their religious racket around the same time everyday, the result is utter chaos and noise pollution at it's worst.
Fourth, why is it necessary for a prayer service to be heard outside the mosque or church when it is invalid for a Muslim (from the Muslim point of view and according to our prayer rules), to follow the imam at the mosque when one is even in a house next door? Therefore, what is the need of this prayer to be heard on the outside?
With regards to mosques and the imams who lead the prayers - are they so very illiterate that they cannot understand this simple logic? Can they not take up my challenge when I have asked them to come forward with any valid argument which is based on the Qur'an and practice of the Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh), which would justify their ignorant and abhorrent behaviour? By keeping silent, they are just advertising their ignorance regarding their faith.
On 2/14/2011 4:01 PM, Shaileen Shah wrote:
Hi Raziya,You R NOT the ONLY ONE2feel soooo frustrated!NO ONE wants2DELIVER what they R paid a salary for!BUTNEVER,never,GIVE-UP!Good LuckMr.Shaileen NPN Shah,MRPharmS,
Box 80197,Mombasa 80100,KENYA.
ph:+254 202326282(O)
+254 41 2224954(R)
Mobi:0722 858303/0733777856----- Original Message -----From: Raziya MohamedaliTo: Shaileen ShahSent: Monday, February 14, 2011 2:12 PMSubject: Re: Fw: Noise in the name of religion...Hi, Shaileen!
I'm sorry but I've been offline for over a week since returning to this lawless and noisy town! Of course there was the matter of power (still is...), then neither my orange modem nor the livebox were working due to a signal problem and the modem is still not thanks to their useless signal at my place. Even after having reactivated the livebox, it didn't work till Friday, but, then we had another day long outage from KPLC and over the weekend I was very busy.
So, today after over a week of not having dealt with any emails, I'm trying to catch up with a huge backlog of over 150 emails and have finally come to yours..... I am going to deal with it in due course, so please have some patience as I still have nearly a hundred emails still waiting to be read, etc.
I haven't even had my breakfast, forget about lunch, yet and it's already past 2.00 pm!!!
So, ciao for now,
Raziya
On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Shaileen Shah <shylyn@hecl.co.ke> wrote:
Hello Raziya!Please do NOT relent in this exercise!IMPUNITY in KENYA has to STOP,PERIOD!GOODLUCK!Mr.Shaileen NPN Shah,MRPharmS,
Box 80197,Mombasa 80100,KENYA.
ph:+254 202326282(O)
+254 41 2224954(R)
Mobi:0722 858303/0733777856----- Original Message -----From: RaziyaCc: Director General, National Environment Management Authority ; Director General, National Environment Management Authority ; Wemali ; Bakari Mangale, District Environment Officer, MsaSent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 10:48 AMSubject: Fwd: Noise in the name of religion...Dear Mr. Odero,
I was given your email address by a friend who prefers to remain anonymous but, is getting disturbed by the noise made by various religious institutions in this town. Because, this person knows about my writing since years regarding this very contentious issue, I was requested to forward my latest write-up about it to you.
NEMA has a law nowadays regarding this, but, they seem to have been intimidated by some of the Muslims from taking action.
Since, I am a Muslim too, I have great objection to my fellow Muslims disturbing others while worshiping as there is no justification for what they practice. Below, are the points and I challenge any Muslim to dispute these. In fact, I have in my previous emails asked these people to justify their noisy prayers, etc., but, have not had any response, yet. Therefore, it means that they have no reply to what they practice and it is not a part of our faith to disturb others, including fellow Muslims.
We would all, as residents of Mombasa, really appreciate it, if you could take some action, as NEMA can't or won't.
Yours Sincerely,
Raziya
-------- Original Message --------
'Evening! Why do certain religions insist on practicing their faith at ear splitting levels even in residential areas where peace and quiet should prevail? I have written about this many times over the years but, despite there now being a law passed by NEMA regarding noise pollution, very little enforcement of it is apparent. Why is this? Why is it that when one complains about religious noise to officialdom, and especially from the mosques, everybody is terrified of doing anything about it? If there is a law regarding noise, it should be enforced, since the law is not denying these institutions from worshiping but, the people objecting have an objection to them doing so loudly. Since God is not deaf (Astaghfirullah), and He can hear the most silent of prayers, one gets the impression from the loud worship that the worshipers would like the whole world to know how holy they are. This smacks of hypocrisy. One reaches the conclusion while suffering from this noise that these people are more bothered about what the people on the outside think than what their Maker does. Take Islam and Muslims for instance - the numerous mosques have no need to be heard beyond their immediate neighbourhoods and therefore do not need to use public address systems even for the call to prayer, because every neighbourhood has at least one mosque if not more, so whom exactly are they calling for prayers? People on the other side of town? For their information, those places too, have their own neighbourhood mosques, so there is no need. Then, when the Imam starts leading the prayers, there is no need for him to be heard outside the mosque since he is not leading the ones outside the confines of the mosque in prayer and it is not valid either, anyway, for someone to follow the Imam while for example he/she is at home. So, why should he add to the noise by being heard outside? Also, in the entire history of Islam and the practices of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), calls for prayers have never been given a whole hour before the actual time in the early morning. In Mombasa, this happens at 4.00 am. Of course, if somebody wants to say supererogatory prayers it is a very private affair and there is no need to give the call to prayer for it. Also, in this day and age we have alarm clocks, etc., and those of us who are interested in praying will get up of our own free will and there is no need for mosques to disturb non-Muslims among us. Why should they be disturbed? There's freedom of religion, remember? Now that Ramadhan is just about a month away, most non-Muslims and even some Muslims are dreading the continuous racket that we will have to endure for a whole month in the name of freedom of religion. Because, of the loud recitation of the Holy Qur'an after the mid-afternoon prayers as well as the Tarawih prayers at night. It is really awful and disturbs even the Muslims who are praying at home, the sick and the elderly. Can the authorities please draw a line between freedom of faith and noise making? And enforce their law about noise pollution, please? This is also on behalf of the NCRRA, btw. Salaams, Raziya -- Raziya Mohamedali P.O. Box 80780 MOMBASA - 80100 Kenya Fixed line Tel: 254-041-4470817 Tel: 254-020-2137033 Mobile: 0721-485444 0733-947676 <a alt="Click to show my current time" href="http://www.qlock.com/time/simple?city=Mombasa"> <img border=0 src="http://www.qlock.com/images/mytime-button3.png"></a> <br>I am located in<a href="http://www.qlock.com/time/simple?city=Mombasa">Mombasa, Kenya</a> http://kenyanjustice.blogspot.com/ Email: rmohamedali@gmail.com'One learned man is harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant worshipers': Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
