Noise From The Mosques

[AlanL1275]

Has anyone here ever complained about all that loud noise that comes from the Mosques about 5 times a day? It is so loud I have to close my windows and turn on the A/C or just blast my neighbors out by turning my TV loud enough to cover up the noise. I am Christian, Thailand is Buddhist, why does everyone have to listen to this.

It wouldn't be proper for me to stand in front of a Mosque while this is going on and preach Christianity with a PA System.

They may not want to hear me any more than I want to hear them.

Or is just the way it is.

Thanks,

[NormanW]

In Pattaya the local Thai people on Sukhumvit complained and the mosques reduced the volume and amount of speakers from their towers.

Edited March 27, 2010 by NormanW

[jdinasia]

If you move into a Muslim community isn't it a bit silly to whine about the call to prayer?

[AlanL1275]

Wow, wouldn't that be nice.

Thanks,

[AlanL1275]

NormanW said Pattaya residents (Thais) complained about the noise and it was reduced. They were born here.

Thanks,

[jdinasia]

NormanW said Pattaya residents (Thais) complained about the noise and it was reduced. They were born here.

Thanks,

They weren't whining about it from a religious perspective. Call to Prayer is normal in a Muslim community and I rather doubt that it is the issue you say it is. I lived in a Muslim community in Phuket for a year and it never bothered me at all. In fact the local government PA system was far more disruptive. Then again I didn't move to Thailand to be in America

[AlanL1275]

I am not complaining about it from a religious perspective, but just the noise.

That's all.

Freedom of religion is a founding principle of the USA, but the choice is yours.

I am a long distance from the mosques but the sound travels down the canal (especially on a windy day) and bounces off of the buildings.

If I were a cigarette smoker (and I am not) I would not expect people around me to have to tollerate my smoke in their face just because it's legal. Laws around the world are changing rapidly about cigarette smoke.

Thanks again, :-)

[AlanL1275]

Also, I was just at BigC and may be a little sensitive to noise right now ;-)

[sabaijai]

Mosques all over the world do this. Thailand is no different

[jdinasia]

I am not complaining about it from a religious perspective, but just the noise.

That's all.

Freedom of religion is a founding principle of the USA, but the choice is yours.

I am a long distance from the mosques but the sound travels down the canal (especially on a windy day) and bounces off of the buildings.

If I were a cigarette smoker (and I am not) I would not expect people around me to have to tollerate my smoke in their face just because it's legal. Laws around the world are changing rapidly about cigarette smoke.

Thanks again, :-)

If you moved near a Muslim community in the USA you would hear the same call to prayer everyday. Like I said I sincerely doubt the decibel level is anything truly bothersome. And yes, you did make it a religious issue when you mentioned your own religion and going to stand in front of their mosque during call to prayer to harrass them.

If the noise really is an issue then the locals will surely deal with it appropriately. If, on the other hand. it is as i suspect and you merely not wanting to hear the call to prayer at all. Then you will certainly be out of luck until you move to a place with no mosque nearby. Then again, there may be a temple nearby that you can hear the chanting or the gongs or drums, or just the local government's PA system, or a school....

This is in no way related to cigarette smoking but if you live downwind of where I smoke then you'd have to move too!

[AlanL1275]

You seem so knowledgeable about the world. Maybe I should adopt you as my father.

No, it is not about religion. Or did you understand me. No, it is not about religion. Or did you understand me. No, it is not about religion.

No, it is not about religion. Or did you understand me. No, it is not about religion. Or did you understand me. No, it is not about religion.

No, it is not about religion. Or did you understand me. No, it is not about religion. Or did you understand me. No, it is not about religion.

When I am talking on my mobile phone the person I am talking to on the other end is saying what is all the noise. ( are you listening, they hear it through my mobile) So I close the doors and turn on the AC. If I am watching TV I have to turn the volume up so I can attempt to enjoy what I am doing.

No Thanks for your views.

You try to misconstrue what I say.

Thus, if you can't stick to the subject, then please no 2 cents.

Thanks ;-) but no thanks.

[AlanL1275]

Also your point about cigarette smoking speaks loudly about your attitude, and concern for others.

[jdinasia]

I am Christian, Thailand is Buddhist, why does everyone have to listen to this.

It wouldn't be proper for me to stand in front of a Mosque while this is going on and preach Christianity with a PA System.

They may not want to hear me any more than I want to hear them.

(quote from the Original Post)

Hmmmm Maybe I misunderstood and your religion had nothing to do with it, or the fact thast they are Muslim. Then again ... You did mention it AND made a statement about it not being proper to harrass them with your own religion.

Call to Prayer is a normal part of life in the South of Thailand, as well as along the khlongs of BKK. Noise from Temples is a constant part of my life where I live. I accept it. Trust me nobody is trying to convert you to Islam. (Though the Imam in Masayit Kamala is a great and passionate speaker about his beliefs!). From my condo in BKK I can hear call to Prayer 5 times a day and I rather enjoy it. From my place in Chiang Mai I get noise from the temples around me daily and I enjoy that too!

It seems as if you do have an answer though! Instead of enjoying the cultural diversity around you, you can stay inside and turn up your TV and turn on your AC!

Good luck!

Again,

[AlanL1275]

Thanks Sabaijai, for your humble reply.

[beejoir]

I spent years being woken up by Church bells in the UK...... I guess it was because I lived near a church.

When you rent or buy a house next time go there at prayer time and see if its noisy, its not much different then moving near a night club and then complaining about the music.

Maybe you should move again.

[AlanL1275]

I spent years being woken up by Church bells in the UK...... I guess it was because I lived near a church.

When you rent or buy a house next time go there at prayer time and see if its noisy, its not much different then moving near a night club and then complaining about the music.

Hi,

Too much money invested here to move, and a great location next to the canal, but I am not close to a Mosque.

I could live much much closer to a night club and never hear a thing. Of course the night club would not have loud enough speakers to dim the lights in BKK when in use on the outside of the building. I was lured by the quietness of the area. Over half a kilometer from Ramkhamhaeng Road and a quiet neighborhood with a lake behind me.

That's the way the ball bounces sometimes.

I hope the Thais that complained in Pattaya were not asked to move when they complained.

Thanks,

Edited March 27, 2010 by AlanL1275

[jdinasia]

The khlongs in that area are loaded with temples and mosques. 3 of the most active mosques in BKK are along khlong Saen Saep. They have been there for decades and are part of the communities they serve. I sincerely doubt that other people are as bothered as you appear to be, but if I am wrong on that then you can be assured that the locals will deal with it appropriately.

As suggested above, perhaps in the future you would be best served by doing your due diligence before spending too much to get away from.

[bina]

since i live in a country filled with mosques, three of them below my neighborhood, i do sympethize. because they are up i a tower, the noise travels quite far. if our windows are open in summer, we can identify who is doing the calling (a friend of mine is one of them, one friday/saturday a month. its like getting brownie points in merit). sometimes we cant hear the tv. and we have had tourists complain about the 'singing'.

down in their village, the n oise is less since poeple are under the tower itself. (they hae 3 mosques for two separate villages htat have blended together. some mosques use recordings, but most dont and most pride themselves on very good amplifying systems....

very often a point of friction between us and them ... i can tell time by the calls; but really for most of the year the calls are short. the only times they are very loud and long are around ramadan and other holidays when sermons are read for all to hear. then it does get annoying.

every few m onths someone from the county along with our village 'headperson' goes and speaks with the religious leader about the volume, it gets turned down a bit and slowly slowly escalates....

try talking to one of the community elders of that mosque to speak about noise levels... it might help.

btw, im not in thailand, and have no problem with muslems since iw ork with quite a few, daily and intensively, but i do understand the problem of the 'noise'. it is loud, repetitive, long, and the loudness changes in pulses when the wind and atmosphere change so that u hear sudden large surges of sound then nothing.

funnily enough, in korat, husband's village area, there are no mosques anywhere near and i rather missed hearing the calls to prayer, i hear it everyday for 30 years so its like rooster crows and dogs barking and cows moooing, part of my usual audio scenery.

bina

israel

[johna]

I lived in the Bang Kapi area of BKK, which has a high proportion of Muslims and can sympathize with you.

A house in my mobaan acted as a mosque during Ramadan calling the faithful to prayer on loud speakers before sunrise.

Its my understanding that such use of loud speakers before sunrise is illegal?

[richard_smith237]

Like many, I enjoy peace and quiet - I find times of silence to be enjoyable and almost sacred - Especially here in Thailand where we get blasted with a cacophony of sound while visiting any commercial setting...

And also we have Church bells, Chanting from the Wat's (with loud speakers), Mosque prayer (with loud speakers), political rallying on loud speakers (on the back of pickups), advertisements in supermarket isles.... Is all this noise really necessary ?

People talk quite openly about many traditions being out-dated (especially in those such as the sinsod threads).

Gone are the days when the whole village attends a wedding, People have watches, they can get to the temple on time... etc...

Can someone make Peace and Quiet a sensitive religious issue, then it too can have its own rights and the politically correct can also defend our right to quiet.

Edited March 27, 2010 by richard_smith237

[angiud]

Personally I enjoy the sound of the Muezzim calling the muslim to prey, as well the sound of my catholic bells, or the mantras of buddist monks.

Is just a matter of tollerance.

[jdinasia]

Personally I enjoy the sound of the Muezzim calling the muslim to prey, as well the sound of my catholic bells, or the mantras of buddist monks.

Is just a matter of tollerance.

I am with you on this one ... I enjoy life too much to cry about someone else doing what they have done in their religious observation for years....

[tranquillize]

Personally I enjoy the sound of the Muezzim calling the muslim to prey, as well the sound of my catholic bells, or the mantras of buddist monks.

Is just a matter of tollerance.

It has nothing to do with religious tolerance if loud noise bothers you. I can find noise blasting over loud speakers to be bothersome sometimes. I'm sure you can as well.

[richard_smith237]

Personally I enjoy the sound of the Muezzim calling the muslim to prey, as well the sound of my catholic bells, or the mantras of buddist monks.

Is just a matter of tollerance.

And I do too sometimes. And that is when I exercise choice and visit a temple and listen to the relaxing chants.

The Op. and many others do not have this choice, like kids on 2 stroke motorbike screaming down the road at 3am, or Soi dogs barking the night away or the week long funeral that starts with loud music at 6am - the noise of Church bells, a Mosque or a Temple reaches far and wide to many who given a choice would turn it off.

It's through correctness and respect of other cultures that we accept these 'noises'... but really when we think about it, is it really necessary ?

It's ok to get annoyed with Soi Dogs or kids on 2 stroke bikes - but why is it politically incorrect to complain about the noise from a Mosque ?

[tranquillize]

You

Personally I enjoy the sound of the Muezzim calling the muslim to prey, as well the sound of my catholic bells, or the mantras of buddist monks.

Is just a matter of tollerance.

And I do too sometimes. And that is when I exercise choice and visit a temple and listen to the relaxing chants.

The Op. and many others do not have this choice, like kids on 2 stroke motorbike screaming down the road at 3am, or Soi dogs barking the night away or the week long funeral that starts with loud music at 6am - the noise of Church bells, a Mosque or a Temple reaches far and wide to many who given a choice would turn it off.

It's through correctness and respect of other cultures that we accept these 'noises'... but really when we think about it, is it really necessary ?

It's ok to get annoyed with Soi Dogs or kids on 2 stroke bikes - but why is it politically incorrect to complain about the noise from a Mosque ?

You hit the nail on the head here. If the OP complained about noise from anything that isn't religiously affiliated, no one would argue like we're seeing here. It's unfortunate really.

[lensta]

Gotta agree with u, I lived in Indonesia for 6 years and most of the time it was just a horrible loud noise coming out cheap speakers. BUT on very rare occasions somebody that could really do the call to prayer well would do it and it was a very haunting sound, especially early in the morning if there was a light rain falling. Believe it or not you will get used to it in time, think of it as like walking in a monkey cage at the zoo, smells terrible but if you breath normally, you don't notice the smell after a few minutes

[Latindancer]

I sympathise with the OP, as I am noise sensitive too. And there is a lot of it here in public in Thailand. However when a man goes home, he should be able to retreat into his own space. This cannot always be done. It does seem odd that in a predominantly Buddhist country, mosques should be allowed to blast out amplified noise. The call to prayer does grate in the ears of some people more than others.

Sometimes problems can be viewed by taking them to one extreme or the other......imagine if the mosque had 1,000 watts pumping out. The local Thai people would without a doubt complain. They don't in this case because Thais don't like complaining about noise. Apparently in Thai culture it is the complainer who is at fault ( ! ......do a search on the word "noise" on this forum). However there are limits of course. Perhaps you could try to motivate the locals to approach the mosque about toning down the noise level.

I would do this subtly though.....through a Thai person. You would NOT want to step on Muslim peoples' toes here......if you think people on this thread are getting on your case about it being a religious intolerance matter, just wait till the local muslims get wind of the FARANG who is CAUSING TROUBLE......

I'm serious. You could get beaten up one night. Just motivate Thai people to do it all for you. PAY them if necessary ! As a foreigner, you have little credibility here when it comes to complaining.

Edited March 27, 2010 by Latindancer

[IMA_FARANG]

When I lived in Puerto Rico there was a fundamentalist Christian church in the neighborhood, who the locals called the Fundamentalistas who for some reason believed that Thursday was the Sabbeth. Every Thursday night we had them reading their sermons, in Spanish, at the loudest volume they could get out of their PA system. I can still hear it, "Allejewya, Allejewya"

When I worked in Saudi Arabia, in Jeddah, I lived about 2 houses away from a Mosque. What always got me, about the morning prayer call, was the fact that whoever was doing the call would clear his throat first before starting the call. There's nothing like having someone hacking and coughing to clear his throat over the PA system at 5 A.M. in the morning.

My American friend, who lived just down the street from me, trained his dog to howl along with the prayer calls. But that was considered "politically incorrect".

In Vietnam I lived close to a Vietnamese Buddhist temple. Chanting and bells and gongs every morning. Actually I rather enjoyed that. They had a good beat on the gong.

So, I've seen them all. You just have to learn to tolerate them.

Of course, if you do happen to have a dog you can train to howl....

Edited March 27, 2010 by IMA_FARANG

[norwayeagle]

I don't see this Mosque chanting as a Noise problem.Rather it is beautiful .

Just to wake up and hear that sound,spoken from the "soul.

Goood mooorning.

( Right now i have ,well,,,about ten million Sparrows ( not the Jack once) Aaaaaaaa.They starting to p me off in the morning

[lazygourmet]

I don't see this Mosque chanting as a Noise problem.Rather it is beautiful .

Just to wake up and hear that sound,spoken from the "soul.

Goood mooorning.

( Right now i have ,well,,,about ten million Sparrows ( not the Jack once) Aaaaaaaa.They starting to p me off in the morning

I am partly agreed with you, when I was living in Istambul and thenafter, Dubai: calls for prayers were rather melodic than annoying.

But in Jakarta, it was a nightmare... mostly due to the bad quality of their "sound system", I presume.