Call to prayer at your local mosque or surau? How do you deal with it?

[hermespan]

I am fed up after trying living in Malaysia.

It is Ramadan in Johor state The churches and temples don't get crazy loud. The Muslim houses of worship do. Not that it's much better at other times of the year. The local muezzin doesn't consider the neighbours, including the Muslim neighbours', wish (or in some cases, a *need*) to sleep in past 5:44 a.m. The surau (prayer halls) don't have the courtesy to limit aural space but instead compete with each other. Even when the majority is Chinese and Indian where I stay. I am really pissed about this. The PA system is really loud and features a guy who doesn't win any singing awards. The government policy here doesn't give all religions equal value in disturbing the piece. It feels like we infidels are the brunt of propaganda five times a day, as if I am living in something worse than Cultural Revolution China of Mao. Tibetan Buddhist chanting before dawn or Catholic church bells on Sunday is nothing compared to this.

So, I will just have to crank up Hindu chanting in the privacy of my room every day to cover it up, until I can vote with my feet and take my expat dollars elsewhere. Where there is not such a monopoly arrangement between an organized religion and the State. Or a place where the Islam has a sweeter aesthetic and less supremacist mentality. Not sure that is possible. I have read the Koran and Hadiths and know what these vocal declarations mean.

Someone made a complaint to the local authorities about this sectarian noise issue somewhere else in Malaysia and was arrested for 'insulting Islam' and spent a week in jail. Someone tried to bring this subject up in a Malaysian forum and he was had his thread deleted. All of my Malaysian friends tell me that this is 'a very sensitive issue', i.e. taboo to criticize. Period. To try to organize the neighbourhood against this would result only in being kicked out.

I don't have a problem with what people do in the privacy of their homes or community places of worship. But this is ridiculous. And I like Malays a lot. So, it's not a racial thing.

The only effective strategy I can think of is to move to a secular, Hindu, Buddhist or Catholic country.

How is the volume in your neighbourhood in Thailand or wherever readers are? And has there been any effective community or political action to limit the volume of calls to prayer in Thailand and other Asian countries? I know that in Singapore they very sensibly use the radio. And to my fellow expats in Indonesia, I don't recall it being as bad there. Is it?

[Freakin Musashi]

Why isn't Malaysia an Islamic country?

[Mothman]

Baiting nonsense.

[Merylhighground]

OP, go live in Saudi and have a whinge on your facebook or 'Saudi Visa Expat Forum' (if there's such a thing).....otherwise, enjoy it as a part of the privilege and rich tapestry of living in a rich, enlightening foreign culture alien to your own and stop your whining or you'll never get on in life....

[Travel2003]

OP,

come too Thailand, and leave next door too a temple.

You will enjoy the music and news broadcasts at 5-6 am on the huge loudspeakers.

[thai3]

it is a horrible racket and no need for it at all other than to impose their presence on everybody, Muslim or not

[MyFrenU]

I lived for 3 years in Bangkok at Ban Thap Chang next to Lat Krabang and was woken by the call to alms from the local Mosque every morning at 4:30am,so don't think it's just Malaysia my friend!
In the end you become accustomed to it and sleep through,either that or you move.

[jak2002003]

I live in Chiang Mai... my village temple blasts out tacky old Thai pop songs at 5.15 am up to 3 times a week... followed by some recorded Buddhist moral teachings set to background stream, waves and wind charms and harp. Then the monks start chanting for an hour or so, followed by the abbot ranting on about the evils of the villagers and how they need to bring him more money and food.

The noise is so bad it really does hurt my ears! I have to leave my house and cycle around for a few hours... nothing to do as its too early for anything to be open.. at least its good for my health.

So no better if you come live here either. I think its quieter in the city centre.. that's where I am moving to when I sell this house.

[MyFrenU]

I like the stories from the Isaan villages,where the speaker wires get cut on the fist day the puu yai starts blabbering away into his microphone in the early morning!

[Tomtomtom69]

Move to a moo baan in Thailand. It's quiet here.

As for Islamic areas of say Bangkok, I did once live in the relative vicinity of a mosque in eastern Bangkok. It wasn't nearly as loud as the nearby traffic. I have been to Malaysia including Johor and can say the muezzin is much louder anywhere in Malaysia than in Thailand. Then again, you're much more likely to be living near a mosque in Malaysia than in Thailand.

In general, it's noisy in many parts of developing Asia, but if you want relative peace and quiet, apart from my moo baan (gated community) suggestion (making sure it's a Buddhist area, which most of them are as Buddhists tend to be wealthier than Muslims) then rural Thailand away from main roads, temples etc., the highland areas where a lot of the hill tribe population is Christian or animist, or Laos (where there's only 1 small mosque in the whole country) might be to your liking.

Myanmar can get VERY noisy during Buddhist festival times. I remember back in 2013 when on my first trip across the border on a Myanmar visa just after the land borders opened I stayed overnight in Myawady, the border town with Mae Sot. Man the atmosphere was absolutely crazy!! A lot of fun, but wild, wild west. There were parades of people dancing on the backs of trucks, young people moshing to rock concerts held inside Buddhist temples, tons of people attending the local temples at like 9pm at night, small rockets and fireworks being fired. All of this for like 3 days. It became a lot quieter by the time we reached Hpa-an, the state capital of Kayin State the next day. However, Myanmar takes Buddhism a lot more seriously than Thailand!

Vietnam is no good either and in fact noisier than Thailand - most people don't have a religion but it's the insane traffic noise and the fact everyone gets up at like 4 or 4.30am and is on the streets as early as 5am or so. Not a good place if you like sleeping in. I think it's the fact Vietnam is in the wrong time zone - it should be in the same time zone as Malaysia and China (+1 hour) while Malaysia should be -1 hour like Thailand. Hence why the sun comes up as early as 4.45am in some parts of Vietnam, but sets as early as just after 5pm. It certainly explains why people go to bed early (perhaps around 9pm) then rise again at 4am.

[Travel2003]

I like the stories from the Isaan villages,where the speaker wires get cut on the fist day the puu yai starts blabbering away into his microphone in the early morning!

Show us some links to those good stories.

Or is it just made up?

[poyai111]

Thoughtless inconsiderate and exclusivist behaviour but it could be a lot worse! I believe that during Ramadan the fasting starts at 4am and the fact is that some mosques crank it up from 230am to remind the pious to awaken for brekkie!!

[metisdead]

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[thai3]

Move to a moo baan in Thailand. It's quiet here.

Apart from barking dogs day and night, people playing music from speakers outside their houses, angle grinders seemingly never ending, bikes left with motors on for 15 minutes before people actually ride off, dozens of vendors with annoying recorded messages over speakers up and down. Then there are the TV's for some reason stuck on full volume all the time so you can hear them in the street, and of course the residents committee making announcements over speakers, when they are not dipping into the community funds of course.

[overherebc]

I like the stories from the Isaan villages,where the speaker wires get cut on the fist day the puu yai starts blabbering away into his microphone in the early morning!

Don't cut the wires, use a big staple to short them where it's difficult to see. The wire looks fine to the eyes and it can take a long time to be discovered.