Five Mosques in Crosby and Mayfair West have been instructed to comply with noise control regulations. [Picture: Mohammed Shaikh / Salaamedia]
JOHANNESBURG – Five mosques in the Crosby and Mayfair West suburbs of Johannesburg have been instructed by the City of Johannesburg to comply with noise control regulations. The notices were delivered to each of the Mosques after authorities received a formal complaint of noise nuisance emanating from the Mosque premises.
The Mosques include Masjid Muaz Bin Jabal, Babus Salaam Mosque, Masjid-e-Khair, Masjid Al-Islam and Khanqah Khaliliyah Makkiyah.
Following reports which suggested that the Islamic call to prayer had been silenced, Ward 58 Cllr. Alex Christians clarified that the notices merely instructed the Mosques to ensure compliance with noise control regulations. He said: “The letter issued by the City reiterated the regulations for Masjids to comply if in breach [of noise control regulations]. The letter in no way instructed the Masjids to stop reciting the Athaan”.
In a meeting between city officials and representatives of the respective Mosque committees, attorney Yousha Tayob from the Muslim Lawyers Association (MLA) suggested that city officials send a team to investigate the decibel count of the call to prayer. This, he said, would allow the officials to ascertain whether or not the Mosques are breaching the regulations when broadcasting the Athaan on loudspeakers.
He said: “We can utilise the system to play something for 10 minutes to measure from the premises of the complainant and then determine whether [the call to prayer] is beyond 50 dB and is a nuisance disturbance or not.”
According to noise control regulations in the city, the volume of the call to prayer in a residential area is restricted to 50 dB – about as loud as a refrigerator – during daylight hours (06:00 to 18:00), 50 dB between 18:00 and 00:00, and at 40 dB from 00:00 to 06:00.
Meanwhile, attorney Yusuf Dockrat said that authorities must investigate the motive for the complaint, citing possible religious intolerance. He said: “What we’re seeing in reality now, it’s not an aspect of nuisance. It’s an aspect of intolerance to other religious groups”.
He added that “common law says people who live in a multicultural society must accommodate each other’s religious practices” and that the law “allows for a nuisance which is reasonable and acceptable to the society in which the person is staying.”
The Environmental Health department in the City of Johannesburg indicated that it will take necessary legal action to “prevent further recurrence of noise nuisance” should the Mosques fail to comply with the regulations. The matter has not reached the courts at this stage.
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