[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]S[/dropcap]inger Sonu Nigam should be lauded for his courage to attack loud religiosity and “forced religiousness.” It is nice to know that some celebrities are speaking out against public nuisances like the use of loudspeakers by religious places.
For the uninterested, high decibels are pure torture.
In a series of tweets, he expressed his annoyance with Azaan, the Islamic call to prayer, amplified by loudspeakers. “God bless everyone. I’m not a Muslim and I have to be woken up by the Azaan in the morning. When will this forced religiousness end in India.” That’s right: non-Muslims should not be forced to hear azaan; non-Hindus should not be compelled to listen to the music during Bhagwati Jagrans; and so on.
In fact, even the people of the same religious community should not be subjected to the tyranny of the loudspeaker: anybody wishing to participate in a, say, devotional music event can go to the venue. This is quite commonsensical, but public life in our country often lacks commonsense. If you request the organizers of religious functions to decrease the volume of amplifiers, their response would reek of insolence. They would argue on the line: ‘What’s your problem if we take the holy message to the homes of people.’ A consumerist turn to religion: free home delivery!
It is beyond the comprehension of the pious that everybody may not be interested in the message; there may be folks from other faiths, or with no faith. For the uninterested, high decibels are pure torture.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he holier-than-thou exhibitionists are not only incapable of but also unwilling to comprehend the discomfort of others. For the pious don’t just want to thrust their own religiosity down the throats of other people; they also want to tell the world at large how devout they themselves are. This is quite like the vulgar display of wealth by the nouveau riche whose every possession, statement, and action screams of ostentation. The loudspeaker-armed priests and devotees also scream about their own pieties rather than enlighten the faithful about the creed.
Evidently, liberals are condemned to tilt at windmills.
But in India no good statement or viewpoint goes unscathed, so Nigam has been the target of reproach and ridicule—especially because he dared to speak against a Muslim practice. This is despite the fact that he also disapproved of the use of loudspeakers in temples and gurdwaras.
Then there was also super-secular sanctimony. Former actress Pooja Bhatt tweeted, “I wake each morning to the sound of church bells & the azaan in a quiet by-lane of Bandra. I light an aggarbatti & salute the spirit of India.” Amar Akbar Anthony on Twitter.
The singer also faced harsher comments. An article posted on The Huffington Post conjured up a Nazi-like design to torment and traumatize Muslims: “First they came for the beef, now they are coming for the azaan.”
As if Sonu Nigam were part of the advanced guard of the Hindutva brigade, a cog in the wheel of a vast, Rightwing conspiracy. Evidently, liberals are condemned to tilt at windmills.
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To Ravinar of “MediaCrooks”, Azaan is not a noise issue… it is cultural and religious invasion. When you add a loudspeaker and blare it five times a day, there is nothing pious about Azaan. It’s an assertion. Azaan on loudspeakers is not merely a call; it is an assertion and imposition of Islam over Kafirs who have to be forced to listen to it. This is worse early mornings when everything else is quiet and the noise becomes more amplified. This is nothing but deliberate and planned assertive Islamisation of many towns in India. This has nothing to do with noise pollution. Most people who debate over this lousy loudspeaker practice make it about “noise pollution”. That’s the dumbest argument put forth by idiots who keep covering up Islamic nonsense. The Azaan is a man-made assertion and conspiracy. It is not an environment issue, it is a religious issue. The loudspeaker–Azaan is a nuisance all day – five times a day. If it were limited to some festivals or Ramzan or Eid, we could understand. That is not the case. Don’t point to Hindu stuff like Ganesh festival or Diwali. That argument is bogus. Hindu festivals last a few days – Azaan lasts forever. Azaan is not merely a call to pray anymore. Muslims in India since the early 1990s have been encouraged to assert their identity strongly and Azaan is just one part of it. Wherever there are Muslim pockets, you will find men clad in Pathani garb, with beards without moustache, a skull cap and women with black tents adorning them. This is to let you know – “We are Muslims, we are a clear separate community distinguishable from common Indians”. People are standing up for India, standing up for our Jawans and standing up against Islamic invasion of our culture. Make no mistake about it. As more prominent voices become assertive about such invasions, the more the discomfort for media mafia and the Sickulars. Sometime back, the Bhagyalakshmi temple in Hyderabad was shut down its Aarti sounds because Muslims agitated. Why should Azaan be an intrusion in our lives? Keep it to your home or mosque! Not just loudspeaker–Azaan, the very call to Azaan has motives that we aren’t aware of, followed by sermons we are unaware of. History has a reason and logic. The Azaan in places like Kashmir and Namaaz (especially on Fridays) has become a call for violence. This cannot pass anymore. Azaaniyat is not a prayer or call to pray. It is more of an assertion of Islam dominating every other faith. It is not merely the noise pollution as some idiots would like to argue – It is thought invasion, and Faith invasion. Read More at: http://tinyurl.com/m95rktv
Excellent jargon use with “super-secular.”
I hope people support the guy, just because he is in the entertainment business, it does not give others the right to distort his message and crucify him.
Somebody at Pgurus ought to publish a small dictionary for us. Define commonly used or create useful hyphenated secular terms with a real life example. This would help standardize the criticisms of the fake seculars on the site:
Ultra-secular, pseudo-secular, firebrand-secular, hardline-secular, ideologue-secular, globalist-secular, moralist-secular, environmental-secularist, communal-secularist, modern-secular, postmodern-secular, postimpressionist-secular, post-9/11-secularist, Nehruvian-secularist, FakeGahndis-secularist, pseudo intellectual-secularist, apologist-secularist, Marxist-secularist, media-secularist, fascist-secularist, post industrial-secularist, postdotcom-secularist, political-secularist, electoral-secularist, corporate -secularist, moderare-secularist, liberal-secularist.
I mean fake seculars discussed in the articles themselves. I am not accusing any of the contributors/authors of the site of being fake seculars.