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Magic of human voice
Khushwant Singh has rightly written about the irritating use of loudspeakers at unearthly hours for religious functions
(Saturday Extra, Oct.
17). Let me share how the practice of using human voice to bring devotees to pray started. Bilal, one of the pillars of Islam and Prophet Mohammad’s chosen man, has observed thus: “But although the mosque was built, it was incomplete”. It was Ali, I think, who told us it needed one more touch. “We’re missing something...something high up there,” he said, pointing to the roof, “some signal ...a way to call the people in.” “We could run flag up,” suggested Ammar. In a moment we were all going backwards and forwards, up and down, arguing how best to call the Faithful to their prayer. The Prophet sat through it all with arms folded, neither taking himself out of nor putting himself into the question. ‘Why not use a bell?’ ‘The Christians have bells.’ ‘A drum?’ ‘There’s too much blood in a drum.’ ‘A horn, like the Jews? That’s a strong note.’ ‘There’s too much of the animal left in a horn.’ ‘A trumpet?’ We fell silent. A flag, a bell, a drum, a ram’s horn, a trumpet? Nobody was satisfied. A bell jingles the ear, a trumpet splits the head, a drum thumps up the blood and a flag goes too far in the other direction—it would never awake a sleeper. Then A saw Abdullah Bin Zaid, one of the helpers, coming forward shyly, inch-by-inch, so bashful that he seemed frightened of stirring the air — he who, in the next minute, was going to stir the world. I saw at once that he had something to say, so I gave him my space near Mohammad. I looked quickly at Mohammad and saw that tears had come into his eyes. He spoke so gently that I knew his word was the last word. It was settled. But what voice, whose, and how spoken? A soft voice, a sweet voice, a bellowing voice? My mind was racing in the possibilities of voice — a child’s, a woman’s, an old man’s, a soldier’s, a singer’s, a scholar’s — when I left, and I saw, the Prophet’s hand on my shoulder. “Your voice, Bilal.” Today, the use of loudspeakers from mosques is against the spirit of Islam. S. RIFAQUAT ALI, Patiala
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