Abdul Latif-Al-sheik, Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, has issued a circular to all mosques across the kingdom, which imposes restrictions on the use of loudspeakers in mosques to only Azan and Iqamat.
Azaan is the primary call to prayer, while Iqamat is secondary that indicates the Imam has taken his place and the congregational prayer is about to begin. According to the circular, the new ruling is based on Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) Hadith in which he said
“Lo! every one of you is calling his Lord quietly. One should not trouble the other, and one should not raise the voice in recitation or in prayer over the voice of the other.” Senior Islamic scholars like Sheikh Mohammed bin Saleh Al Othaimeen and Saleh Al Fawzan also supported the ruling with fatwas that loudspeakers should only be used for Azan and Iqamat. Initially, in 2009 the Ministry of Islamic Affairs passed the ruling that loudspeakers could not be used during the five-time prayers. The legislation back then received colossal backlash and was never fully implemented.
Even now, it is expected that ruling will not go well with the nation’s right-wing clergy, who already criticize the countries recent ‘left-leaning policies such as allowing concerts to occur in KSA for the first time.
