Egypt's unifies call to prayer

  • 12 years ago
The Egyptian government has embarked on a controversial plan to unify the Islamic call to prayer in the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

One muezzin will sound a call to prayer that will be transmitted by radio frequencies to thousands of mosques across the capital Cairo simultaneously.

Officials say the reason for the program is to avoid a discrepancy in the different prayer times between mosques and to stop the overlapping sounds of prayer calls from nearby mosques.

Although many muezzins complain that they will not be able to perform as a result of the unified call, the government insists that Cairo's 730 Muezzins will not lose their jobs.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Cairo on what some religious scholars are calling an interference of the government in religious affairs.

[August 12, 2010]

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