Living in a Muslim Country

I was schooled at both Convent primary and secondary school during my 11 years of education at Malaysia. Although originally a mission school, it is partly subsidised by the government. Thus, the school has many Malay teachers, much more compared to the other races; Chinese and Indian.

For those who are not familiar with Azan or adhān, it is the Muslims’ call to prayer. It is recited five times a day summoning Muslims to their mandatory prayers. The purpose of this loud pronouncement is to make available to everyone the substance of Islamic beliefs. Loudspeakers are installed in the mosques to project the Azan to its surroundings. Since Malaysia is an Islamic country, it is very common to hear this near the mosques. I can hear this in my secondary school too because the mosque is less than 100 meters away. Usually, during lessons, the teachers will pause for a few minutes to respect the Azan.

One day, one of our teachers was on medical leave and there were no relief teachers available to enter our class. The noise level usually gets out of control when everyone chats in the own cliques. Unfortunately, the azan was recited during that period and we couldn’t hear it. The teacher on duty happens to be on parole during that period and stopped at our class. She was very furious with us because we did not respect the azan recital and ordered the whole class to stand for that period which was about 30 minutes and sat in the whole time. When it was almost over, the explained that we should respect other religion’s practices especially in a country where there are three main races living together.

Of course, at only 14 years of age, we couldn’t quite connect with her and thought that she was being ridiculous making us stand for 30 minutes just because we did not hear the azan. Actually, I don’t think we would have quietened down even if we heard the azan. So, while standing, many of us stared at her and pulled our long faces. There were no forms of verbal conflict as we were raised not to argue with teachers. However, after she left, we talked behind her back because didn’t understand why we should observe silence for the Muslim’s call to prayer.

Now, being more matured and culturally sensitive, I would think that it was very stupid of us not to respect the azan and quieten down for just a few minutes. It wasn’t hard at all and we were studying side by side with Malays too. So, it’s the least we could have done. I am sure my classmates who have also grown older now would agree with me that we should have lowered down our volume. If I were to evaluate the situation now, I think apologising to the teacher at that point of time would have gotten us out of trouble.

Anyone living in a Muslim country would have had the same interpretation as me; knowing that we need to respect the Azan and be quiet for the Muslims to respond to the call. For those who are not familiar with the culture might think that this is absurd. In countries where religious duties are preformed in the personal spaces, it wouldn’t be rational that everyone would need to pause their activities especially during political meetings for a call to prayer.