Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Shopping in Jeddah at midnight

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Shopping in Jeddah at midnight

I went to the Balad (old town) at midnight. The roads are congested. Many people travelled at night in Jeddah. Night becomes like day in the hot summer.

The streets at Balad is busy and crowded. I enjoyed the architecture of the old buildings. The windows are constructed with thin strips of wood allowing the women to look out into the streets, without being seen. My friend said that the roads in Cairo Egypt also have similar structures.

I left the souk (market) close to 2 AM. That is the time that most shops close in Jeddah during Ramadan.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: Mr Tan, just curious,is the azan there also using loud speakers as in Malaysia? I live in Malaysia, the azan (5 times a days at max volume) is quite irritating. Mosques are mushrooming in Malaysia and u cant find a place without the mosque in KL. (almost every 1km as shown in GPS map); August 30, 2009 12:58 PM
Sobri said...: In all Muslim countries ( where Islam is the state religion ) the call for prayers uses loud speakers. Thus if you are in Egypt for example you'll be able to hear several azans from several mosques at the same time, though not coordinated.

In Singapore, the speakers are turned down and inwards towards the prayer halls. Thus you don't hear it that loud. The call for prayers is similar to the blowing of horn for Judaism or ringing of bells for Christianity. It is to call the believers to pray.

Having the speakers turned down and inwards would defeat this purpose. Thus in Singapore, the Malay radio station was permitted to air the azan 5 times a day. Muslims here would and could tune in their radios to Suria for that.

In Phillipines where Catholics are predominant, the TV stations carry religious programmes. On Sundays, you'll hear the pealing of bells. Thus I feel, if one is unable to tolerate the religious practices of the predominant religion of a particularly country, the best thing to do is to avoid living there.

People of other religions living in Scandinavia pays church taxes. This would be equivalent for people of other religions paying the Muslim tax in Malaysia. Fortunately this is not the case.; September 01, 2009 9:47 AM
Anonymous said...: don't u feel annoyed if the azan "shout" in very early morning at max volume (when people are still asleep), eg 5.40am in Malaysia; 4.40am in Indonesia?? i still feel that Singapore are doing the right thing where all muslims just tune to their own radio at approriate vol, where they dont "disturb" their non muslim neibours. Time has changed, why don't we use modern tech to respect other people right to sleep well?; September 02, 2009 4:16 PM
Sobri said...: Yes of course anyone would be annoyed when woken up from slumber by the call for prayers be that it is azan, or bells, or gongs etc. That is also why people who work the night shifts tend to complain about noise from the playground, and people who live near schools complained about the National anthem being played.

I know a family whose neighbour transformed the flat into a mini temple. Imagine the noise made by the chanting, gongs and even the exterior walls were turned grey from burning of incense.

The point is when calls to prayer is concerned: We can make the choice to avoid living in that country. The call to prayers is a religious practice, which is required. We would not want a Sikh to give up his turban for a helmet when he rides a motorbike, eventhough the helmet would give him better protection. We wouldn't want to ask the Taoist to use an electronic incense stick that gives out artificial smoke even though that would be healthier. What about smoke-free burners for the Hungry Ghost Festival?
The list will go on and on and on.; September 03, 2009 9:53 AM
Anonymous said...: We must respect the majority who sleep from 10-7am and they are not affected by gong, bell, national anthem and all sort of noise polutions during the day time. For example, one are allowed to turn on hi fi (with reasonable vol eg level 3-5) but it is not appropriate to play loud music during mid nite or early morning, right? (or the police will go after u.)what i noticed is, azans were played at max vol (maybe level of 9-10?) during 5.30am in Malaysia!!! I do agreed that we shud use modern tech eg Chinese are now using electric bulb stand to replace candles and maybe in future scientist can invent a new electronic incense sticks that gives out artificial smoke etc(however, not avai yet as per today). I think most of us can tolerate some sort of disturbants, if it is on occasional basis eg hungry ghost festival, kompang, lion dance, fireworks etc (msot are during daytime) but not everyday azan at 5am early morning .(the other 3-4 azans in day time can be accepted). There is one parliment member in Malaysia were put in jail after she requested mosque to tune down the early morning azan!; September 03, 2009 1:53 PM
Sobri said...: In Britan there is a law against heresy. But that is applicable only to Christianity. Thus you can commit heresy against any other religions except Christianity.

It is the right of that country and the people to practise their predominant religion in whatever way they want according to their religious requirements.

Thus, my first advice: Don't live in that country if you can't accept their religious practices. Go to a secular country,like Singapore, or to a country where the practices are more acceptable to one.

The azan is meant to wake the Muslims to do their pre-dawn prayers.As it is meant for just that, it has to be loud enough to wake them up. One may ask, why not get the Muslims to use an alarm clock. What would happen if a Muslim forgot to set the alarm? It would be the responsibility of the priest to do so, if not he has committed a sin. Thus he does it with the azan.

As for the lady MP, it was more than just a matter of asking the mosque to turn down the volume. It was a more complex matter which is inappropriate to discuss here. Don't believe all you read or hear in the media, be it The Straits Times, or Malaysia TV1.; September 05, 2009 10:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Yes, Singapore is still the best country to live in Asia, will return to Singapore ASAP.; September 05, 2009 9:28 PM