Though I am not the for the forced closure of the business centres and halting of the public transport at Salat timings, yet I appreciate NWFP government's efforts for fixing the timings for the prayers, especially the mid-day prayers.
It has, if nothing else, at least kept the juvenile public servants from being absent from their offices of duty for more than an hour on the average and in certain cases not returning to it at all after Zuhr prayers.
However, our Shia brothers start their prayers a little late and consequently give the Azan also somewhat late.
This is particularly disturbing at Maghrib to Ahl-e-Sunnat wal Jama't who are by then in the middle of their prayers when the loudspeakers of a nearby Shia mosque start blaring Azan at full blast.
Azan is just a call to the faithful to start for the mosque.. The actual timing for the prayer is governed by the Aqamat.
Therefore, the timings for Azan could be adjusted both for the Shias as well as Sunnis by advancing it a little, say, five minutes for the Shias and delaying it by the same token for the Sunnis.
Let all the faithful come to the mosque - Sunnis, five minutes later and the Shias five minutes earlier, but well in time for the concerned prayer.
Now, both can recite their Aqamats, - of course without the loudspeakers - keeping with the actual timings of the prayer according to their respective fiqahs.
Now, a second suggestion. Why not give the Azan over the local radio and all mosques' loudspeakers relay it simultaneously? Have I said something un-Islamic?
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