Israeli authorities fined a mosque for using loudspeakers to call out the adhan during nighttime
A mosque in the city of al-Ludd (Lod), located just south of Tel Aviv, was fined a penalty of $200 by the Israeli municipality for using loudspeakers to make the call to prayer on Monday, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz’s Hebrew site. Haaretz reported that the fine was imposed in accordance with an existing Israeli “pollution and nuisances law,” which restricts the volume at which mosques can use loudspeakers to call out the adhan — the Muslim call to prayer that is broadcast five times a day — during nighttime. The mosque’s imam, Muhammad al-Far, said it was the first time Israeli authorities had imposed such a penalty on al-Ludd’s mosque, and called it “a very dangerous step.”