«Young Muezzin» Contest Held in Occupied Palestine

Local Editor

Muslims in the Occupied Palestine held the Young Muezzin Competition for young men who chant the call to prayer. The contest was held in protest of the "Israeli" regime's effort to quiet the calls in the early morning hours.

These calls to prayer ring out from mosques often through loudspeakers five times a day beginning in the early morning.

Forty teenage boys auditioned, and nine made it to the semifinals of the Young Muezzin Competition in the city of Jaffa. The muezzin is the one who chants the azan, the traditional call to prayer which begins, God is greatest.

Abdel Fattah Zibdeh, an 18-year-old law student and volunteer muezzin, sings his preferred melody for the early morning call. He says it's a gentle way to help people to get up for prayers.

"Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he's gotten complaints of excessive noise. Two bills are making their way through the "Israeli" Parliament to silence the call to prayer before 7 a.m. and lower the volume at other times.

"It is a war against Islam," said one of the competition judges, an air conditioner installer and muezzin lover named Ahmad Abu Lsan. "Today it's the call to prayer. Tomorrow, it will be the Muslim headscarf. Next time, it'll be something else," he said.

Meanwhile, the emcee does a sound check using a word from a prayer instead of testing, testing. And then one by one, the teenage contestants stand before a panel of judges.

Inside the walls of the classroom where the semifinals are being held, the focus isn't on the prayer controversy but on the artistic fine points of the call.

The judges reference the eight different maqamat, the melodic modes used in calls to prayer. They name-drop famous muezzins. They warn a contestant who sings too high not to annoy his listeners.

"When you go up that tower and call the prayer," Judge Abu Lsan said, "the audience is huge. The quality of voice has to be superior."

The finals were held in a basketball gymnasium. It's a mix of prayer and political speeches. One guest speaker tells the crowd, "We must stop the ‘Israeli' crazies before the call to prayer law passes. We scream in their faces, God is greatest."

But when the contestants take the stage, it's much more about song than screaming.

Thirteen-and-a-half-year-old Marwan Qawaqzeh, the youngest contestant, took the crown. The six finalists won laptops, speakers and free trips to Mecca.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team