So I(17M) recently had an altercation with one of my other classmate(18M) regarding religion, (hes muslim, and I’m atheist). We were chatting about topics we had done for our social studies Personal Manifesto which must be based off of Singaporean identity(most wrote about race and religion). Said classmate begins to talk about what he wrote being about race and religion and whilst discussing said topic.
I brought up that I once used to live next to a mosque and that sometimes I would get annoyed at the morning prayer call(which was very loud) at 5am in the morning as it would wake me up ahead of schedule, my neighbours also found it annoying. I brought this up as a possible suggestion to what he could put in his manifesto, about how different cultures might clash due to these issues but before I could say it, he said that I should not feel annoyed about it and just simply respect their religion. I said in return that respect goes both ways, and that he cannot expect another person to sympathise with his way of life if he doesnt do the same with another person’s way of life, followed up with "not everyone in Singapore is a muslim, and it’s unrealistic to expect them to be happy with being woken up at 5 in the morning each and every day".
After that day, hes stopped talking to me and claims that I was being insensitive.
So Aita?
NTA – watch all the Muslims come at you here but it is perfectly acceptable to be upset by the muazzin waking up the whole neighborhood at 5 AM…
If you want to wake up for prayer download the muazzin to your alarm
NTA
NTA – Singapore isn’t a majority Muslim country and you weren’t being deliberately obtuse.
People get arsey about others criticising their religion
heck, I’m a muslim and I’m not happy with masjid in Indonesia using speakers at full volume blasting adzan just before dawn..
NTA
also tell him, the Qur’an said “For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.”
I am quite certain that somewhere in the Quran it says that you don’t have to pray loudly, and to respect others…. Idk about the rules of doing it in a mosque. I think everything you said was perfectly normal – NTA. But I would do a little research in your place and I would also apologise to the guy if your words came out insensitive and explain that offending him wasn’t your intention and that you have nothing against prayer. He then can have a conversation with you and you could explain further or leave it at that, and you might not have a friend but at least not an enemy.
NTA, respect does not mean letting someone do whatever they want whenever they want no matter how intrusive it is to you.
omg i totally get feeling awkward in those convos.. it’s so hard to know what topics might accidentally be sensitive until you’re already in the deep end 😬.
ESH?
I don’t think you’re wrong for being annoyed, and he’s an AH for saying you shouldn’t be. Just because it’s related to religion doesn’t mean you need to be happy about it in order to be respectful.
That said, I don’t think your comment was very helpful and I do think you became overly confrontational. IMO this is a very surface-level difference between religions and probably not what he’s aiming to get at through his assignment. He could have handled your contribution more gracefully, but IMO you were not really being helpful, but just kind of getting something that annoyed you in the past off your chest.
Hard disagree to OP is an AH argument. The islamic call to prayer being blasted out of speakers at 5am is not a surface level issue. It impacts everybody in the area, muslim or not. It is not simply a matter of respect, the noise and volume can be oppresive particularly if it disrupts your sleep. You do not have the right as a Christian to project Psalms at 130db+ without being shut down, why is it tolerated for some muslim populated areas? It is a perfectly valid point for OP to suggest as far as managing the integration of islam into a non-islamic society.
Edit: OP is NTA. His friend is too sensitive and guarded over criticism of his religions practices.
NAH, you made a fair point about mutual respect but you also kind of walked into a sensitive topic unprompted and then doubled down when he got defensive. Sometimes being technically right doesn’t mean the timing or delivery was great.
What do you mean unprompted? They were literally talking about the work they had to do. OP states that their friend was talking about what they had written and one of the subjects there was religion.
But I would say that if they were in a predominantly Muslim country, the people moaning about the call to prayer are the assholes but in a country that is not predominantly Muslim, then the people playing the call to prayer are the assholes.
NTA
You’re absolutely correct. However, the religious do not view life that way. Their religion takes priority over everything else. The world must conform to their chosen religion, not the other way around. It’s a shitty way to view life, and very selfish.
I used to live next door to a catholic church, and the bells going off early in the morning would drive me nuts and woke up all the dogs on the block.
I say NTA. Some places have noise ordinances, for example no loud music or cars from 11pm-9am or whatever. Places of worship should not be exempt, it’s just respectful to maintain a certain noise level.