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I am currently on holiday in Marrakech, Morocco, and have found that the frequent calls to prayer from mosques throughout the day are quite a core part of life here.

To record some of my experience in this city I would like to take a video of, say, the open markets in the town centre while the muezzin is reciting the call to prayer.

If I take such videos and publish them on social media sites where Muslim colleagues and acquaintances, or perhaps the public, would be likely to see them, is it possible/likely they will take offence?

Is there anything inappropriate, illegal or offensive in the act of recording or publishing this reciting?

There will be nothing in the videos that the average religious westerner would be likely to find offensive, would such videos be taken by foreigners visiting their country. This question is only about the act of recording and publishing videos where the call to prayer is heard, in this instance taken by a non-muslim foreigner.

Mark Mayo
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quant
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    given that most you hear are recordings, I seriously wonder why it'd be considered inappropriate ;) Very few mosques have some guy climbing a few hundred stairs any more 5 times a day, they either have a tape recorder somewhere or a microphone at ground level and speakers or loud hailers on top of the minarettes (and yes, I've seen them in many a muslim country). – jwenting Oct 07 '14 at 07:12
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    It is not that inappropriate: search adhan on youtube or on itunes. – mouviciel Oct 07 '14 at 07:33
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    I'm not a religious guy and I absolutely loved hearing the call to prayer in Egypt and North Cyprus. My family found it annoying but there is a very pure cultural quality to it. – Gusdor Oct 07 '14 at 11:36
  • @jwenting Are you sure it's mostly recordings? Even if nobody climbs the stairs it can still be someone sitting in a room doing a "live broadcast". – gerrit Oct 07 '14 at 15:18
  • @gerrit could be either. But whenever I've been in a muslim country and near the same mosque long enough to hear the wailing more than once it sounded exactly identical each time. Too much so for it to be "live broadcast" each time. Of course could be they do it in person on special occasions and for the everyday stuff use recordings. – jwenting Oct 08 '14 at 04:39
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    This question might be more on-topic on https://islam.stackexchange.com but now it might be too late to migrate it. – Philipp Oct 08 '14 at 13:06
  • @Philipp, It's your call. I posted it here because I was interested in any cultural or legal considerations specific to Morocco that might not apply to Islam per se or vice versa. As I wasn't sure if such differences even exist I just posted it here. – quant Oct 12 '14 at 19:27

3 Answers3

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It is perfectly fine. The call to prayer is frequently televised so there is nothing wrong with recording it and posting it on youtube. It is done often.

However, do not go to the mosque during prayer and start recording there. Its not that its not allowed, its just that you'll have to have prior permission and you may be a distraction to the congregation.

Burhan Khalid
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    If I remember correctly in Marrakech non Muslims are not allowed in the mosques anyway. I suspect the OP is asking about recording from the outside. – Liath Oct 07 '14 at 12:40
  • @Liath The question explicitly says that the recording would be made in a public place that's not the mosque. – David Richerby Oct 07 '14 at 15:15
  • @Liath The question does not contain any information on the religion of the OP. – gerrit Oct 07 '14 at 15:20
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    True, I assumed they were not Muslim as they were asking whether it would be offensive. – Liath Oct 07 '14 at 15:58
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It is not inappropriate to record the calls to prayer. It is, however, considered a sign of disrespect to cut the recording short before the "muezzin" finishes reciting the call to prayer.

Shawkat
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  • How would anyone know, unless you were foolish enough to broadcast the fact that your recording is incomplete? – Carl Witthoft Oct 08 '14 at 13:50
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    @CarlWitthoft "If I take such videos and publish them on social media sites where Muslim colleagues and acquaintances, or perhaps the public...", I believe his Muslim colleagues would know. – Shawkat Oct 10 '14 at 00:04
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I believe Sinead O'Connor has recently done a cover version of it and had it played with full permission on Islamic radio. On her blog she details that she had to use the whole thing with no cuts.

Alan Lavender
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  • I could only find this http://www.sineadoconnor.com/2014/09/request-for-information-regarding-the-call-to-prayer/ -- do you have more details (esp if the recording is online somewhere)?

    edit - aha, http://www.sineadoconnor.com/2014/09/all-things-must-pass/ -- wow, that blog is rather hard to navigate!

     – michel-slm Oct 24 '14 at 07:41