Man gets court to ‘silence’ mosque

Fed up with the calls to prayer giving his area “a distinctly Muslim atmosphere”, a Durban man went to court and got a judge to order the local mosque to keep it down.

Judge Sidwell Mngadi, sitting in the High Court in Durban, on Friday ordered the Madrasah Taleemuddeen Islamic Institute to ensure that calls to prayer made from its Isipingo property were not audible from the home of Chandra Gili Ellaurie, about 20m away.

In court, Ellaurie – who, as the judge put it, was “unashamedly opposed to the Islamic faith” – argued Islam was “a false religion”.

But the judge rubbished this line, saying there was “no doubt” that Islam was a religion.

“The constitution guarantees freedom of religion. There is no law of general application envisaged in the constitution, which outlaws Islam,” he said.

Mngadi also dismissed a bid by Ellaurie to get the madrasah – which he said had turned Isipingo Beach, in South Durban, into “a Muslim enclave” after it was established in 1999 – banned from the area.

“[Ellaurie] states that – in particular, relating to the drastic relief sought in the banning of the madrasah from the area – he was acting on behalf of himself, as well as in the public interest.

He, however, had no answers when asked which public he was acting on behalf of, or who had given him authority to act,” Mngadi said, “Further, when the applicant was asked what the madrasah had done to him that entitles him to ask that it be banned from the area, he had no answer.

He did, however, say that he wanted the area to be restored to its former glory.” Mngadi said Ellaurie’s bid to ban the madrasah – a college for Islamic instruction – was “doomed to fail”.

“Further, it is common cause that there are other Muslim mosques in lsipingo Beach. To ban only the madrasah is a futile exercise,” he said.

The judge found, however, that Ellaurie had made out a case against the calls to prayers made from the madrasah – which he argued were “a foreign sound, which invades his private space”.

“It bears down over to him. It deprives him of the enjoyment of his property and interrupts his peace and quiet. It further disrupts his sleep, listening to music and meditation,” Mngadi said, summing up Ellaurie’s gripes.

“The proximity of [Ellaurie’s] property to that of the Madrasah and the overwhelming evidence of the making of the call to prayer and the purpose thereof, create probabilities that favour [Ellaurie’s] version that the call to prayer interferes with his private space.”

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za

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