By Shafeeq Hudawi, TwoCircles.net
Wayanad: Last year, Muslim leaders in Kerala had asked mosque authorities to restrict the usage of loudspeakers only for azans and inform prayer times. The order was issued following some complaints by local residents at a village in Palakkad against the hours usage of loudspeaker at a mosque. It was cited as an issue for students and workers in the vicinity of the mosque, while clerics here used the loudspeaker for spiritual intercourses during nights and early morning. But if you thought loudspeakers are all about azan calls and religious advises, then that’s not the case at least in case of some mosque in Wayanad district.
Mosques at Kaithakkal, Neykuppa, Parakkuni, Changadakkadav, Mathoor and Neervaram-Manalvayal help villagers get updates ranging from warnings about the encroachment of elephants to arrival of jeeps, which connect these villages to towns.
Located adjacent to forest in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) and steep hills, villages here are vulnerable to threat from wild animals and natural calamity alike. Wild elephants sometimes come out of the forests when flash flood and landslide occur during monsoon. WWS is the home of elephants, gaurs, tigers, panthers, sambars, deers and wild boars.
“These mosques on Panamaram-Mananthavady stretch have been extending these services to the local residents for last 20 years. In addition to these, mosques pass information about natural calamity, accidents about deaths, happen at the respective areas of these mosques,” says Kaithakkal Juma Masjid secretary Moideen Master.
Interestingly, Forest Department officials approach these mosques when arrival of wild elephants are reported.
Mosques here have more than 800 houses under their jurisdiction. “No problem, sound from loudspeakers could be heard upto two kilometres,” Moideen Master says.
According to him, these mosques extend help to a total of more than 2,000 houses that include non Muslim houses too. “The purpose is mere non-religious and helps retain communal harmony,” he says.