The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf has ordered mosque officials in the West Bank to restrict outdoor loudspeakers to the call to prayer only. According to the Palestinian news site Quds Net, Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs Sheikh Muhammad Mustafa Najm issued a formal directive on Sunday to the directors of Islamic endowment districts regulating loudspeaker use in mosques in Judea and Samaria.
The instruction says mosque managers must fully follow the rules limiting external loudspeakers to the adhan, and they are forbidden to broadcast Quran recitation through those speakers before the call to prayer. In mosques near Jewish communities in the West Bank, the call to prayer should be heard only through the mosque’s internal loudspeakers, without using external ones.
The ministry said the decision was made to preserve the sanctity of mosques, regulate loudspeaker use in a way that serves Islamic law and the public interest, and unify procedures used in mosques.
