Volume of Calls To Prayer Becomes Controversial In Morocco

In Morocco, according to a story today from the AP, the rising decibel level of the daily calls to prayer from mosques using improved audio technology "is deepening fault lines between a government drive to modernize and a wave of rigorous political Islam." Minister for Family and Social Affairs, Nouzha Skalli, has been accused by newspapers and some imams of attempting to impose secularism because, it was rumored, at a closed cabinet session she proposed that legislation be adopted to lower the volume on muezzins' calls to worship in tourist zones. Islamists are increasingly portraying the influx of tourists to the country as a threat to Muslim values.