A few weeks ago we featured the preparations for the first public call to prayer (adhan) from the Blue Mosque in Amsterdam. When the big day arrived, however, there was a little problem — the mosque’s rooftop PA system experienced an inexplicable failure.
Many thanks to C for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling. The translator includes these notes:
They’re taking the sabotage rather well, it seems. That spokesman may look familiar: he’s Nourdeen Wildeman, a convert who appeared in earlier videos. He knows how to sound reasonable and civilized in front of a camera, in the Dutch context.
However, despite the PR, it’s still a Kuwait-backed mosque that regularly hosts extremist speakers.
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | He needed to do some climbing, but once on the roof, the spokesman | |
| 00:03 | for the Blue Mosque in Amsterdam can show us the cut cable | |
| 00:06 | of the PA system that was installed yesterday. | |
| 00:09 | The cable was discovered after the break and the failed public call to prayer. | |
| 00:14 | Probably somebody played a little mischievous prank on us yesterday. —You call this a prank? | |
| 00:18 | Yes. —Look, it’s not. I feel almost relieved even, because I felt so unbelievably uncomfortable. | |
| 00:24 | and it’d have been so embarrassing if it turned out we had plugged it in the wrong way, you know. | |
| 00:27 | One might think this was done by people who don’t want this to happen. | |
| 00:32 | Look, it was probably not a proponent of the call to prayer. But we don’t know who did it. | |
| 00:37 | We also don’t know why he did it, so I can come up with all kinds of wild theories. | |
| 00:41 | I just conclude we have one little cable that was cut, and that’s it. | |
| 00:45 | Earlier this afternoon, just before 1pm, dozens of local mosque-goers were ready to hear | |
| 00:49 | the call to prayer. They had no idea it was all for nothing. | |
| 00:53 | I want to hear the adhan, the call to prayer. | |
| 00:57 | It’s something you haven’t ever heard here before. —Not in Amsterdam; | |
| 01:00 | I’ve heard it in Utrecht. I’m from Bos en Lommer. | |
| 01:03 | OK. You came especially for this? —Exactly. Yes. —You were in the mosque | |
| 01:07 | when they wanted the neighborhood to become acquainted with the call to prayer? | |
| 01:11 | Yes, the last thing that was organized there. The imam sang beautifully inside, | |
| 01:16 | but now we don’t know how it’ll sound through the PA outside. | |
| 01:21 | After the anticipated moment didn’t come, Wildeman had a different attitude in front of the camera. | |
| 01:26 | It wasn’t clear yet what the problem was. —The person who did it [sang] probably was very nervous, | |
| 01:32 | but it couldn’t be heard outside. A very awkward moment, yes. | |
| 01:36 | It’s not clear who is behind the sabotage, but the mosque | |
| 01:39 | doesn’t want to blow this incident out of proportion. | |
| 01:42 | You could also think, this is about freedom of religion. Then it’d be more serious. | |
| 01:48 | It would be about anti-Islamic sentiment. But I didn’t hear you say that. | |
| 01:51 | No, that’s correct. That’s because… in the last few years | |
| 01:54 | I’ve often spoken out about this; there have been lots of threats of violence against mosques, and | |
| 01:59 | there have been many serious incidents of vandalism. | |
| 02:02 | This is not like that. One little cable was cut. | |
| 02:05 | The spokesman can’t tell us yet if the Blue Mosque will file charges. |
00:24 plugged in the wrong way! This is a good one.
Aren’t they all plugged in the wrong way?
Strange how Islam rejects so many developments which have occurred since the time of the Prophet (Pox be upon him), but amplification, like modern weapons and communications, aircraft, motor vehicles etc are acceptable.