Indonesia Notifies New Rules Imposing Restrictions On Decibel Levels And Duration Of Loudspeakers In Mosques

Indonesia has issued new rules about the use of loudspeakers in mosques and prayer rooms in response to complaints over decibel levels.

The country's religious affairs minister, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas earlier last week issued rules about the use of loudspeakers in mosques and prayer rooms.

The rules will apply for mosque clerics on the use of both internal and external loudspeakers. There are more than 600,000 registered mosques in Indonesia.

Indonesia is the country with the world’s largest population of Muslims. Over 80% of Indonesians or about 225 million people are Muslims among the 270 million Indonesians.

The circular places a volume limit for loudspeakers, setting it at 100 decibels, and mandates sound quality to be "good or not discordant."

Under the new rules, the use of external loudspeakers will not last longer than 10 minutes before the call for Fajr, the daily prayer starting at sunset. For Zuhur, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha, the four other daily prayers, loudspeakers would be used externally for a maximum of 5 minutes, except on Fridays when it can last 10 minutes.

“The use of loudspeakers in mosques and prayer rooms is currently a necessity for Muslims as one of the media to spread Islam. At the same time, we live in a diverse society, in terms of religion, belief, background, and others, so efforts are needed to maintain fraternity and social harmony." the Ministry said.

In June 2021, Saudi Arabia's Islamic Affairs Ministry announced that all loudspeakers should be set at only a third of their maximum volume. Islamic Affairs Minister Abdullatif al-Sheikh said the measure was in response to complaints from the public.