The Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikipedia.

The General Authority for Supreme Islamic Authority in Jerusalem has complained about the proposed law to ban loudspeaker-fueled calls to prayer. The Authority says that whoever doesn’t like the ear-splitting pre-dawn noise “should go home.”

In a press release, the Islamic Authority claimed that the innovation of using huge loudspeakers in place of the traditional method of calling Muslims to prayer from a minaret is part of Islamic law and an “act of worship, ” and that no one can interfere with it, because doing so would violate freedom of worship.

The statement went on to say that “the great Islamic religion does not interfere with worship and ritual of other heavenly religions (Judaism and Christianity),” but it preserves and respects them. The release then quotes from the Quran: “There is no compulsion in religion.”

This last part is particularly ironic, since Muslim leaders are livid at the thought of Jews worshiping on the Temple Mount; the Muslim media complains every time Jews visit the Tomb of Joseph to pray there; Jews who visit the Cave of the Patriarchs are regularly denounced and have been shot at, as have Jews who visit Rachel’s Tomb for prayer and to recite Psalms. Furthermore, the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives is under constant attack from Arab vandals. 50 synagogues in Jerusalem were methodically destroyed in 1948, and Jews were disallowed from visiting the Western Wall and every other holy site while these places were under Jordanian rule.

But, aside from that and many other examples of Muslim intolerance of Jewish prayer and rituals within the borders of what they call “historic Palestine,” yeah, sure, they are very tolerant.