Uproar over prayer calls in Muslim Morocco

Islam is the state religion in Morocco and the king is the "Commander of the Believers." The state trains and appoints all imams, but tends to avoid dictating standards of public behavior.

Criticizing any form of Islamic practice is difficult in the Arab world because no Muslim wants to stand accused of being irreligious, Roy said.

But as conservatives have become more outspoken, so have moderates. For a Cabinet minister to say anything critical of prayer calls "would have been unthinkable only 10 years ago," he said.

Miloud al-Atifi is an imam who doubles as the muezzin in his small mosque in Sale, a poor suburb of Rabat. He takes a benign view of the muezzin uproar.

"The prayer cleanses the soul, it's fundamental," he explained, but loudspeakers are simply a technical aid and can be toned down if, for instance, they're near a hospital.

They are helpful in competing with honking cars, he says, but nowadays believers can have the call piped in on their cell phones. He also notes that the Council of the Ulemas, Morocco's highest theological authority, has held that the pre-dawn prayer call should be a hushed one.

As for tourist zones, the imam doesn't think there's a debate.

"If there are only non-Muslims around, it makes no sense to even have a call for prayer."

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