How to deal with loud voices from a neighbouring Church?

29-12-2002 | IslamWeb

Question:

Asslamu Alaikum,We live in a residential area in the city of Addis Ababa. About five months ago our next door neighbors rented their house to a Protestant Church group, and they have been having their “meetings”, twice a week ever since. These so-called meetings are extremely loud not to mention disconcerting. What we have been doing is opening Islamic Nasheeds at top volume so as not to hear their satanic calls and chants. We as well as the whole of our predominantly orthodox Christian neighborhood have tried taking up this matter with the authorities but to no avail. What I want to know is if what we are doing is acceptable by the standards of Islamic Law and what else we are entitled to do so as to rid ourselves of these maggots. I do bear in mind that Islam is a tolerant religion but this is extremely hard to just sit by and do nothing.

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

May Allah reward you for your enthusiasm and devotion to defend your religion.
For the answer to your question, we advise you to talk to the owner of this home explaining to him the prohibition to rent his house to be used as a church or another disbeliever's place of worship. In fact, doing so is a form of help in disbelief and transgression as it leads to spreading Kufr. Ibn Qudama said: 'It is unlawful for the person to rent his house to a person who would use it as a church or use it in selling wine or in gambling.'
If he does not accept your advice, then you are allowed to play Quran and other Islamic cassettes at a high volume in order to protect the neighbouring Muslims from hearing such perverse and corrupt things unless this harms the Muslims or Christian neighbours who do not participate in such activities. Then it becomes unlawful for you to do so. But you should spare no legal effort to avoid that these sounds reach the ears of Muslims. Make sure that all Muslims adhere to their right religion by exhorting them and admonishing them. You should also call the Christians to Islam and teach it to them warning them of their bad fate if they die before becoming Muslims.
Allah knows best