Durban - An Isipingo Beach man has launched an application in the Durban High Court in which he scathingly criticises Islam and asks the court to stop the Adhan, or call to prayer, nationally and to shut down a local madressa (school) which he says has infringed upon his right to dignity.
Chandra Ellaurie has asked the court for an order to “end the audio (non-radio) broadcasting of the call to prayer, with or without amplification, into the surrounding area” from the premises of the Madrasah Taleemuddeen Islamic Institute. He asked that the order be extended to apply nationally.
He has also asked the court to “end” the institute’s “active presence in the Isipingo Beach area” and for its property to be sold to an organ of the state or to a non-Muslim non-profit or other organisation.
The Madrasah Taleemuddeen Islamic Institute has opposed the application, and in court papers called for “defamatory” sections of Ellaurie’s founding affidavit to be “struck” from the record as they also could be considered “hate speech”. The institute described Ellaurie as having instituted the matter because he has a “personal antipathy” towards Islam and Muslim people.
Ellaurie said in court papers that both parties in the matter subscribed to the view that “not all religions can be valid”.
“The Muslim religion insults non-Muslims who currently have little choice but to endure being exposed to the C2P (call to prayer) which states that the Muslim prophet, Prophet Muhammad, is a messenger of God,” he said in court papers.
“What this tells us, is that the non-Muslim population of this country, which counts as over 97% of the total population, are having their lives interrupted five times a day, 150 times a month, and more than eighteen hundred times a year. This makes no sense.
“To have to listen to the call to prayer undermines the applicant’s right to dignity The applicant therefore asks the court to end the non-radio broadcast of the call to prayer from mosques and requests that this order be made to apply across the entire country.”
Ellaurie also alleged that the institute had “indulged in illegal construction in defiance of multiple requests by the city to cease construction activity”.
In its opposing court papers, the institute said it “operates lawfully in accordance with the zoning granted by the municipality”, that it “exercises a constitutional right to practise the Islamic religion”, and that no other neighbours had complained about the non-amplified call to prayer being a “nuisance”.
It also argued that the divestiture relief sought was “unconstitutional”.
The Madrasah said in court papers that Ellaurie’s application was “riddled with disputes of fact” and that it disputed the “various defamatory allegations” concerning Islam.
It said it had provided supporting affidavits from neighbours that there was no “sound nuisance”.
“The applicant is not able to provide any corroborative evidence of sound nuisance.
“Nor does he make any reference to the municipal by-laws regulating noise, or even allege that the call to prayer exceeds these limits,” the institute argued.
It said it had “unchallenged evidence” that it had “always maintained harmonious relations with its neighbours in Isipingo beach and elsewhere”.
“The Isipingo Beach Hindu Society and the Isipingo Beach Christian Fellowship Society do not support the applicant,” it said in court papers.
The institute said Ellaurie had “failed to set out any factual or legal basis for such gross and drastic violation to dispossess” it of “the right to express its religious freedom, of the rights to pupils to education and of its proprietary rights which are guaranteed in the Constitution”.
The institute said it would apply to “strike out” various paragraphs of Ellaurie’s founding affidavit “on the basis that the allegations are scandalous, vexatious and irrelevant” causing offence and prejudice to the institute and its constitutional rights.
Commenting on the case, Jamiatul Ulama KZN head Moulana Abdullah Khan said the organisation was “quite shocked a person can take out an application of this nature”.
“We understand democracy and each person has a right to go to court to solicit what they feel may be in their best interests.
“There are various churches and other religious groupings that have schools and their own functions and prayer, and people choose to dress in a certain manner, you can’t tell people how to choose.
“If he is offended by the dressing of the people he must relocate,” Khan said.
“It is a ridiculous thing. He seems to be a person who has no religion and doesn’t understand God and the seriousness of religion in the lives of people. He is somebody who has not understood that.
“We would invite him to come and sit and talk with us and say ‘don’t waste your money in court because you will never be successful in such an application’,” he said.
“We are God-fearing, loving, approachable people. We are not living on another planet.”
He said Ellaurie should “come and sit with us and talk with us. We have a relationship with the school and can get a few people here, we will provide the tea and the biscuits and the samoosas.”
SA Muslim Network chairperson Faisal Suliman said Ellaurie should consider moving to an area where he felt more in sync with the local culture, just as Afrikaners had moved to Oranje.
“If the applicant can show that the Madrasah or the children are in breach of any SA regulations in terms of health and property and the call to prayer, then there would be a case for them to rectify anything,” he said
“As far as the Islamaphobic diatribe is concerned we pity the applicant because he has not embraced the rainbow nation and he must know the right to freedom of religion is enshrined in the Constitution to the extent it does not infringe on anyone else’s rights.
“Unless he can show they are infringing his rights, this entire application must be dismissed with the contempt it so deserves and perhaps the applicant should move to an area where he finds peace,” Suliman said.
The Mercury