the-namanari:

blessedyuki:

trieaa:

Noragami aragoto OST 31 is the Adhan remixed and instead of people being appalled at the blatant disrespect all i’m seeing are trolls and comments by islamaphobic people who are overjoyed that we’re upset about the insult to our religion

That’s disgusting.

I really wonder what they’re going to do about this. They’re still in time to remove it from the DVD and even for the airing of the anime, but don’t know about the CDs

This is quite… The headache, because it all ends up with what ‘part’ of Islam you are siding with. The very radical part dictates that the Call for Prayer should only be used in a religious connotation. Meanwhile, the other bands of existing Islam do not frown upon the use of it. Actually, they do not even see it as forbidden. Obviously, that does not exempt anyone from disrespecting another culture or religious movement.

Let us for a moment take in the use of this OST. Push buttons made its debut only in the Bishamon-arc, specifically on the running of episode six. To refresh your memory, this track came out when Bishamonten appears and begins to fight/purified herself, while protecting the last members of the ‘Ha’ clan from an Ayakashi.

If you listen to the specific parts of the Iwasaki track, he only uses half of the prayer and not really the most important parts. The specific parts he uses are the following:

أشهد أن لا اله إلا الله (The acknowledgement from the mortal that there is no deity but God. Specifically, the use of “I” in this case.)

Then it moves on to repeat approximately two times this part of the second utterance of the call to prayer: أشهد (I acknowledge or bear witness), before moving on to this part:رسول الله (For this particular part of the sentence it only focus on the use of ‘Rasul ullāh’ which in a rough translation means the Creator, or the God. The use of it within this part of the song is not specifically invoking the one true god in Islam, nor the chosen messenger. Instead it focuses on the overall meaning of a generally-whole creator, so it is not being used in a forbidden sense or blasphemous.) This goes back to the part of acknowledging this being in its true form.

The it moves down to the ‘call for victory’ and the ‘hasten of invocation’ of the greatness of this being. 

The specific sentences are: حي على الصلاة ( Roughly translated as the idea of ‘come to venerate’ or ‘come to invoke (pray, even)’.) Before moving on to the second part of the ‘call for victory’ which is: حي على الفلاح (Advance to success/(spiritual)prosperity/triumph). These two utterances are repeated twice, before the ending happens. Now, I can’t make out clearly the last lines the singer invokes, because the auto-tune/melody gets in the way, but it definitely does not end like the Adhan would. It sounds more like it ends with الصلاة خيرٌ (which roughly translates to ‘prayer’ or ‘invoking’  ‘is better’) and if what my ears catch at the end أشهد أن (bear witness that; we should insert a ‘to’ there for a more clearer meaning) لا إله إلا الله (there is no greater divinity/deity (than) the Creator/God, which is (once more) the context it is being used.).

Now… Why half of what seems to be a mix of the Adhan is in this track? There are various reasons actually. Bishamonten/Vaiśravaṇa is a god worship in Hinduism; the singer who intonate these words uses the articulation of those in India/Indonesia (another place with ties to Hinduism). The ‘Adhan’ is pronounce ‘Ashan’ or ‘Azan’. Linguistically speaking, that is a specific region phonetic activity practice around certain worshippers of Islam in those countries as well as around surrounding places. Interestingly enough, those exact regions have experience a mix of Hinduism with Islam. Sadly, they have also experience conflict, because of the intolerance of some of the communities. Remember that all religions are divided into different groups that worship and act on their belief of the Faith.

Another thing that I should point out is that Islam and Hinduism have cross ties before. Thus, at a certain point of history the Buddha and Kubera (another god associated with Vaiśravaṇa) have appeared under different names within the religious scriptures. Hence, I can see a certain reason with Iwasaki trying to bring that into this track, specifically created for the Bishamonten/Vaiśravaṇa arc.

As I mentioned before, I am not trying to excuse anyone for their actions, but these are elements that need to be considered- before anyone decides to become judge and jury. There is also the fact that this specific track must have been discussed and green-lighted before being approved. I believe (need to research this aspect more) that certain permissions/rights must have been established before it was approve.

Anyway… That’s my five cents in the whole situation. 

dont u mean 5 yen….but yeah what u guys are talking about makes sense