Tolerance Extends One Unit Fewer Than This Far.

A Jehova's Witness or a Mormon, when they come to my door, politely, during the daytime, I politely but firmly divert the conversation from me and my family, and our religion, to them having a nice day and continuing to travel past my house.

I can say 'get a job' to a bum who asks me for change, and keep traveling myself.

If a Christian church were waking people with its bells before dawn, they would be chastised for it (by me) likewise. The difference is, Christians would probably stop. I hope not, but suspect that this may be the start of a protracted battle, because the history of islam is a history of NOT doing what your neighbors want, when what they want is for you to leave them in peace. If I can help it, Pflugerville, Texas is not going to be the next Hamtramck, Michigan

I suspect it is likely** either the North Austin Muslim Community Center* or else the Islamic Ahlul Bayt Association.

At approximately 05:50 this morning (my clocks all have different times within a few minutes) my Darling Wife and I were awakened by what she thought was a siren, but what I immediately recognized as the Adhan or Iquama. I recognized it because I have subjected (get it?) myself to the unpleasant study of the made-up religion known as Islam. I recognize the takbir when I hear it, and I heard it repeatedly, as I lay there in my bed.

It was coming over loudspeakers from somewhere downstream (to the South), faintly. It was barely audible over the wind and the creek near our house, but the noise is intentionally penetrating. It was intended to jar the followers of mohammed out of whatever productive activity they were engaged in, and submit to his call to prayer. If we didn't have cheap single-pane windows on our house, it might not have disturbed our rest. We do, and it did.

Tolerance is not measured with any sort of units, which is too bad. If it were, I could tell you that my level of tolerance for the religious activity of my neighbors is at -1 right now. If they want to submit to a made-up religion but not do what its inventor did (kill your neighbors for not submitting) then that's one thing. But when you wake my happy ass up at oh-dark-thirty and holler at me to come pray to your made-up god, that's a step too far.

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*see that funny foreign-word pair beside "start time"? The place where it says "Iqamaa/Jamat?" Here is Jamat for you.

**Update later in the day: You know, come to think of it, those muslim centers are kinda far from me. To reach all the way to chez VFD, they would have to be REALLY blasting it out. I wonder if somebody is getting jiggy with the call to prayer in their HOUSE and I just need to complain to the po-po instead of to city hall. . . .