I followed the coverage of the recent Shah Alam town hall discussion. An Indian brother, one of the residents who spoke at the gathering, allegedly said that the non-Muslims have had to tolerate the Azan prayer call from nearby mosques.

In 1988 I was in a group of about 12 from the Royal College of Defense Studies that visited Zanzibar (a part of Tanzania) on a study tour. Our accommodation was near a mosque.

On the first morning, at breakfast, one officer, a Brit, (we were a mix from Malaysia, Britain, American, Norway and more) complained that he was disturbed by the nose coming from public address system from the mosque.

I was the only Muslim in the group and he said: "What was that all about? It is noisy and woke me up from sleep." I told him that that was the call to prayer. It may be disturbing and woke him up him from his sleep, however, to a Muslim it is the sweetest thing to hear.

It was a call to prayer and that when we pray we seek the Almighty's mercy for our sins and also to pray for peace and stability. He looked hard at me. And so did the others in the group.

After a daylong study tour we sat down for dinner and that officer remarked to me, "Zaman, all day I was thinking on what you said about the call to prayer.

"Come to think about it I agree with you that it was the sweetest voice to hear, to be awakened and be reminded to pray to the Almighty for the good things we are enjoying."

In the context of our Malaysia there are many things that we have all been tolerating. In our very mixed residential areas, you may have a neighbour who keeps a dog for security and as a pet.

The dog will be barking day and night. I think even a non-Muslim gets disturbed by the barking. However, we tolerate it.

Surely we can tolerate the call to pay homage to the Almighty for the good we all enjoy. To be a Malaysian is to be able to accommodate one another.