CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt is cracking down on noisy mosques that misuse loudspeakers, an official said.

Noise inspectors will be listening for mosques that use their microphones outside the call for prayer, although Friday sermons will still be allowed to broadcast.

``The loudspeaker is for informing people of the call to prayer. It is not for reading prayers and the Koran (in between calls to prayer),'' Ministry of Religious Endowments spokesman Adel Megahed said. ``There are orders now and this time the measures are a bit stricter.

``The random use of the loudspeaker conflicts with the lives of people and with religion itself.''

Muslims form the vast majority of Egypt's 66 million population, most of which is crowded into the Nile Valley. About 16 million people live in greater Cairo, a bustling metropolis known as the city of a thousand minarets.