Mayor Jacob Frey announced Tuesday that he will allow a mosque in Minneapolis to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer over loudspeakers during the month of Ramadan.
The call to prayer, known as the adhan, will be played over a loudspeaker in Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and is “expected to reach thousands of residents,” Frey’s office said in a statement.
The call to prayer will be broadcast five times a day from a speaker located outside the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque at South Fifth Street and Cedar Avenue.
“At a time when physical distancing requires we pray apart, it’s incumbent on leaders to create a sense of togetherness where we can,” Frey said in a press release. “Adhan provides solidarity and comfort – both of which are essential during a time of crisis. As our Muslim community prepares for Ramadan, we hope the broadcast will offer a measure of stability and reassure our entire city that we are all very much in this together.”
Frey said he “facilitated” the noise permit for the request and noted that the call to prayer will begin on Thursday evening, the start of Ramadan, which lasts for roughly a month.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Minnesota reportedly paid for the audio equipment that will be used for the broadcast.
“This historic effort to promote religious inclusion – offering the call to prayer in the Cedar-Riverside community – will be welcomed by the Muslim community and all those who value diversity and mutual understanding,” said CAIR-Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein.
“The call to prayer will be especially meaningful to the many senior citizens in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood who have been isolated due to the pandemic. It will help them feel more connected to their community and mosque in this sacred month,” he added.
Imam Sharif Mohamed of the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque said Muslims all over the world “understand and feel great comfort in the public call to prayer.”
“In this time of fear and isolation, the Muslim communities of Minnesota benefit from a city that honors and loves all of its diversity,” he said.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
[…] The Minnesota Sun reported also at the time, Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said in a press release when the adhan was permitted five times daily during the month of […]
Sue the city of other religions don’t get to express their views also
Yet the Freedom From Religion Foundation or any other atheist organization is silent on the matter; they only go after Christian issues. A bunch of hypocrites.
Eventually America will wake up ………. but by then🤭😔😔
I sure hope if this is being allowed that EVERY other religion has the same equal right and given the exact amount of “help” from the city. If a Christian church or a Hindu temple or any other church wanted to do the same thing, they should not meet any roadblocks and be given just as much support.
Is this not in violation of Religion and State whereas Government is not to mettle in these affairs…….or even in violation of LAWS certain cities and Counties have for noise pollution?
The First Amendment contains two clauses that prescribe the government’s relationship with religion. In the first instance, the Establishment Clause states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” In the strictest reading, the Establishment Clause proscribes any adoption of an official religion by the federal government. More broadly, the phrase functions as a way of assuring that the federal government will not adopt any stance in favor of or against any religion. However, the Supreme Court has tolerated a certain degree of government involvement in religion. For instance, the Court has allowed government funding to go to private religious schools and prayers to begin certain legislative meetings, as in Town of Greece v. Galloway. In that case, the Court ruled that a town hall meeting that began with prayers, predominantly given by members of different denominations of Christianity, was not a violation of the Establishment Clause, in part because legislative prayers are for the legislators and not for the public.
The second clause of the First Amendment that deals with religion immediately follows the Establishment Clause: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof.” Where the first clause prohibits Congress from adopting any particular religion, the second clause prohibits Congress from interfering with an individual’s exercise of religion. This second clause is called the Free Exercise Clause. The Free Exercise Clause protects an individual’s right not only to believe what he or she would like but also to practice it. The clause protects individuals from laws that would expressly inhibit them from engaging in religious practices.
Put it over a Muslim radio station! This is pandering and disturbing the peace. The call to prayer is not beautiful to ANYONE that is not a Muslim.
Amen! The is awful… 5 times a day for a month!! 😳.
This could possibly trip American soldiers with PTSD who served in the Iraq war……but the dumbocrats didn’t even think about that let alone the millions of Christians that will hear this crap. Next Sunday and every Sunday let’s broadcast Catholic Mass into the airwaves and make Muslims listen to that……they will whine like they just had bacon rubbed all over them.
Buy a pot belly pig and take it for a walk though the area.