Minneapolis is now the first major city in the United States to openly broadcast the Muslim call to prayer following the passage of a city board resolution.
Called the adhan, the Arabic chant is played 5 times a day to call Muslim males to prayer.
“It’s a remarkable opportunity for us to reach our neighbors and the wider neighborhood, but first and foremost it’s a chance for us as Muslims. It advises us of back home,” Imam Mowlid Ali informed Al Jazeera on July 5.
“It reminds us that we belong here. It advises us that we’re not hiding our faith,” he included. “In a way, it increases our self-confidence and also our sense of belonging to this community.”
Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque was offered distinct consent to play the call to prayer openly throughout the month of Ramadan so that worshippers may hear the call from their houses.
The Dar-Al Hijrah mosque stays in the Cedar-Riverside area which “recently has actually become one of the most densely populated locations of Islamic immigrants in the country, primarily coming from Somalia and Ethiopia,” noted BizPacReviw.
“It was in that area that two years back, a group of Muslims was reported to be patrolling the area, challenging people who were not following tenets of Sharia law.“
Minneapolis city board member Jamal Osman, amongst the three members of the legal body’s Muslim collation, revealed in March of 2022 that the council had actually accepted allowing the call to prayer all year-round.
Mosques do not require to make an application for a license to play the adhan on speakers between 7 A.M. and 10 P.M. as long as they do not break the city’s sound guidelines. Minneapolis does not permit broadcasts to go beyond 70 decibels.
Appropriately, the dawn prayer, called the fajr, would not be permitted to be played outside the mosque.
“For the faith of Christians in Minneapolis, the tolling of church bells is an affirmation of their faith and the comfort that brings that’s exactly the exact same function of adhan service for Muslims,” the council member informed the Star Tribune.
“If some mosques wish to relay dawn prayers, we can advocate for that,” Osman added. “This is a minute to commemorate and a great deal of people in the neighborhood enjoy about this.”
The adhan repeats the expression “Allahu Akbar” which translates to “God is great,” per CBS News.
There are approximately 150,000 Muslims in Minneapolis, which has about 20 mosques.
H/T Timcast
