Minneapolis mosques to broadcast Muslim call to prayer 5 times a day

A change in a city ordinance in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will mean that area mosques will soon be able to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer five times a day, all year round.

The Muslim call to prayer — called adhan and conducted entirely in Arabic — has been broadcast publicly from mosque speakers in the city for some time. However, a previous citywide noise restriction limited area mosques to three adhans per day between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Mosques were unable to broadcast adhans at dawn or late at night. There were also rules restricting adhans to certain times of the year.

Last year, the Minneapolis City Council approved a measure that would permit adhans all year round. On Thursday, the city council, which has three Muslim members, voted unanimously to permit all five daily adhans, even those broadcast as early as 3:30 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m., WCCO-TV reported. Minneapolis is now the first major U.S. city to approve broadcasting all five adhans.

Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations, is thrilled that the measure has passed. "For something this historic to go this easy is incredibly powerful and a testament of who we are in the city of Minneapolis," Hussein said.

"The Constitution doesn’t sleep at night," Hussein continued, adding that he hopes other major U.S. cities will follow suit. Dearborn and Hamtramck, Michigan, both suburbs of Detroit, and Paterson, New Jersey, about 20 miles outside New York City, already have such practices in place.

SFGate reported that some area Christians and Jews spoke out in favor of the measure. Some mentioned the frequency with which churches ring bells to mark time and to call the faithful to services. Councilmember Lisa Goodman, who recently observed Passover, also noted that there are no legal restrictions on Jewish calls to prayer, though such calls to prayer are not often broadcast publicly.

"Minneapolis has become a city for all religions," said Imam Mohammed Dukuly of Masjid An-Nur mosque in Minneapolis.

Councilmember Aisha Chughtai, a self-described Muslim and community "activist," agreed. "It is really important for the city to approach all issues from a lens of ensuring equal access for all people," she said.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who supports the measure, is expected to sign it into law on Monday.

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