U.S. city council passes resolution to allow public broadcast of adhan

The Minneapolis City Council in the American state of Minnesota unanimously passed a resolution Thursday recognising the Islamic month of Ramadan and supporting the public broadcast of the call to prayer, a first in city history. Minneapolis Ward 6 council member Jamal Osman presented the resolution, which also informs mosque leadership that they are authorised […]

The Minneapolis City Council in the American state of Minnesota unanimously passed a resolution Thursday recognising the Islamic month of Ramadan and supporting the public broadcast of the call to prayer, a first in city history.

Minneapolis Ward 6 council member Jamal Osman presented the resolution, which also informs mosque leadership that they are authorised to play the Islamic call to prayer, or adhan, in their neighbourhoods during daytime hours. The adhan, typically about five minutes long, calls on Muslims to pray five times throughout the day.

“This is a wonderful honour—the first recognition of Ramadan by the city—and acknowledging that the call to prayer can be broadcasted in Minneapolis,” Jamal said in the meeting.

Jamal led the council’s new Muslim Caucus, which includes Ward 10 council member Aisha Chughtai and Ward 5 council member Jeremiah Ellison, in pushing the resolution.

“Minneapolis has become home to one of the largest populations of Somali and East Africans in the nation, and their Muslim faith is welcome here,” the resolution said in part.

Estimates place the population of Muslims in Minnesota at nearly 200,000.

The resolution said broadcasting the adhan is legal. According to a previously adopted city ordinance, sounds associated with religious worship that last no more than 10 minutes in any one hour between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. are exempt from noise violations. It does not specifically designate a time of the year, like Ramadan, or name any holidays or religions.

The ordinance allows the playing of the adhan year-round, which is practiced in just three other U.S. cities: Paterson, New Jersey; Hamtramck and Dearborn, Michigan.

The Islamic call to prayer was first heard throughout the city in 2020. The city partnered with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota and a local mosque to play it over a loudspeaker during Ramadan.

Chughtai added that she looks forward to expanding the state’s definition of daytime hours, which does not allow playing the adhan before sunrise for the early morning prayer. (Sahan Journal)