Minneapolis recently amended its noise ordinance to allow mosques to broadcast adhan or amplified prayer calls for Muslims at any time of the day, making it the first major city in the United States to allow all five daily calls to be broadcast at any time.
Minneapolis will allow broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer in early mornings and late evenings, becoming the first major U.S. city to allow the announcement over speakers five times a day, year-round. https://t.co/H14ZXNHCdB
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 14, 2023
Jacob Frey, the city’s mayor, recently signed the amendments to the city’s noise ordinance at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center and spoke about the changes on April 15th.
Several local Islamic leaders, city council members, and Christian and Jewish leaders attended the signing of the law, which was held in the heavily East African-immigrant Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, where the Islamic Center was located.
The law took effect on April 19th and allows the city’s 20 mosques to broadcast their amplified calls to prayer at any time of the day, including the early morning hours before sunrise and late evening hours after sunset. The city’s previous noise ordinance only allowed mosques to broadcast their messages between 7 am and 10 pm, although some exceptions were allowed.
There is over 3000 churches in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, many of which have hourly church bells.
Local reports here are that only 7 places in Minneapolis are expected to do this these Muslim calls to prayer.— jason lorenz (@jasonlorenz14) April 14, 2023
Jacob Frey, who is Jewish, likened the adhan to the ringing of Christmas bells for Christians and the sounding of the shofar for Jews.
"They are all important to our religions," Frey said. "They can all be heard."
Aisha Chughtai, one of the three Muslims serving in the Minneapolis city council and the author of the amended noise ordinance, described the change as expanding the religious freedom protected by the First Amendment.
They can't just make an app for it?
— Jeff O (@JeffO773) April 14, 2023
However, while the city’s Muslim, Christian, and Jewish leaders who supported the new law celebrated the amendments to the noise ordinance, others did not receive the new rule well.
Weird! Are the other religions allowed to broadcast their prayers over loudspeakers? Can we atheists broadcast some quotes from Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins?
— Gerald Shifrin (@gshifrin) April 14, 2023
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an organization for religiously unaffiliated and secular Americans, called for the city’s government to rescind the new “religiously slanted” noise ordinance, citing reports from concerned residents.
“Allowing religious organizations a special carve-out from Minneapolis’ noise ordinance, which is a reasonable restriction meant to foster a peaceful, quiet community with a well-rested population, is the opposite of equal access,” the FFRF said in its message regarding the noise ordinance.
“It privileges one religious group’s messages above all others and all religious messages over any nonreligious speech,” the organization added, also citing the First Amendment and mentioning the Supreme Court’s interpretation of this constitutional rule.
However, Muslim leaders said they’re prepared to listen to noise complaints when the earliest adhan begins, with Frey saying the issue is a balance "as with any noise issue.”
"If we get complaints, we want to listen," Imam Sharif Mohamed of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center said, also acknowledging that the noise of the adhan might travel further than a city block during the earlier morning hours.
Uh, no: pic.twitter.com/FqmNEALAbG
— Liz (@kentuckyliz2) April 14, 2023
The timing of each call to prayer in Islam varies depending on the season because they’re related to the sun's rising and setting. For instance, the adhan could start as early as about 5 am on a Friday morning, when the dawn breaks.
