Minneapolis OKs Muslim prayer call at dawn, a first for a big US city

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minneapolis on Thursday became the first major American city to permit unfettered broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer, allowing the adhan to be heard over speakers five times a day, year-round.

The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to amend the city’s noise ordinance, which had prevented some morning and evening calls at certain times of the year because they occurred at times of the day when tighter noise restrictions are in place.

“The Constitution doesn’t sleep at night,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), after the vote. He said Minneapolis’ action should show the world that a “nation founded on freedom of religion makes good on its promise.”

Thursday’s vote, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, marked the capstone of a years-long effort to allow more calls to be broadcast in Minneapolis, whose burgeoning population of East African immigrants has led to mosques dotting the landscape.

Three council members — Aisha Chughtai, Jeremiah Ellison and Jamal Osman — identify as Muslim. “In a body of 13, that’s a real caucus,” Ellison said before the 12-0 vote (Council Member Andrew Johnson was absent).

Not only was the council vote unanimous, the decision drew no organized community opposition. Mayor Jacob Frey is expected to sign the measure within a week.

“Minneapolis has become a city for all religions,” said Imam Mohammed Dukuly of Masjid An-Nur mosque in Minneapolis, who was among several Muslim leaders who witnessed the vote in the council chambers.

He said the message of the adhan — “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” — carries a message beyond the specific beliefs of Islam.

Three years ago, city officials worked with the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood to allow the adhan to be broadcast outdoors five times daily during Ramadan. Prayers are said when light appears at dawn, at noon, at mid- to late afternoon, at sunset and when the night sky appears. In Minnesota, dawn arrives as early as before 5:30 a.m. in summer, while sunset at the solstice happens after 9 p.m.

The city allowed year-round broadcasts last year, but only between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The city’s restriction had typically excluded early morning prayer and sometimes night prayer.

Ellison, Chughtai and Osman remarked that previous efforts to extend the adhan carried the feeling of asking permission, as opposed to exercising a right enjoyed by other religions.

During a recent public hearing at City Hall, Christian and Jewish leaders had expressed support for extending the hours for the adhan.

Council Member Lisa Goodman, who on Thursday was observing the final day of Passover, noted that the Jewish call to prayer — which is generally spoken rather than broadcast — doesn’t face legal restrictions. Observers noted that church bells regularly toll for Christians.

But extending the call to prayer is more than an abstract legal issue for Muslims, Osman said.

“It’s something I grew up with, but not my children,” he said, adding that “it brings me joy” to hear the call to prayer from local mosques.

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Star Tribune writer Sahan Journal contributed to this story.