CAIR-MN, Religious Leaders Support Noise Ordinance Change to Allow Islamic Call to Prayer in Minneapolis

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“I want to thank Councilmember Aisha Chughtai and the two other Muslim councilmembers,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).

Organizers with CAIR-Minnesota and Muslim leaders from area mosques are hoping to change the noise ordinance in Minneapolis to allow for a call to prayer to be broadcast from loudspeakers for all five daily prayers.

“Right now, the city of Minneapolis doesn’t allow for any noise to happen before 7 a.m. or after 10 p.m. and unfortunately for the Muslim community, we have been hoping to get the call to prayer here in Minneapolis and we are unable to do that {snip}” he said.

Most Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day – at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening.

The current ordinance only allows for three Islamic “calls to prayer” daily.

“After this all completely passes, Minneapolis will be the first major city to allow for the call of prayer, among the beautiful things happening this month will be another wonderful celebration,” he said.

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