The “adhan,” or Muslim call to prayer, can now be broadcast from mosques five times per day, making Minneapolis the first major American city to do so.
A amendment to the city’s sound law was overwhelmingly passed by the Minneapolis City Council in April 2023, essentially removing the time restrictions that had previously prevented the pre-dawn and evening prayer calls from being broadcast.
This is a historic moment for the people of Minneapolis and for many Muslims in America. This was a win for religious liberty and the U.S. Constitution, according to Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Minnesota chapter. According to a statement he released, the resolution shows that Muslims are not only “welcome here, but they’re also here – that they are part of the fabric of the diversity of this city and our state.”
Muslim everyday life includes the crucial ritual of calling worshipers to prayer, which has a long tradition in America.
One of the noises that tourists in nations with a large Muslim population find most memorable is the adhan, which is a loud call to prayer.
Islamic tradition advises that the adhan be one of the first sounds a newborn baby hears because of its significance. Frequently, the father will whisper the adhan into the infant’s right ear. The phrase denotes the start of a person’s life on the “right path,” which includes remembering God.
Many Muslims in America get by using a prayer software on their smartphones or other devices that displays the different prayer hours and sounds the adhan at the right moment. This is because the adhan is not frequently heard in public places in America.
The adhan was first used in America by the tens of thousands of Muslim African slaves who, to varied degrees, brought their Islamic customs with them. The adhan has thus had a significant impact on American music and culture.
According to historian Sylviane A. Diouf, Muslims from West Africa who were transported to the Americas as slaves between the 1600s and the middle of the 1800s are responsible for the blues music’s origins.
In general, American mosques call for prayer inside the prayer area, where it is only audible to those present. The World’s Columbian Exposition, a global exposition held in Chicago in 1893, saw the first recorded public transmission of the Muslim call to prayer.
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