Will “Allahu Akbar” soon be echoing across Germany?
As part of a two-year model project, mosques in Cologne are now allowed to call to prayer every Friday afternoon. The mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker (64, independent), spoke of the project as a “sign of respect”.
Could the muezzin call in Cologne become a pilot project for all of Germany?
BILD asked German cities whether they could imagine following Cologne’s example and allowing the muezzin call.
▶︎ Indeed! In Munich the muezzin call echoes. “In Munich, since the corona-related restrictions, which also affected church services, it has been permitted to transmit the call to prayer with approval and subject to conditions,” a spokeswoman for the city told BILD.
Means: Since April 2020, five mosques in Munich have been allowed to broadcast the call to prayer over loudspeakers under certain conditions and until further notice.
Once a day at 7 p.m., on Fridays at 1 p.m. for midday prayer, the muezzin call may be broadcast for a maximum of ten minutes with a loudspeaker system on the mosque grounds. “The times for the call to prayer have been adjusted to the church bells at 7 pm. With the 1 pm noon prayer on Friday, the special needs of the Muslim communities were taken into account, ”explains a spokeswoman for the city of Munich.
In total there are around 50 mosques and prayer rooms in Munich, and around 100,000 Muslims live in the city.
▶ ︎ Off Hannover it says: “The muezzin call does not generally require approval, it is, like the ringing of church bells, part of the constitutionally protected free practice of religion.” BUT: It can become an official issue if it is reinforced with loudspeakers.
There are 27 mosques and an Alevi Cem house in Hanover.
▶︎ In Dresden one considers it “definitely worth discussing to think about a muezzin call in other cities”. A spokeswoman for the city on BILD: “We see ourselves as a diverse and cosmopolitan urban society, this includes the recognition of the large number of Islamic groups and associations as well as the large number of people of Muslim faith who live in Dresden”.
▶ ︎ “The federal law does not provide for an approval procedure for the muezzin’s call to prayer, as well as for church bells,” explains a spokesman for the city Frankfurt. But: “In Frankfurt, with the exception of the pandemic, the reputation of the muezzin was not a big issue.”
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▶ ︎ In Cologne’s neighboring city Düsseldorf there are currently no comparable plans to allow the muezzin call.
▶ ︎ Also in Essen there are no plans to allow the muezzin call. “But there were also no corresponding inquiries,” said a spokesman.
Minarets and muezzin calls have been part of the cityscape for decades, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Cities such as Dortmund, Hamm, Siegen, Düren or Oldenburg have allowed mosque associations to broadcast the call to prayer over loudspeakers since the 1990s. IMPORTANT: The volume must be coordinated with the neighborhood.
▶︎ “Most of the Muslim places of worship are in Stuttgart in peripheral locations, in industrial parks or outskirts, ”explains a spokesman for the city of Stuttgart when asked by BILD. “A public call to prayer would only reach a fraction of Muslims.” There is no initiative to introduce public calls to prayer.
▶ ︎ Allowing the muezzin call is in Nürnberg “no problem”. There are a dozen or so mosques in the city.
How does it look in Cologne now?
With the pilot project, Cologne started a social debate about the muezzin reputation:
While Reker spoke of a “sign of respect”, sociologist Necla Kelek said on BILD Live: “Actually, the cry ‘Allahu Akbar’ is now banned in our vocabulary. You are not allowed to use it at all because it is used by assassins, Islamists and terrorists. “
Background: When calling to prayer, the muezzin shouts, among other things, “Allahu akbar” (“Allah is great”) and the sentence “I testify that there is no god but Allah” – followed by the invitation to come to prayer.
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