The Islamic call to prayer, known as the adhan, has been permitted in Minneapolis, Minnesota, ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
Local mosques in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s largest city, can recite the call to prayer.
The city council unanimously approved a bill introduced by council member Jamal Osman that allows the prayer to be recited publicly by loudspeaker between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., as long as local noise ordinances are followed.
“We still have a lot of work to do to make sure everyone is enjoying the same rights, every religion is enjoying,” Osman said, describing the measure as a step in the right direction for religious equality.
Except for morning and night prayers, mosques will be able to broadcast the call to prayer three times a day via loudspeaker if the volume does not exceed a certain decibel limit.
“One of the most important parts of our faith is the Adhan,” Osman wrote on Twitter, adding that the call can be made at the same hours that Christian church bells can be rung.
He dubbed the maneuver “a symbol of the equality and community we’ve established here This is America, and we, like everyone else, are free to proclaim our faith from the rooftops.”
The call to prayer was first legalized in the United States in 2004 by a local government decision in Hamtramck, Michigan, followed by Dearborn, the only city in the same state where Muslims are the majority.
In March 2020, the city council of Paterson, New Jersey, which has nearly 30,000 Muslims, became the third city to pass a resolution authorizing the call to prayer.