Fight over Michigan Muslims’ Call to Prayers Continues

The Hamtramck City Council‘s decision to approve a noise ordinance that allows a Muslim call to prayer to be broadcast over loudspeakers from the Al-Islah Islamic Center has been affirmed by a 5-0 vote, but it will still go to the voters for approval either in July or in August. Considering the level of bigotry there, it’s not certain whether it will pass.

The Detroit Free Press reports:

Even though the ordinance is in limbo, the Al-Islah mosque's leaders said Tuesday night they will begin broadcasting the call to prayer in Arabic at 1:30 p.m. Friday. Masud Khan, secretary of the Al-Islah Islamic Center, said the mosque has a constitutional right to broadcast the call to prayer, adding that it is already being done in Detroit and Dearborn. "If Detroit can do it, why can't we?" he asked. "We have religious freedom. We can express our religion."

The mosque wouldn't be breaking any laws if it does, said Councilman Shahab Ahmed. He said the Islamic center was just being a good neighbor when it asked for the city's permission in January to begin broadcasting. It won't be penalized for using its loudspeakers to broadcast the call to prayer with or without the ordinance, he said. ... "I'm very disappointed it's going to a ballot and further divide the community," Ahmed said.

For Robert Zwolak, organizer of the petition drive, the issue is about noise, not religion. He's confident the ballot issue to overturn the ordinance will easily be approved by Hamtramck voters. ... But City Council President Karen Majewski said the irony of the petition drive is that it strips city control over the frequency and volume of the call-to-prayer broadcasts.

It is indeed ironic - it sounds like, if the petition is successful, the city council will no longer have any basis for saying “no” to requests like this. So long as the calls to prayer don’t violate current codes in terms of sound level, there will be no way to stop or regulate them. Does Zwolak really not understand what he is doing? The idea that this is only about noise, not religion, is manifestly untrue to anyone who has read the earlier stories (see the links above). Perhaps bigotry is blinding people to what they are doing now.

Read More:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Religious Right
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Islam