Minneapolis became the first U.S. city this week to publicly broadcast the Islamic call to prayer five times a day and will continue all year long.
Democrat Mayor Jacob Frey signed a new city ordinance Monday at the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque after a unanimous city council vote last week, amending the city’s noise violation that limited the Islamic prayer.
Now the Muslim call to prayer, which is entirely in Arabic, will sound from mosques around the city as early as 3:30 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m., WCCO-TV reports.
“MPLS officially became the first major U.S. city to allow all five Muslim daily prayer calls to be broadcast publicly,” Frey tweeted. “This is a trailblazing win for our community.”
Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), celebrated the ordinance.
“Today is a historic day for our city, for our state and also our nation,” said Hussein. “I met a woman who was standing outside … she never believed that there would be a day that she could hear the call to prayer and did not have to leave the country — United States — to be able to do that. That and many stories like that have inspired us all to be here today.”