Islam's call to prayer is ringing out in more US cities -- affirming a long and growing presence of Muslims in America
Retrieved on:
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
In April 2023, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a change to the city’s sound ordinance, effectively eliminating time constraints that previously prevented the pre-dawn and evening prayer calls from being broadcast.
Key Points:
- In April 2023, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a change to the city’s sound ordinance, effectively eliminating time constraints that previously prevented the pre-dawn and evening prayer calls from being broadcast.
- For the citizens of Minneapolis and for many Muslims across the United States, this represents a historic moment.
- The practice of calling worshippers to prayer is an important aspect of daily Muslim life, one that has a long history on American soil.
Adhan: Tradition and meanings
- The five daily prayers signify one of the five pillars of Islam that are traditionally considered obligatory for every Muslim.
- The significance of the adhan is such that Islamic tradition recommends that it be one of the first sounds that a newborn baby hears.
- The words mark the beginning of a person’s life on the “right path,” with the remembrance of God.
Influence on popular music and culture
- In the process, the adhan has left a deep influence on American music and culture.
- Historian Sylviane A. Diouf attributes the roots of blues music to West African Muslims who were enslaved and forcibly taken to the Americas between the 1600s and mid-1800s.
- Diouf specifically makes a comparison between the adhan and “Levee Camp Holler,” a song that was written and sung by former slaves.
History of the Muslim prayer call in the US
- Generally speaking, mosques in the U.S. make the call to prayer inside the prayer space, where it is audible only to those present.
- The earliest documented public broadcasting of the Muslim call to prayer took place during the World’s Columbian Exposition, a world’s fair that was held in Chicago in 1893.
- Later the same year, the prayer call was broadcast from a third-story window of the Union Square Bank building in New York City.
Recent broadcasts
- In nearby Hamtramck, considered to be America’s first majority-Muslim city, the adhan was legalized by local government in 2004, when a noise ordinance change was put to a citywide vote.
- At the time, this stirred notable tensions between Hamtramck’s different faith communities.
- In 2020, the city council of Paterson, New Jersey, also authorized the call to prayer between certain hours of the day.
- Indeed, the public broadcasting of the adhan is part of a larger narrative of American plurality.