Minneapolis has become the first American city to allow Muslim calls to prayer to be broadcast at all hours of the day over loudspeakers, according to the Associated Press.
The Muslim call to prayer announcement, the “adman,” is made five times a day every day of the year.
On Thursday, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed a measure that will amend the city’s noise ordinance code to allow the calls to prayer to be broadcast. The code currently prevents early morning and late night calls over noise restrictions, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Minneapolis has a large population of Muslims who immigrated from East Africa, starting in the 1990s. The city has numerous mosques, and three of the 13 members of the council are Muslim.
The city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, is expected to sign the measure next week when it will become official.
City officials began working with local mosques three years ago to extend the outdoor broadcast hours for the adman to five times daily during Ramadan, according to the report. Prayers need to be said at dawn’s first light, at noon, at mid-afternoon and at the first instance of sunset.
In Minnesota, the sun rises before 5 a.m. in the summer and sets as late as 9 p.m. during the year.
In 2022, the city decided to allow calls to prayer to be broadcast all year round but only between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)