The state with over 10,000 lakes and winters with well below freezing temperature now has something oddly in common with the heated region of the Middle East that will now echo the streets of Minneapolis – the Muslim call to prayer, adhan, on a loudspeaker – day and night.
Minneapolis city council members convened last month, and Mayor Jacob Frey approved the public adhan. “Adhan provides solidarity and comfort,” the mayor says.
This year, the first adhan made on the loudspeaker was in Ramadan. But it wasn’t the very first public adhan on a loudspeaker in Minneapolis. Mayor Frey actually permitted this in Ramadan three years ago.
Then, Frey allowed the adhan to be called specifically at Dar-al-Hijrah (masjid) in Cedar-Riverside, an area in Minneapolis that’s dominated by Muslims and immigrants. And then, it was only permitted in the month of Ramadan.
Jamal Osman, who was then a soon-to-be city council member, tells The Horn Magazine that he remembers that day vividly when hearing the adhan echoed in the streets. “It was so emotional to hear,” he says.
The Twin Cities is home to roughly 100,000 Muslims, the presence of which is felt in almost every part. And when Osman, was sworn into city council in August of 2020 to serve district 6, some of his goals were to establish the adhan city-wide and year-round. In less than two years, that adhan is now echoing in the city.
Osman worked with city staff members and city attorneys on the idea of the year-round adhan. He drafted the resolution, and when presented before the 13 city council members, it was unanimously voted in.
Osman argues that there was never a prohibition against calling the adhan. But this resolution just makes it official. “One of the notable things with this resolution was we acknowledged that the call to prayer was legal in Minneapolis,” Osman says. “The Adhan is one of the most important parts of our faith, and the ability to do it during the day has been in the city’s code all along.”
Osman says that church bells are perfectly legal – and so should the adhan. It would be illegal, however, to make the adhan before 7 a.m. and after 10 p.m., in accordance with a state ordinance. “I want to be fair,” Osman says. “…not breaking any laws.”
Minneapolis is now the third city to officially permit the public adhan, following Dearborne, Michigan and Paterson, New Jersey. But while in Paterson, the vote was tense that ended in a 5-4 vote to change the city’s noise control ordinance, which then legalized the public adhan, Minneapolis’ city council was all on board.
Of the 13 city council members in Minneapolis, the majority are of a minority background. Members include seven people of color, seven women, and three Muslims. The diverse members reflect a multicultural city that seems to have embraced people from all walks of life – and perhaps paving the way to its latest unanimous vote.
