...the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany....'s mayor said allowing the muezzin call to be heard was "a sign of respect." Some are however concerned over the involvement of a
Germany's largest mosque will broadcast the call to prayer for the first time on Friday.
Islam means submission.
It comes as part of an agreement between the Central Mosque of Cologne and the city authorities."We're very happy," Abdurrahman Atasoy, general secretary of the the
"The public call to prayer is a sign that Moslems are at home here," he added.
Cologne mayor Henriette Reker said allowing the call to prayer was "a sign of respect" for the city's many Moslems.
Cologne has more than 100,000 Moslem residents.
MOSQUE TO COMPLY WITH STRICT LIMITS
Mosques in several cities in Germany have long been authorized to broadcast the call to prayer, but Cologne only approved it late last year.
The large mosque in the Ehrenfeld district will be the first in the city to send out the muezzin call to Friday Prayers. Other mosques in the city have also expressed interest in taking part in the two-year pilot project.
Under the agreement, Cologne's Central Mosque will be allowed to send out a single call to prayer over loudspeakers for up to five minutes on Fridays, between noon and 3:00 pm. The volume cannot exceed 60 decibels.
CONTROVERSY OVER MOSQUE'S FUNDERS
Cologne's Central Mosque has been a flashpoint for anti-Moslem sentiment in the past and it has been denounced particularly over of the involvement of DITIB.
Critics have accused the organization of spying on
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...formally inaugurated the Mosque himself during a controversial visit to Germany in September 2018.
Murat Kayman, who serves on the advisory board of the Alhambra Society, an association of liberal Moslems, welcomed the fact that the muezzin call was possible but he warned DITIB "stands for everything, but not for democratic conditions and freedom."