Just in Time for 9/11, NYC Allows Islamic Call to Prayer Over Loudspeakers; NYC to Allow Broadcasts of Muslim Calls to Prayer Once Per Week, During Ramadan: Mayor Adams

Just in Time for 9/11, NYC Allows Islamic Call to Prayer Over Loudspeakers:

Did the 9/11 hijackers and plotters succeed? Can it finally be said, nearly twenty-two years after they murdered nearly three thousand people in New York and Washington, that they have attained their objectives?

Back in 2003, Osama bin Laden wrote a letter to the American people in which he explained, “The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.” Twenty years later, that very call will resound from loudspeakers all over the city that was his chief target on Sept. 11, 2001. (All the 9/11-was-an-inside-job types can find bin Laden taking responsibility for the attacks here). New York Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday announced what Gothamist described as “new NYPD rules” that “will allow mosques in New York City to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer without a permit.”

Adams couched this rule change in language designed to give the impression that he was doing something for people of all religious communities, but ended up making it clear that he was making a special concession to Muslims only: “For too long, there has been confusion about which communities are allowed to amplify their calls to prayer,” he said. “Today, we are cutting red tape and saying clearly, if you are a mosque or house of worship of any kind, you do not have to apply for a permit to amplify your call to Friday prayer.” Well, great, but the only “house of worship of any kind” that has a call to prayer, and particularly one for Friday, is a mosque.

As given to shallow demagoguery as any other Democrat politician, Adams concluded grandly: “You are free to live your faith in New York City.” That’s swell, although the religious freedom of Muslims in New York City wasn’t really restricted before this. Adams appears to be completely indifferent to the fact that there are non-Muslims in New York City as well as Muslims, and there has been controversy over the broadcast of the Islamic call to prayer over loudspeakers for years.

Back in 2016, Gothamist itself reported that neighbors of one city mosque found the call to prayer “too noisy,” and noted that they had “filed 156 noise complaints against Masjid al-Aman.” It’s grand that Muslims are free to live their faith in New York City, Mayor Adams, but do the neighbors of mosques have any right to enjoy a non-intrusive, noise-free environment, at least insofar as such a thing is possible at all in New York City? ––>READ MORE HERE

NYC to allow broadcasts of Muslim calls to prayer once per week, during Ramadan: Mayor Adams:

New York City is changing its rules to allow Muslim houses of worship to broadcast their calls to prayer at designated times each week without a permit, Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday.

The NYPD rule change will clear the way for mosques to project their calls to prayer — a one-to-two-minute chant played over a loudspeaker known as an Adhan — between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. every Friday throughout the year and each evening at sunset during the holy month of Ramadan. The Adhan must be kept at a “reasonable” noise level, according to the mayor.

“For too long there has been confusion about which communities are allowed to amplify their calls to prayer, today, we are cutting red tape and say clearly, ‘if you are modest or house of worship of any kind, you do not have to apply for a permit to amplify your call to Friday prayer,’” Adams said during a Tuesday City Hall press conference announcing the change alongside Muslim faith leaders.

The mayor said the announcement comes in response to the Muslim community long advocating for a designated time when it could broadcast Adhan without being in violation of any city laws.

“There was no real clarity on if you could, if you couldn’t, and the Muslim community wanted to make sure they abide by the law and we brought clarity,” he said.

Mohamed Bahi, a senior liaison with the mayor’s Community Affairs Unit, said the Islamic call to prayer bears a great deal of religious significance to Muslims and creates a “meditative atmosphere,” spurring individuals who hear it to “pause and reflect.” —>READ MORE HERE

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