Call to prayer recited for first time in Cologne

COLOGNE

The first “adhan,” the Islamic call to prayer, was recited in a Turkish mosque on Oct. 14, following Germany’s Cologne Municipality’s decision to allow the recitation of a call to prayer on Fridays from mosque loudspeakers.

The recital of the adhan from loudspeakers is now allowed in Düren and Raunheim provinces, while the practice took place for the first time in Cologne.

The call to prayer was heard from a loudspeaker for the first time at the Central Mosque, the largest mosque in Germany, affiliated with the Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB).

Other 35 mosques in the city will also be able to participate in the practice.

After a two-year negotiation, the municipality decided that implementing the recital of the call to prayer would take place within a two-year pilot project and the scope of certain rules.

Accordingly, adhan will be allowed to be recited on loudspeakers on Fridays between 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. as per the local time for a maximum of five minutes.

The volume while reciting the call to prayer should be at a level that will not disturb people residing in the surrounding area.

The rule also states people should be notified about the recitation of a call to prayer in mosques, while mosques should appoint an official to deal with the requests or complaints about the practice.

“If we hear the muezzins’ calls to prayer next to the church bells in our city, this shows that the diversity is appreciated and experienced in Cologne,” the mayor Henriette Reker stated last year, underlining the religious freedom.

An official from DİTİB also stated that the decision is part of a chain of mutual tolerance and acceptance.

The Central Mosque was opened in 2018 in Germany’s Cologne. More than 5 million Muslims live in Germany, while nearly 200,000 of them reside in Cologne.

Around 3 million Muslims residing in Germany are of Turkish origin.

Germany has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France.