local Swedish authority allows irritating Islamic call to prayer using loud speakers

 

 

A municipality in the Swedish capital of Stockholm has allowed the recitation of adhan, the call to prayer, through minaret speakers, in an unprecedented move.

Islamic Cultural Center of Botkyrka, a municipality in Stockholm mostly populated by immigrants, applied almost a month ago to municipal authorities, seeking permission for recitation of the adhan before Friday prayers through speakers in the minaret of the Fittja Mosque, located within the boundaries of Botkyrka.

The municipal council recently convened and unanimously approved the request. İsmail Okur, the head of the Islamic center, told the Anatolia news agency that the first adhan will be broadcast in March after the technical preparations are completed.

“The authorities will measure the sound level. According to the rules, the sound of the adhan shall reach two kilometers at most from the mosque,” Okur remarked, referring to the regional authorities who granted permission for the adhan recitation through minaret speakers.

He further stated that Botkyrka is a region mostly populated by Muslims and the Fittja Mosque is the only mosque in Sweden that has a minaret.

 

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Green light for prayer calls at Swedish mosque

noise pollution allowed in the name of Islam now the non-Muslim locals will have to put with islam shove down their throats by this mosque with loud speakers.

 

 

On Tuesday, a majority of the members of Botkyrka municipality’s city planning committee voted in favour of scrapping a 1994 prohibition on allowing prayer calls dating from before the construction of the mosque, located in the municipality’s Fittja district, the Dagen newspaper reported.

The Christian Democrats were the only party to vote against allowing the mosque to make prayer calls.

The matter was put to a vote after Ismail Okur, chair of the Botkyrka Islamic Association (Islamiska föreningen i Botkyrka) filed a citizens’ petition with the local council in January seeking permission to allow prayer calls at the mosque.

He told Dagen that members of the association decided it was time they took steps to exercise their right to religious freedom in Sweden.

“We’ve lived our whole lives in Sweden; we’ve paid taxes; we’ve been exemplary citizens; we’ve given a lot to Sweden,” he said.

“Now we want to get a little back. Now we want to have religious freedom.”

However, the local council’s decision to allow prayer calls at the mosque is only the first step toward making Okur’s request a reality.

First the entire municipal council and executive board must approve the move. Then the Islamic Association must decide whether to file a request for a permit with local police, or start sounding the call to prayer immediately.

The decision could be of major significance for Sweden, as it could set a precedent for other mosques in the country to follow, according to Dagen.

Stefan Dayne, a Christian Democrat member of the city planning committee who voted against lifting the ban, claimed that members of other parties didn’t vote to uphold the prayer call ban because “they were afraid” of losing the support of local Muslims.

“We have nothing against religious freedom. We’re for freedom of expression. And we have nothing against Muslims. But we don’t think local government has the competence to rule on prayer calls,” he told the paper.

“It’s a message that’s being trumpeted and which can offend other groups and therefore we see it as a matter for the police.”

While it remains unclear exactly when, if ever, prayer calls may be heard emanating from the mosque in Fittja, Okur of the Islamic Association welcomed the city planning committee’s decision.

“It’s great! The prayer call for us is like ringing bells is for churches. It’s important,” he told Dagen.

“There are more than 100,000 Muslims in Sweden. Shouldn’t we also have our religious freedom?”

Okur stressed, however, that the Islamic Association’s initial request was to have a call to prayer once a week, rather than five times a day.

“We have to start somewhere,” he said.

 

 

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