Cologne mayor Henriette Reker has announced a two-year pilot project that will allow mosques to broadcast the call to prayer (Adhan) on Friday.
Viel Diskussion wg des Modellprojekts #Muezzin-Ruf. Köln ist die Stadt der (religiösen) Freiheit & Vielfalt. Wer am Hbf ankommt, wird vom Dom begrüßt und von Kirchengeläut begleitet. Viele KölnerInnen sind Muslime. Den Muezzin-Ruf zu erlauben ist für mich ein Zeichen des Respekts
— Henriette Reker (@HenrietteReker) October 9, 2021
Cologne mosques need to apply for a special permit to be able to broadcast Adhan, Reuter added. The initiative will run for two years and before being re-evaluated.
Cologne has one of Germany’s most significant Muslim communities and is home to an estimated 35 mosques. Most Muslims in the region initially came from Turkey as guest workers sixty years ago and later brought their families.
Cologne is not the first city in North Rhine-Westphalia to allow mosques to broadcast the call to prayer.
In a region with a large Turkish immigrant community, mosques in Gelsenkirchen and Düren have been broadcasting the religious call since as long ago as the 1990s.
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