BERLIN – In a historic turn of events in Central European country, Azaan echoes from the loudspeakers of Germany’s largest mosque, the Cologne Central on Friday.
Muslims rejoice at the broadcast of Azaan over loudspeakers on Friday prayers around a year after an accord between the city of Cologne and the Muslim community to ease restrictions.
The call to prayer, also known as Azaan, will be carried out under a two-year pilot project in Germany and the volume is restricted to 60 decibels.
For the first time ever — Germany’s largest mosque raises Call to Prayer publicly over loudspeakers pic.twitter.com/K6I4wTfkS4
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) October 15, 2022
Under the agreement, around 35 mosques in Cologne, the largest city in western Germany, will be allowed to call the call to prayer for up to five minutes on Fridays between noon and 3 pm.
The Mayor of Cologne city, Henriette Reeker, initiated the project who previously equated Azaan to a sign of respect.
Cologne Central Mosque opened in 2018 with the support of the Organization of the Islamic Community and the Turkish-Islamic European Union. The Western European country of over 81 million people has the second-largest Muslim population in Europe after France.
The pro-Muslim move comes following the Islamophobic attacks in Germany in recent years. Officials have recorded hundreds of hate crimes against Muslims in which scores of Muslims suffered injuries.
