LONDON — A mosque in Blackburn, England, has been refused permission by the local council to broadcast the call to prayer — the adhaan — over the mosque’s loudspeakers.
Most mosques in the town, which is home to 30,000 Muslims, have been banned from broadcasting the adhaan for the past 20 years, though apparently two are allowed to do so, The Guardian newspaper reported. The issue has also cropped up in a number of U.S. cities.
Rejecting a request from the Nurul Islam mosque, the council’s planning committee said it had to consider residents of all faiths, and that it would also reject an appeal from a church to ring its bells five times a day. In London, Muslim officials told RNS the Whitechapel mosque broadcasts the adhaan regularly five times a day.
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