Sat 25 April 2020:
The call to prayer will be broadcast five times a day throughout the month of Ramadan, which began Thursday evening.
The Minneapolis Cedar-Riverside adhan is believed to be the first publicly broadcast call to prayer in a major US city.
From loudspeakers on the roof of a Minnesota mosque, the Islamic call to prayer echoed for the first time ever throughout a Minneapolis neighbourhood late on Thursday as the Muslim community there prepared to begin the holy month of Ramadan.
It echoed again on Friday morning and will continue five times a day during the holy month.
The simple, short call – known as the adhan – marked an historical moment for Minneapolis and major cities across the United States, community members said. While the adhan is commonly broadcast throughout the Middle East, North Africa and other places, for many Muslims in the US, it is only heard inside mosques or community centres.
“This is a historic moment tonight for us to be celebrating the first call to prayer, adhan, in a major city in the United States,” said Sheikh Abdisalam Adam, board chairman of Islamic Civic Society of America & Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque.
“There’s definitely a lot of excitement,” said Imam Abdisalam Adam, who is on the board of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, from where the adhan will be broadcast.
“Some people see it as historic,” Adam told Al Jazeera. “To the point … that they’re not doing it, able to see it in their lifetime.”
Recited by different representatives from mosques around the city, the call to prayer is expected to reach thousands in the Cedar-Riverside neighbourhood in Minneapolis, according to Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of Minnesota’s Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Ramadan is traditionally a time when Muslims worldwide regularly attend mosques for daily prayers and break their fasts together. But this year, most have been told to pray at home and forgo community iftars in favour of staying safe from the COVID-19 crisis.
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